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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 11

How to Choose Joy

By Amanda Gilbert

flower, hearing the sound of your beloved’s voice, or
noticing the way your favorite song soothes your heart.
Waking up to your own joy asks you to investigate your
past and present relationship with what brings you
happiness and joy.

As you will find out, there are many different flavors
to joy. Dr. Paul Ekman, a world-recognized emotions
researcher at the University of San Francisco,
California, writes that joy can be expressed through a
variety of ways.
Joy is an intentional practice. So often our minds are
Here are some of the ways to joy from his list:
running on autopilot when it comes to happiness, with
all-too-familiar story lines. Have you ever thought, “I’ll • The pleasure of the five senses—like taking a lick of
feel good when I get that new cute fall jacket or finally your favorite ice cream flavor or seeing a beautiful
get this work project done” or “I’ll be happy when I have sunset
a certain amount of money in my bank account” or “I’ll • Amusement and humor—the felt-sense experience
of your own laughter after a healing joke
be happy when I have a specific number of followers on
social media or get recognized in my career”? We can • Contentment—a subtle satisfaction where you are
unearth these grooves in our brains with the intention relaxed and at ease
to show up in joy and rejoice for others. • Excitement—the most intense kind of joy in
response to novelty or change
• Relief—the feeling after a strong emotion occurs and
The Buddha talks a lot about joy for this reason.
Why? Mudita (appreciative joy) gives us a way to then subsides
dismantle the usual habit loops of negativity and close- • Wonder—the enjoyable feeling of being
mindedness and do something different, something more overwhelmed by the incomprehensible
life-affirming and expansive. Responding with joy can • Ecstasy or bliss—a high frequency form of joy, a
state of self-transcendent rapture
activate a host of more wholesome alternatives, such as
meeting our own greatest hits of comparing, competitive, • Exultation—the feeling following the completion of a
and envy-filled mind with the antidote of noticing what great challenge or difficult task
is working in our lives and what brings us joy, as well • Radiant pride—when someone you love experiences
as finding happiness and delight in other people’s good a special moment of success
• Elevation—“the warm, uplifting feeling that people
fortune. Most wonderfully, choosing joy takes the sting
out of hearing or seeing our usual triggers. experience when they see unexpected acts of human
goodness, kindness, and compassion”
To cultivate appreciative joy, you must first touch down • Gratitude—the appreciation of a selfless act that you
into the boundless joy available to you in your own may have benefited from
life. Thich Nhat Hanh says, “How can we feel joy for
another person when we do not feel joy for ourselves? Matthieu Ricard, the cellular geneticist turned Buddhist
Joy is for everyone.” Awakening to your own joy can monk, has added three more facets of joy to this list:
be as simple as taking delight in a gorgeous blooming rejoicing—in someone else’s happiness; delight or