Day 17 ish - Monday 16th
I've started writing the day number followed by ish, as I am regularly writing days later. Everything has become a bit distorted as I have been re co-ordinating jobs and life in the face of COVID-19.
Sunday's St Patricks Day Parade was cancelled, so I had 2 days at home in London. I returned to Luton on Monday, and was happy that my first meeting was with 3 women who work at St Marys Church. It could not have been a better time to meet them, as we were talking about Joy Skills - a course set up by the vicar to give people more skills to experience joy.
The course was built out of the vicars own experiences after a serious bike crash in which he sustained significant injuries and post traumatic stress. To support his recovery in addition to therapy he explored a variety of methods to help him, bringing ideas and practice from neuroscience, spirituality, and psychology together.
Joy skills is an 8 to 10 week course done in a group setting. It's for anyone to go to - although faith is central to the group, and it includes a mix of practical tips and exercises to help empower people with skills for joy.
I like that its done in a group as I have often felt that the self help industry fuels individualism - a focus on the 'I' being well, often at great financial cost. Yet Joy Skills is focused on supporting the community. Its low cost to join (around £15 for 8 weeks), and there is an emphasis on how the practice benefits others around. Participants of the course can go on to become co-facilitators and all three women spoke about how doing the course together has been beneficial for their daily working life together.
These are some of the things I wrote in my notes about what joy skills are
- not letting stress out on other people
- creating a positive environment
- focusing on breathing when stressed
- remembering to prioritise joy, recognise it, and think to look for it
- noticing how you feel
- appreciating things - an 'attitude of gratitude'
- remembering that touch is important. Try hugging yourself - there are physical exercises like this that can help take the 'sting' out of things
We speak about what the word joy means and how it is distinguishable from happiness. It's interesting to think more about deeply about the word. I agree with what they say - joy feels deeper than happiness, it is more about love, and despite me not following any one religion it resonates with me that it goes hand in hand with faith.
I later look at the dictionary definition - at lexico.com (a collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press). Here they define joy as
https://www.etymonline.com/word/joy
The term happiness comes from the Old Norse term happ meaning “luck” or “chance.” It’s also related to the Old English word hæpic meaning “equal.” While early senses of happiness dating from the 1500s are still very much in use, such as “good luck,” “success,” and “contentment,”
Happiness is rooted in luck or chance, whereas joy is developed by a persons active sensual engagement with the world? ... or something like that
Joy skills feels particularly important as I amongst others have been experiencing symptoms similar to shock in this current situation - grappling with the enormity, sudden change, and precarity. To dig deep into the sensory world, to be still and grasp the moment in a time of enormous change feels more important than ever.
I've started writing the day number followed by ish, as I am regularly writing days later. Everything has become a bit distorted as I have been re co-ordinating jobs and life in the face of COVID-19.
Sunday's St Patricks Day Parade was cancelled, so I had 2 days at home in London. I returned to Luton on Monday, and was happy that my first meeting was with 3 women who work at St Marys Church. It could not have been a better time to meet them, as we were talking about Joy Skills - a course set up by the vicar to give people more skills to experience joy.
The course was built out of the vicars own experiences after a serious bike crash in which he sustained significant injuries and post traumatic stress. To support his recovery in addition to therapy he explored a variety of methods to help him, bringing ideas and practice from neuroscience, spirituality, and psychology together.
Joy skills is an 8 to 10 week course done in a group setting. It's for anyone to go to - although faith is central to the group, and it includes a mix of practical tips and exercises to help empower people with skills for joy.
I like that its done in a group as I have often felt that the self help industry fuels individualism - a focus on the 'I' being well, often at great financial cost. Yet Joy Skills is focused on supporting the community. Its low cost to join (around £15 for 8 weeks), and there is an emphasis on how the practice benefits others around. Participants of the course can go on to become co-facilitators and all three women spoke about how doing the course together has been beneficial for their daily working life together.
These are some of the things I wrote in my notes about what joy skills are
- not letting stress out on other people
- creating a positive environment
- focusing on breathing when stressed
- remembering to prioritise joy, recognise it, and think to look for it
- noticing how you feel
- appreciating things - an 'attitude of gratitude'
- remembering that touch is important. Try hugging yourself - there are physical exercises like this that can help take the 'sting' out of things
I later look at the dictionary definition - at lexico.com (a collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press). Here they define joy as
1A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.
I look for a information specifically about the etymology of the word
c. 1200, "feeling of pleasure and delight;" c. 1300, "source of pleasure or happiness," from Old French joie "pleasure, delight, erotic pleasure, bliss, joyfulness" (11c.), from Latin gaudia "expressions of pleasure; sensual delight," plural of gaudium "joy, inward joy, gladness, delight; source of pleasure or delight," from gaudere "rejoice," from PIE root *gau- "to rejoice" (cognates: Greek gaio "I rejoice," Middle Irish guaire "noble").
It is interesting here the inclusion of erotic pleasure and sensual delight.
- - - - -
I am curious to know more about the etymology of happiness
According to https://www.dictionary.com/e/happiness/
The term happiness comes from the Old Norse term happ meaning “luck” or “chance.” It’s also related to the Old English word hæpic meaning “equal.” While early senses of happiness dating from the 1500s are still very much in use, such as “good luck,” “success,” and “contentment,”
Happiness is rooted in luck or chance, whereas joy is developed by a persons active sensual engagement with the world? ... or something like that
Joy skills feels particularly important as I amongst others have been experiencing symptoms similar to shock in this current situation - grappling with the enormity, sudden change, and precarity. To dig deep into the sensory world, to be still and grasp the moment in a time of enormous change feels more important than ever.
