06 Jun New Ways to Find Joy in a Troubled World
In some ways, happiness is so simple and easy.
In other ways, it’s so complex and difficult.
As we live in such troubled and changing times, we need to find new ways to create and enjoy happiness. Which is what this Psychology Today article by Diane Dreher is all about …
KEY POINTS
- A new documentary offers the Dalai Lama’s and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s strategies for cultivating joy, even in troubled times.
- Research shows that finding joy is good for our health, builds our personal resources, and can help us cope in difficult times.
- We can cultivate greater joy by connecting with others, meditating, savoring, and finding meaning.
It’s hard to find happiness in a world of personal and political turmoil, when so many people are suffering and our world seems to be falling apart. Yet Peggy Callahan’s new documentary, Mission: Joy, shows how the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu found joy in their lives and offers powerful strategies to help us find greater joy in our own.
Research shows that moments of joy can help us cope during difficult times (Berrios, Totterdell, & Kellett, 2018). Experiencing joy is good for our health and can broaden and build our personal resources, helping us make wiser choices when we face problems (Fredrickson, 2001, 2003; Post, 2011).
To celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday, Archbishop Tutu joined him in Dharamsala, India in 2015 for a week long series of dialogues on finding joy amid life’s inevitable suffering (Callahan, 2022; Dalai Lama, Tutu, & Abrams, 2016). Filmmaker Peggy Callahan recorded their meetings in what she says was “a gift of a lifetime.”
Here are four key strategies that emerged.
- Connection. In the film, we see Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama constantly smiling, reaching out to clasp hands, laughing, and teasing one another. These two spiritual leaders, one Christian and one Buddhist, experienced a deep, heartfelt connection with one another. We all need connection. Research has shown that we can find this joy of connection with other human beings, with the dear people in our lives, but also in a sense of awe and connection with nature (Fredrickson, 2013; Van Cappellen, & Saroglou, 2012)…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE