Dear MDECOE and greater community,
‘Tis the season for joy, and especially as an anecdote for adversity, what better way to experience self-care than through finding joy right now? In a 2020 YouTube Obama Foundation video, former First Lady Michelle Obama discussed why experiencing joy is so valuable. “What happens in your darkest hour? It’s true, those times will come, and there isn’t a magic answer to that,” Obama said. “But if you have been thoughtful in your life and you understand how to bring yourself joy, that’s what gets you through it. It doesn’t mean that the dark day didn’t happen. It means that because you’ve planned joy, joy is coming. But a lot of times we plan work, that’s what we’re taught to do, but we’re not taught to plan our lives and plan our joy.”
So what is joy and how do we plan it? According to a Psychology Today interview with Pamela Ebstyne King, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Applied Developmental Science at the Thrive Center for Human Development at Fuller Theological Seminary, joy is “an enduring and underlying sense of something that is deeper than the emotion of happiness… In my study of joy, I have also noticed that joy is more complex than a feeling or an emotion. It is something one can practice, cultivate, or make a habit. Consequently, I suggest that joy is most fully understood as a virtue that involves our thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to what matters most in our lives. Thus, joy is an enduring, deep delight in what holds the most significance.” Dr Ebstyne King has identified three areas that can help with finding joy. They are (1) growing in authenticity and living more into one’s strengths, (2) growing in depth of relationships and contributing to others, and (3) living more aligned with one’s ethical and spiritual ideals.
To read more, please go to https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-resilience/202007/what-is-joy-and-what-does-it-say-about-us
For a list of many self-care options, please see our College of Education self-care website for resources for faculty, staff, students, and the community:
https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education/self-care/articles-information-self-care
As I sign off from our college self-care messages until January 2022, I wish that you all find joy this holiday season and in the new year!
Happy Holidays!
Warmly,
Shari