242. Joy vs. Happiness: Why Joy Is Your Birthright (And How to Find It in 2026)
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Henry: Hello, I am Henry Emmons and welcome to Joy Lab.
Aimee Prasek: And I'm Aimee Prasek and it's nearly the new year. This is a little bit of a different episode today. I think it's been a interesting year. I don't know what the adjective I want to use actually is. I think the one thing I've very much noticed this year is that we really need to prioritize joy, our own joy. And others. I truly believe that. I just don't think joyful people can cause much harm, and I don't think that's like a naive thing. But with that said, maybe it's important to be specific about what, see joy as here at Joy Lab. Joy is not just happiness. Those are not the same thing. Joy is not just a response to [00:01:00] something good that's happening, it's deeper than that.
Henry: Yes. Yes. I think the, the way that we use the word joy is not about a feeling.
Aimee Prasek: Yeah.
Henry: It's not about something we're trying to attain necessarily, although we, I think most of us would agree we want it, but I see it more as a way of, a way of being, you know, as, as a, a unified whole person approach to life that goes way beyond our life circumstances, whatever they are.
I remember early in my career learning about Viktor Frankl. That's a name that'll resonate with a lot of folks. He was a very famous psychiatrist in his day who, who spent, quite a bit of World War II living in a concentration camp. He was Jewish and he was in a concentration camp, and he survived it.
While he was there, he really honed this theory that he had of, of mental health and wellbeing, which [00:02:00] really was a philosophy of life.
Aimee Prasek: Yeah.
Henry: And in, in essence, what it said was that no matter what is happening. You can choose how you view it and how you respond to it, and you can find meaning and even goodness, even when you are suffering.
So I like to think that we're building on that kind of philosophy or approach to life, that no matter what is happening and no matter what mood you're in, in any given moment, it's possible to stay connected to a genuine, unbreakable source of joy that each one of us has deep inside of us. So the elements of joy that we are continually working on.
The qualities like awe, gratitude, [00:03:00] fun, resilience. I think of 'em like seeds. That we are, we are sowing and we can give the light of our attention to them. We can water them with our practice. We can fertilize them with time and patience, and eventually they'll give us more access to that undercurrent of joy that was there all along.
Aimee Prasek: Yes. Yeah, I think it's really helpful to note that Henry, as you said, it's like not a feeling like I can't just put joy in my hand and show you what it is and like describe it clearly as a universal thing. Because it's not just that one... like happiness, it's not just that one experience where, you know, we, we can kind of measure happiness. We can take it on a scale, see how it, how it increases based on a certain specific circumstance, see how it falls. [00:04:00] Joy is something deeper as you've described. And man's search for meaning with Viktor Frankl's, one of Viktor Frankl's books. I remember reading that early in my sort of healing journey, helped me believe that even though I, I didn't, I couldn't name it or describe it or even feel like it was part of me or I was worthy of it, that joy was there for me. That there was something in me that was just joy.
Henry: Right.
Aimee Prasek: That
Henry: Mm.
Aimee Prasek: you described, was an undercurrent that would be there always for me, and that maybe I just covered it up.
So every single person, all of us are worthy of joy. It is our human right. We are wired for it. And as a pessimist, I can tell you that's true. I still am a joyful pessimist and I love [00:05:00] it. I don't need to change my sort of survival tendencies that I might have as we've talked about, shifting that sort of word pessimist to, I like to just say I'm a survival-ist. I like to see what, what can keep me alive, what might be harmful, and I am joyful. Those things are not mutually exclusive either.
So come as you are to joy because it is who you are.
And so I hope that Joy Lab is something that has helped you to know that to be true, that you deserve joy. You are wired for it. It's part of you. And that this Podcast and Program, if you're with us in the Program, that these tools help you to uncover it if it's been buried, I know how that is. and then tap back into it. I guarantee you it's there.
So, we are, are sending you as we sort of are coming into this new year, like the most joyful wishes for 2026. [00:06:00] We are so grateful that you're here with us and that we can come together to create more joy. And we also hope that you can join us in this work by donating. We are a nonprofit. We're committed to keeping this podcast ad free and we are on a mission to spread more joy. And we need you. You can head to JoyLab.coach. Can tap that donate button, to keep these kinds of mental health tools, these more empowering, more meaningful approaches in some ways to mental health, to keep this kind of work spreading in the world. A $5 donation, honestly, is huge for us. You can give more. Absolutely. Maybe you have a DAF, and before 2025 ends, you need to get that donation out for tax reasons. We do have DAF Pay right on our website. Super easy. Or you have a yacht full of cash that you need laundered. Consider Joy Lab. I'm just kidding. We can't take your dirty money. [00:07:00] I guess we wouldn't know if it's dirty. I dunno. We'll talk to the lawyers, but seriously, if you can't give financially, that's okay. Telling one other person about this podcast every month is a powerful monthly giving gift that will create that helper's high that we talked about in a previous episode. And when you tell someone about this podcast, when you let them know that you're someone who cares about mental health, that might not sound like a big deal, but if someone else knows that, um, that about you, that you're, you're open to talking mental health, you might be that one safe person that they feel comfortable talking to when they're going through a tough time. And that's everything for that person. That's the power of giving.
Henry: You know, we really do believe in what we're doing here.
Aimee Prasek: Yeah. Doggone it.
Henry: We are passionate about it [00:08:00] and we wanna keep it going. And of course, that takes resources. I feel that we are incredibly good stewards of the resources we have been given. I really do. We are very lean, we're very efficient. We do this work out of joy.
Truly, we are committed to sharing the knowledge, teaching the skills, spreading the joy that we know is so helpful at preventing and supporting anyone with a mental or emotional challenge,
All the more important when we're going through such difficult times as we are collectively right now. Who among us is not feeling stressed, depleted, discouraged from time to time, but as we've said, none of that is incompatible with joy.
So help us keep it going and grow our ability to spread some light and love in this world that needs it [00:09:00] so much right now.
Aimee Prasek: Yes, yes, yes. Cheers to 2026. Thank you, Henry, for shining a beacon of light as we venture into this next year together. 'Cause together we're creating a more joyful and resilient world. That's what we're doing. So I wanna close this with some wisdom from psychiatrist Jean Shinoda Bolen. Here it is. "When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life."
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