Cultivating joy is an invitation to notice and connect with the subtlety of pleasurable moments. What’s going well right now? What’s not wrong in this moment? {Listen to the guided practice.}
What Does It Mean to Cultivate Joy?
Joy is often associated with a peak experience––a moment that is all-encompassing, a moment of pure bliss and happiness. And while these peak experiences are wonderful, assuming that they are the only way to feel joy can actually make joy seem inaccessible when we’re feeling neutral, or even impossible when we’re experiencing a challenging moment.
Cultivating joy is not a “how to be happier” exercise, or a strategy to manufacture happy moments. Cultivating joy is about noticing the mini joys and many joys that we already experience. In the busyness of our lives, we may rush through, or not even notice, subtle pleasurable moments.
With practice, we can learn to recognize and savor pleasurable moments that nourish us and remind us of the good things that are ever present. We can observe delightful exchanges between our students, enjoy our successes when a lesson goes well, and appreciate what is working in our classroom.
Paying deliberate attention to joyful moments recharges our batteries and counteracts the negativity bias.
Cultivating Joy:
Listen to the Short Talk and Guided Practice (8 min)
We invite you to practice noticing joy with subtlety. What’s going well right now? What’s not wrong in this moment?
Listen to “Practice: Cultivating Joy (8 min)” on Spreaker.
Join our Summer Retreat: Saturday, July 22
“It’s hard to carve out time for self-care, but when I do, it’s worth it.” Sometimes we need the momentum and support of our community to recommit and re-engage with our mindfulness practice as a resolute act of self-care. Join us on July 22.
Next: What Is Mindfulness?
Mindful Schools defines mindfulness as being present here and now, paying attention to thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions, and the external environment with kindness, nonjudgment, and curiosity.
Cultivating joy is an example of a mindfulness practice that provides tools to meet the difficulties of life with care and compassion. With continued practice, mindfulness can support us to do the personal work of changing our internal patterns and behaviors, including our judgments, biases, and learned stress responses. When our awareness of our internal world starts to change, our relationship to what is happening in the external world can change, too.
UPCOMING WORKSHOP:
How to Build a Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Every classroom is impacted by the effects of trauma. Join this 90-minute workshop to examine a nervous system framework and discover strategies to create welcoming and safe learning spaces.