I will never apologize for embracing joy and beauty — even when the world is falling apart — because joy and beauty are my fuel for activism.
Karen Walrond
Welcome to Day Five of Say Yes to Joy
If joy can be found in the everyday, nurtured as an abiding emotional state, and accessed as a bridge to connect with others, is it too much to ask that it also serve as fuel for us to take care of our beloved, struggling world? Br. David Steindl-Rast writes that the recognition of and compassion for others’ suffering is a “communion” that grants us “a joy that [we] could not find in any other way. It may even give [us] an incentive to stand up for others who suffer.” He continues elsewhere: “Gratefulness will be that full response which releases the full power of my compassion. Gratefulness is creative and overflows into action.” The more that gratefulness helps you open to joy, the more compelled and better equipped you may be to act in a way that advances a peaceful, equitable, and ecologically healthy world — to contribute your individual gesture, no matter its size, toward the collective good.
Begin by reading this brief and compelling piece about Karen Walrond’s The Lightmaker’s Manifesto: How to Work for Change without Losing Your Joy. It explains how joyful activism is much like building a campfire: make a clearing, gather your tinder, find your spark, and tend to the flames.
- After reading, take a few moments to write your “spark statement,” as described in the article.
Today’s Practice
To inspire your own plan of joy-inspired action, watch this 2-minute video in which Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai recounts the fable of the hummingbird’s response to a wildfire. Through her lifelong work on behalf of the environment and human rights, Dr. Maathai embodied the message of this story: that we should each do what we can, even if we believe our gesture is too small for the “wildfire” at hand.
After watching the video, walk through the following steps:
- Identify one thing in the world that brings you great joy but which is currently at risk — anything from a local natural habitat to healthcare access, quality schools to world peace.
- Take a few moments to consider all the ways you appreciate and value this particular thing or idea. How is your life and the life of those you love made better — possible, even — because of the existence and future of this particular thing?
- From this place of gratitude, come up with one action you can take to nourish and sustain what you care about. To be clear, action can take many forms. It might be public and obvious — the protest, the op-ed, the artistic creation, the community garden. Or it might be quiet and less visible — the letter, the donation, the voting booth, the random act of kindness.
After you’ve put your gratefulness into action, take some time to reflect on how it feels to enact your appreciation in this way, to nourish what you value and what brings you joy. Aristotle taught his students that “joy results from an act of justice.” How did your joy-inspired action result in greater joy both within and around you?
Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find the Community Conversation space where we we invite you to share your reflections.
Deepening Resource
One Day, A Musical Project by Koolulam
In 2018, Koolulam brought together three thousand people to sing One Day by Matisyahu, in three languages — English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Koolulam’s mission is to convene people from different cultures, geographies, and faiths to harness the power of musical harmony to create social change and harmony in humanity. The result here is a powerful example of grateful joy fueling action, which in turns yields more joy.
Research Highlight
In The Journal of Positive Psychology, philosopher and cognitive scientist Matthew Kuan Johnson writes that a review of the existing psychological research on joy reveals that “joy potentiates action and is energizing. Joy provides the motivational resources to act, to intervene, to improve. Joy is also often contagious, it involves transference as we share and spread joy.”
Matthew Kuan Johnson (2020) The Journal of Positive Psychology
Photo by Zhang Kaiyv
I have learned so much from this course and I found the activity on day 1 to visualise an experience of joy to be really powerful and it has helped me to notice and name joy even more than I do already. Day 2 helped me to recognise that we can hold joy and sorrow in our hearts at the same time . Day 3 helped me to understand the power of collective joy and the importance of connecting with others. I really appreciated the article by Kelly McGonical on seeing other people’s joy . I loved the practice on Day 4 to let go of fear and invite joy and the physical enactment of this and started to understand how placing conditions on the opportunity to be grateful gets in the way of experiencing joy. The phrase from Brene Brown to stop dress-rehearsing for tragedy and practice gratitude instead will stay with me and how we need to remain open to joy . Day 5 has inspired me to take joy inspired action no matter how small and to adopt the humming bird attitude . Thank you for all the poetry, readings and videos .
This is a lovely summary, Heather, thank you.
What a JOY it has been to participate in this 5 day class.!!
Each on brought me guidance and direction for bringing more joy to myself, to others, and to mother nature.
The introductions, readings, videos, practices, pictures and you personal words have touched me beautifully… and as I am writing this, I am overjoyed thinking about how much we can accomplish by working together.
I honor this present moment which is a precious moment!
And, as Cheryl says…. “With appreciation and tenderness”
With care and gratitude
Gladys
I think, sometimes, we all feel compelled to make a grand gesture, some big contribution towards the betterment of the world. Perhaps it is, in part, ego driven – wanting to feel like we matter and that we will be remembered for something really significant. Perhaps it is driven, sometimes, by the sense of helplessness and frustration we feel in the face of such huge and devastating tragedies like the conflict in Gaza. Mother Teresa reputedly said that ‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.’ Similarly, she said, ‘I don’t do great things, I do small things with great love.’ The realisation for me is that we are all connected in an infinite variety of ways and one authentic response in the face of suffering is to do the little I can do because we never can tell what the ultimate positive outcome might be (a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world, similar to the hummingbird in the video clip). Every little thought, word and deed affects the whole. Will the little bit of research I did on the medical condition of a friend’s brother ultimately help others? Who knows but hopefully it will help him. Maybe if we all just look out for the little things we can do, we CAN change the world one person at a time, activating the chain of cause and effect in small positive ways. Little (random or otherwise) acts of kindness.
