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In this episode...

Joy by a Thousand Jolts

https://faithfulontheclock.com/joy-by-a-thousand-jolts

Want to feel more joy that strengthens your faith? Episode 141 of Faithful on the Clock looks at how small, consistent joy experiences can reshape our neurology for better happiness and connection to God.

Timestamps:

[00:04] - Intro

[00:44] - The cultural view and pursuit of big joy experiences

[02:20] - Key neuroscience — many small joy experiences can strengthen the neural pathways involved in feeling happiness, and we don’t need huge joy experiences for that to happen

[03:09] - Why small jolts of joy is realistic for the modern workplace

[04:56] - The Joy Reset principles and how small joy experiences can retrain the brain’s neural architecture

[06:09] - The connection between joy and faith; why neurological training might make it easier to connect to God and religion

[07:16] - Neurology as a physical component of faith

[08:36] - Encouragement to address underlying physical challenges that might interfere with neurological training for joy

[10:27] - Prayer

[11:13] - Outro/What’s coming up next

Key takeaways:

• Contemporary culture — including work — often trains us to seek out big lightning bolts of joy.
• Neuroscience research confirms that emotionally strong events deeply encode, making them more memorable. But we also know that repeated small experiences strengthen neural pathways. This means that the more small joy moments we have, the easier it becomes to access feelings of happiness.
• The way small moments of joy build good architecture in the brain means that we can learn to be resilient even if our work environment isn’t the greatest at offering a lot of big elements to be happy about.
• Dr. MaryCatherine’s book, The Joy Reset, outlines how trauma can block the brain’s ability to access joy. She argues that small, consistent joy experiences can reset the neurological architecture necessary for happiness and resilience.
• Joy and faith intersect. When we intentionally do neurological training toward joy, we might also make it easier to connect to our faith, since joy is a core teaching of Christianity. 
• Neuroplasticity is a long game. We might need to practice intentionally seeking small jolts of joy for many months or even years before we really see results in our brain architecture.
• It’s wise to address potential underlying physical issues that could interfere with building a healthier neurological architecture.

Relevant Links:

• The Joy Reset - Amazon

CTAs:

• Review The Joy Reset to better understand the mechanisms that inhibit our ability to feel joy.
• Practice mindfulness around small jolts of joy by writing down the tiny things that feel good for you through the day. Use your list to increase your awareness about what gives you the most joy and how you can more intentionally seek it out.

What’s coming up next:

Episode 142 of Faithful on the Clock welcomes Mark Struczewski — better known as Mister Productivity — for a look at how we can be productive for the right reasons in our faith.

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