Where To Look For Joy

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How can we feel more moments of joy? We explore the science of joy and how we can cultivate it in our everyday lives, with poet Ross Gay and psychologist Philip Watkins.

Episode summary:

Are joy and happiness the same thing? Can you feel joy even in moments of sorrow? This week, we’ve set out to explore the unique qualities of joy, why it's so beneficial for us to experience, and how we can find more of it. We first hear from Ross Gay, an award-winning poet and author who dedicated his last book to the topic of joy, and how we usually find it through closeness with others. Later, we hear from psychologist Philip Watkins about what sets joy apart from other emotions, whether joy can be produced or must be happened upon, and practical steps we can take to amplify joy within our own lives.

Today’s guests:

Ross Gay is an award-winning American poet and author. His latest book explores the complexities of joy and its connection to feelings like gratitude and sorrow.

Learn more about Ross: https://www.rossgay.net/about

Read Ross’ book, Inciting Joy: https://www.rossgay.net/inciting-joy

Follow Ross on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RossGay18

Philip Watkins is a psychology professor at Eastern Washington University. He conducts research on different aspects of well-being including gratitude, happiness and joy.

Learn more about Philip and his work: https://tinyurl.com/3zwested

Find Philip on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philip.watkins.338/

Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

How to Overcome Stress by Seeing Other People’s Joy: https://tinyurl.com/4csukyd5

How to Awaken Joy in Kids: https://tinyurl.com/5xr3t9vf

What is Sympathetic Joy and How Can You Feel More of It? https://tinyurl.com/yuzmykct

Joy and Grace: https://tinyurl.com/yaxp48xd

Why Experiencing Joy and Pain in a Group is so Powerful: https://tinyurl.com/3trjtzfm

More Resources on Joy:

Harvard Business Review - Making Joy a Priority at Work: https://tinyurl.com/3z8mejum

Harvard Health - How can you find joy (or at least peace) during difficult times? https://tinyurl.com/2s35wffy

TED - Where joy hides and how to find it: https://tinyurl.com/3d2fbfbv

How do you define joy? When was the last time you felt it? We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness! Rate and follow us on Spotify, and share this episode with a friend: https://tinyurl.com/4uyr2w35

Transcript

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0:00.0	It seems like my greatest experiences of joy have been in these sort of projects with
0:08.7	other people.
0:10.7	I live in Bloomington, Indiana.
0:12.8	And there's now something called the Bloomington Community Orchard.
0:15.7	And it was an idea by our friend Amy Countryman and she sort of found her way to thinking about
0:22.2	proposing like an urban orchard, a city orchard.
0:25.7	And Amy had this callout meeting.
0:27.2	I mean it's good to turn out 100 people or something.
0:29.8	We formed up these teams to like map out how to like prepare the site, how to select
0:34.9	plants.
0:35.9	We found tons more volunteers, we did all this moving of manure and it was on.
0:45.1	We were a group of people who didn't really know each other before we started and we were
0:48.8	building this project, we were, you know, working on this project.
0:53.3	We would have these long meetings because we didn't know how to have meetings, you know,
0:58.1	and they would be potlucks most often.
1:00.8	And they would be at someone's house and there would be kids around.
1:05.6	We didn't know how to do it and we were like bumbling and it made us closer because we
1:11.2	spent time being like what's the recipe for that result.
1:16.0	It was this gathering for ourselves because we want to live in this community.
1:20.4	We were dreaming our own community in a bit.
1:22.6	But we also were doing it for people that we didn't know.
1:27.4	People who weren't born yet actually.
	...

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