Word-Of-the-Week #964: Elation
January 26, 2023 by Susan Clarke
Elation – being filled with great joy or happiness.
Are you aware of those things in your life that bring you joy and happiness? When was the last time you took a walk in the park or took time to smell the roses?
This week features the second half of Washington Post writer Richard Sima, “Want to feel happier? Try snacking on joy. Learning to find the joy in mundane experiences is a way to cultivate a more meaningful life.
How to find more joy snacks
“Joy is a mind-set and something we can orient toward by being on the lookout for it.
“You can’t produce joy, but you can prepare for it,” Watkins said.
Researchers are studying how people can become more receptive to joyful moments. Taking time each day to recount past episodes of joy may be one way to increase your predisposition for joy in the future, though more work is needed on how best to develop a “lifestyle of joy,” Watkins said.
Cultivating gratitude is another way of cultivating joy. In one study, Watkins and colleagues used questionnaire data to measure participants’ gratitude and joyfulness in the moment and over time. They found that the more grateful a person is, the more likely they were to feel joy in the future. The reverse was also true: The more predisposed to joy someone is, the more likely they would feel gratitude as well.
- “Joy and gratitude kind of feed on each other,” Watkins said. “We call it a cycle of virtue.”
Gratitude interventions, such as writing down the things we felt grateful for during the day, have been found to improve mood and may foster more gratitude.
It is also important not to fall prey to what some psychologists have called “killjoy thinking,” which actively inhibits enjoyment by neutralizing positive moods. For example, watching a beautiful sunset with a loved one but only focusing on how cold it is about to get is tantamount to stealing a joy snack right out of your own mouth.
“If you’re not able to see the good in your life, you’re always overwhelmed by the bad in your life, you’re probably not going to prepare yourself for experiencing joy,” Watkins said.
One way to increase joy is to try savoring, which means mindfully paying attention, appreciating and accentuating the positive experiences we have.
That cup of coffee. The cuddliness of your pet. A joke whose punchline hits just right.
Focusing on the sensations and emotions you feel in these moments can make the joy snack all the richer.
It can take practice to get better at identifying and appreciating these experiences, but “once you learn to slow down and pay attention to those things, put more weight on those things, your life feels more fulfilled and more meaningful,” Hicks said.
- Nature is one powerful source of joy snacks that many people can nosh on, in part because of its power of inducing awe.
Hicks and his colleagues found that just having participants watch the two-minute opener to the nature documentary “Planet Earth” produced appreciation for the experience and, in turn, a greater sense of meaning.
“Nature is all around us, but it’s very easy to ignore it and downplay it,” Hicks said.
Sometimes taking a walk in the park and smelling the roses — by yourself or with others — is simply all you need to do to find some everyday joy.
- “No matter who you are, no matter where you are in life, there’s something out there that can bring you joy and happiness,” Hicks said.
So, what is your joy snack this week?”
This week’s focus is feeling elation. How good are you at mindfully paying attention, appreciating and accentuating the positive experiences you have? Have you ever focused on the sensations and emotions you feel in those moments? Is it time for a gratitude intervention?
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