We Can Create a Culture of Joy

Research involving the emotions of happiness and joy supports that happiness is a fleeting and situational emotion, while joy is more enduring and less dependent on external events. Happiness is associated with neuromodulator dopamine which is involved in the reward centers of the brain and triggered by pleasurable/positive experiences. Conversely, joy is associated with emotion regulation and the release of serotonin and is considered a sustaining, intrinsically motivated virtue that can be developed over time and practice.  Joy may be cultivated by having deep emotionally intimate connections with at least a few people, prioritizing meaningful moments with others in community and emphasizing with gratitude life’s smallest through largest blessings. The evidence suggests that joy is associated with the ability to cope with adversity, recover from illness and contributes to persistent higher levels of overall health and well-being.

Based on scientific evidence here are some practices that contribute to sustaining joy:

1.      Practice gratitude daily to emphasize the blessings through journaling, praying, speaking and acknowledging to self and others all the positives that exist around us.

2.      Spend time out of doors to recognize, experience and rest in the plentiful beauty that pervades from the earth to the sky.

3.      Accentuate present moment awareness throughout the day, allowing for moments of non-judgement, without striving or assessment, ushering in mind/body peace accented by slow steady breathing.

4.      Generate other-focused experiences that may be as simple as delivering or procuring a smile, lifting a bag, offering a hand or submitting words of encouragement.

5.      Participate in activities in unison with others; research suggests our moments of compatibility can generate deep, foundational joy.

This life is full of circumstances beyond our control; however, we do have a choice to employ internal practices (i.e. prayer, gratitude, awareness) and external sentiments (help, connect, express) that bolster our mind, body and spirit generating an abounding joy.