How to Find Sustained Joy in Our Lives
We often lack joy because modern society is misaligned with natural laws. Hustle culture, rigid rules, consumerism, narcissism, comparisons, external validation, and obedience to authority create lifestyles that conflict with our true nature, leading to internal struggles and unnecessary misery. To rediscover joy, we can focus on four key practices.
1. Cultivate Daily Creative Expression
Engaging in daily creative activities—such as writing, art, singing, dancing, building, or teaching—provides relief and deep satisfaction by allowing the divine to flow through us. While survival is a focus for most species, expression is their primary need, as it brings joy. However, hustle culture and 9-5 jobs often prioritize productivity over creativity, pulling us away from our true nature.
Example: Daily jobs frequently sideline creative expression, disconnecting us from what truly fulfills us.
2. Serve in Ways That Uplift Others
Contributing to others in a way that uplifts them fulfils a biological drive called value fulfilment. When our creative expression helps others, it creates resonance and joy. Every species seeks to express itself and contribute meaningfully. Yet, authority and profit-driven systems often dictate what we work on, limiting our ability to serve in fulfilling ways.
Example: Work often restricts our freedom to choose how we uplift others, reducing opportunities for meaningful contribution.
3. Practice Physical Anchoring
Physical activities like Qigong, Tai Chi, exercise, spending time in nature, or breathing exercises promote energy circulation and release stagnation, allowing joy to flow freely. These practices are essential for generating life energy, but modern life often leaves little time for them.
Example: Busy schedules and sedentary routines limit opportunities for rejuvenating activities that connect us to our vitality.
4. Embrace Cycles of Creation, Rest, and Reflection
Pre-industrial agrarian societies organized life in cycles of creation, rest, and reflection, fostering sustained joy. Prioritizing these rhythms over the relentless pace of 9-5 jobs or hustle culture aligns us with our natural state. However, modern work structures rarely offer the flexibility needed for such a rhythmic life.
Example: Rigid job schedules often disrupt our ability to balance creation, rest, and self-reflection, hindering natural joy.
To find joy, we must embrace daily creative expression, service that uplifts others, physical anchoring, and cycles of creation, rest, and reflection. By aligning with these natural principles, we can overcome the miseries of modern society and reconnect with our true nature.