A daily journal sits open on a peaceful desk, bathed in morning light—an invitation to two minutes of intentional joy.

We’ve complicated joy. Somewhere between productivity hacks and wellness trends, we’ve turned something simple into another achievement to chase. But what if joy isn’t something you hunt down? What if it’s something you notice?

Dave Closson’s Joy Journal: A 90-Day Path to Everyday Joy & Mindful Growth makes a refreshingly uncomplicated promise: spend two minutes in the morning and two in the evening, and rediscover the bright moments hiding in your ordinary days.

By Dave Closson

Why Two Minutes Changes Everything

This isn’t another journal gathering dust on your nightstand. Closson, a combat veteran turned coach, understands something crucial: lasting change doesn’t come from elaborate systems. It comes from practices so simple you can’t talk yourself out of doing them.

Two minutes in the morning to set an intention. Two minutes at night to reflect. That’s it. No overwhelming prompts. No guilt-inducing goal tracking. Just one thoughtfully designed page that asks you to pause and pay attention.

The structure is deceptively powerful. Morning intentions create a gentle anchor for your day—not rigid plans, but a reminder of how you want to show up. Evening reflections close the loop, helping you notice what actually happened versus what you thought would happen. This rhythm builds something rare: emotional awareness without emotional exhaustion.

The Science Behind 90 Days

Here’s what matters about the 90-day framework: it’s long enough to actually rewire your brain’s patterns, but short enough that you can see the finish line from the start. Behavior science backs this up. You need time to move past novelty and into genuine habit formation. But stretch it too long, and motivation becomes another source of stress.

Closson gets this balance right. Every 10 days, strategic check-ins invite you to pause and take inventory. What patterns are emerging? Where are you growing? What needs adjusting? These aren’t heavy therapeutic exercises—they’re simple moments of recalibration that prevent the slow drift away from your intentions.

The result? You’re not white-knuckling your way through another self-improvement project. You’re building something sustainable because it fits how humans actually change.

For Anyone Who’s Forgotten How to Pause

Think about the last time you felt genuinely present. Not distracted by your phone. Not running through tomorrow’s to-do list. Just fully here, noticing this moment.

For too many of us, that memory feels distant. We’re burnt out not just from doing too much, but from never fully being anywhere. We’ve lost the muscle for presence, for gratitude, for self-compassion.

Joy Journal doesn’t lecture you about mindfulness. It gives you a daily practice ground to rebuild those muscles. The morning prompts gently guide your attention toward intention. The evening reflections train you to mine your day for moments worth savoring. The micro-mantras scattered throughout offer exactly what you need when motivation wavers.

Closson draws on his experience helping people rediscover connection and resilience. He knows you don’t need complex frameworks. You need permission to start small and trust that small adds up.

Beautiful Design That Respects Your Time

Here’s something often overlooked: how a journal feels matters. The 6×9″ size slips easily into a bag or sits peacefully on a nightstand. Cream pages and botanical touches create a calming visual experience. This isn’t accidental—when something feels good to interact with, you’re more likely to keep showing up.

The layout gives you space without overwhelming you with blank pages. Each day’s spread is complete on a single view—no flipping back and forth, no hunting for instructions. You open it, you know exactly what to do, you close it feeling accomplished rather than behind.

This matters more than it seems. When journaling becomes another source of “am I doing this right?” anxiety, you’ve defeated the purpose. Joy Journal removes those friction points entirely.

The Ripple Effect of Daily Joy

What happens when you spend 90 days intentionally noticing joy? You don’t just feel better in the moment. You start seeing your life differently.

The colleague who always makes you laugh suddenly becomes a daily highlight worth naming. The first sip of morning coffee transforms from routine to ritual. The evening walk you usually rush through reveals itself as the reset you didn’t know you needed.

This shift in attention creates a feedback loop. When you notice what brings you joy, you naturally make more space for it. When you reflect on moments of connection, you become more intentional about creating them. Small daily practices compound into a fundamentally different relationship with your own life.

And this doesn’t just benefit you. People who regularly practice gratitude and self-compassion show up differently in their relationships, their work, their communities. They’re more patient, more present, more generous. Your two minutes of morning intention ripple outward in ways you can’t always track but definitely feel.

More Than a Journal, A Companion

What makes Joy Journal genuinely useful is that it meets you exactly where you are. Searching for meaning? It’s here. Burnt out? It’s here. Just craving a bit more lightness? Still here.

Closson has created something rare: a tool that’s simultaneously structured enough to work and flexible enough to fit your actual life. You don’t need to be a “journal person” or a mindfulness expert. You just need two minutes and a willingness to try something gentler than what you’ve been doing.

For anyone feeling disconnected from themselves, overwhelmed by the pace of life, or simply wondering where the joy went, this journal offers a path back. Not through massive overhauls or Instagram-worthy transformations, but through the quiet, revolutionary act of paying attention.

Building Joy That Lasts

We’re living through exhausting times. The solutions we’ve been offered—work harder, optimize more, push through—aren’t working. What if the answer isn’t doing more? What if it’s noticing better?

Joy Journal proposes something radical in its simplicity: that two minutes of intentional attention, practiced daily for 90 days, can genuinely shift how you experience your life. Not by changing your circumstances, but by training you to see what’s already there.

That’s not just good for individuals. When people feel more connected to joy, to themselves, to the present moment, they bring that energy everywhere they go. They parent differently. They lead differently. They show up differently in the small daily interactions that actually shape our collective experience.

Closson has created more than a journal. He’s created an invitation to a gentler way of being—one where joy isn’t earned through achievement but discovered through attention.

Ready to find the bright moments hiding in your ordinary days? Two minutes is all it takes to begin.

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Available now: Joy Journal: A 90-Day Path to Everyday Joy & Mindful Growth – a thoughtful gift for yourself or anyone entering a new season of growth.