Roadmap to Joy

My work around the concept and experience of joy is motivated by John 10:10. So much of what matters to me is helping others develop a sense of fullness in order to experience a thriving life–in order to glorify God. I believe, and psychological research backs up this claim, that we feel most wholly and holy alive–when we are living aligned with our deepest held values (i.e. becoming more like Christ), living into our strengths, and growing in mutual reciprocity and generosity with others. Loving God, loving others, loving ourselves–this provides a roadmap for pursuing joy and becoming fully alive. When we are most fully alive, and living into the fearfully and wonderfully made creations that God created us to be (Psalms 139:), we experience more vitality and are more able to participate in God’s ongoing work in this world.

Although we are called to a life of fullness–and joy, that does not mean that life is not without loss, struggle, and sorrow. Life is hard, and we can embrace our challenges and pain, and simultaneously find joy in our dependence on God and others in these times. We can and should lament and simultaneously have hope, confidence, and joy that all will be redeemed, healed, restored, and flourish–eventually. 

What Psychology tells us about Positive Emotions Like Joy

Joy not only points us to our greatest loves and sources of meaning, but the positive emotions of joy fuel us and are deeply protective. Professor Barbara Fredrickson’s groundbreaking research focuses on how developing positive emotions can improve our lives. Her Broaden-and-Build Theory describes the function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, that open us up–making our brains more flexible, more open, and more motivated. Contrast this to stress, anger and anxiety which make our brains more rigid and less flexible. 

Joy can help us discover what truly matters to us, plus, it can help promote creativity and strengthen psychological, intellectual, and physical resources and social bonds. Feeling joy can promote wellbeing by enhancing our memory, making us more resilient and healthier, and it inspires us to care for others. Joy is powerful stuff and supports us with strength for our work and resilience through challenging chapters. 

Our emotions are also useful to us because they signal meaning. Negative emotions evolved to keep us safe, and our brains have a bias toward those negative emotions for that reason. When we find ourselves angry or fearful, we likely have felt some kind of threat. In our modern world, the threats we experience aren’t the same as those our ancestors experienced. There are no saber-toothed tigers lurking, so it might take us a minute to understand what we’re experiencing. When we are feeling angry or upset, we must ask ourselves, “What matters to me about the situation? What is being provoked here?” 

In the same way, when we experience joy, we can ask ourselves, “What is it about the situation that matters to me?” Is it connection with a long lost friend, a huge accomplishment, or a deep knowledge that we are connected to a loving God?  

In this way we can begin to understand how our feelings provide important information for our lives. It’s important to recognize that our feelings are a source of information, and they can provide good information for making decisions, but we always need to discern.  We have to keep in mind that the human brain is biased toward negativity and fear. So, while our feelings give us information, we have to check that information against our values and deepest help beliefs, living in ways that are expansive and loving if we want to live the fullness of life.