Rebecca, the notion/quote of “Think globally, act locally.”, comes to mind.
This week I was fostering two abandoned puppies There were 6 found under a bridge in a box. They played so vigorously and were eager to engage any and all human contact. This surprise experience in my life despite the feed clean up and repeat thru the day was a joyful as I can recall experiencing my own newborns only this time I’m doing it solo. This opportunity has brought me joy in abundance. I could give these vulnerable sentient pups a soft landing and they gifted me back a satisfaction of gratitude with grace. One left today adopted to his forever family so happy am I that he could receive human kindness along the way to being loved forever. There is abundant joy in both giving and receiving. Thank you all for just that this week. Sincerely
This 5 day practice of joy was amazing. I personally have read many of Brene’ Browns books and the interview with Oprah was a wonderful reminder to practice gratitude daily. I have kept a gratitude journal myself and it has changed my life. Does bring more joy
The performance of 3000 people singing was beautiful and inspirational.
I am looking forward to further practices coming in 2024.
Thank you for what you do
My ‘spark statement’ is a principle I strongly believe in and live by, it is simply: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I love the image of contraction and expansion. One cannot be without the other, however. Birth requires both. Breathing requires both. The beating heart contracts and expands.
I am in a season of contraction–bringing close the resources needed for healing. It is difficult not to jump too quickly to expansion. After all, shouldn’t I be DOING something? PRODUCING something? Nope. This is the time for gathering energy in preparation for the next expansion, whatever and whenever that may be. It is the time for gathering the tinder and finding the spark.
I am grateful for these contracted moments that inevitably come along, generally unbidden. Scary sometimes. The next breath or heart beat is not guaranteed. Still, there is something sacred here.
As we come to the close of this 5-day practice, I want to share how much I appreciate the beautiful and moving reflections that have been offered in this space. Your stories of saying yes to joy, including the challenges along the way, have enhanced my own journey this week; I’m carrying them with appreciation and tenderness. Thank you. As I head into a holiday week, I’m grateful for this community, including all who may not have posted here but who are cultivating, sharing, and acting from joy in the world. I’m buoyed by the image of the ripples of joy you are each creating, within your own hearts and beyond. Thank you all for your gifts and for your presence here.
Intentional Gratefulness
Dennis Moraski 11-17-2023
Intentional Gratefulness describes a way of living that
Is available to each of us when we have the courage to see all of reality;
including both the easy-to-accept parts, as well as those
challenging aspects that we would rather not face.
It springs from the deep knowledge that what is before us
is best faced clearly with all the honesty we can muster.
It may or may not be what we want, but it is what is. And,
what is – is all there is. Everything else is a delusion or fantasy.
If we grow to a certain point of maturity where we call allow ourselves
to experience the fullness of life we will begin to understand
that we have the ability and resources to accept all of reality and
come to know the ultimate inherent goodness weaved within it.
In the end, when it is really the end, we will then be able to glimpse
that everything that has happened in our life was for the best and
was created by God just for us. The good, the bad and the ugly of our experience –
it all belongs. And then, we can die in peace because we know we have really lived.
Thus, Intentional Gratefulness is not something just nice to have.
It’s more a gateway to a life fully lived; full of pain and suffering; but also
filled with joy, peacefulness and all the meaning we can possibly imagine.
We all have but one life to live, so let’s choose Gratefulness and
a life overflowing with wonder, joy and abundance!
This 5-day “Say Yes to Joy” series has been a gift during this month of Thanksgiving. As illustrated in day 1, I have long been one who subscribed to the connection between gratitude and joy, beginning in particular when my late mother was dying of cancer and I was seriously ill. To counter my grief, I used a small journal in which I wrote snippets about the joyful things I encountered each day. I soon had a little journal bursting with joy. For day 2, I drew upon that time in my life once again when my views about the coexistence of joy and sorrow/challenge were solidified. My “joy journals” helped me to experience more deeply the fine balance of that coexistence. On day 3, I experienced the collective joy that can come from a sense of belonging by joining a large choir of singers for our first rehearsal that very evening. Our collective singing was indeed a collective joy. On day 4, I examined the many photographs I took early last spring of flowers to remind me of the barriers that can appear to interfere with our joy. Those flower photos reminded me that they don’t wait for circumstances to be perfect in order to bloom. Many rise out of the cold, snow-covered earth and between crevices in order to shine. Then today, day 5, I reflect on the joy we can each take — small micro-acts of joy — to not only contribute to our own well-being, but with reverberations that go far beyond ourselves. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to say yes to joy!
I am committed to finding ways to uplift and show our potential no matter who we think we are or what our resources may be. We can all make this world brighter, more beautiful more connected. My action is to take inspiring things that I find out about and spread them to others so they may be inspired in their unique ways to use those ideas. I have a “Rays of Sunshine” email loop that I periodically send things out to – today I sent the hummingbird video to them.. That was a simple action, but my continuing actions are to keep working on reaching students and people who are underserved and teach them how to make things – I am an artist and have dedicated much time and energy to doing this. I have more to do and hope for more people yet to meet and share with!
Thank you so much for this week’s refreshing dive into JOY! We ALL need this! ~;0)
xo!
Loved today’s teaching! Loved the entire week’s teachings! Thank you, thank you!
That you offered this free of charge speaks to your commitment to reaching people, without it being a financial barrier for them.
Each morning, after opening my email and reading and listening to the day’s teachings, I felt joy. What a wonderful way to start each day!