Henry (00:05)
Hello, I'm Henry Emmons and welcome back to Joy Lab
Aimee Prasek (00:09)
And I'm Aimee Prasek. If you're listening to this when it drops, is January 1st. Happy New Year.
Henry (00:16)
Happy New Year.
Aimee Prasek (00:18)
Uh, cheers to 2026. And I know it's a Thursday, which maybe seems weird because we always drop episodes on Wednesdays. Uh, and yes, that's true. That will not change, but we are also adding a new episode every month.
episode will drop on the first of each month. It'll be focused more on like anchoring into our element of joy, kind of the element of joy 101.
So there is even more joy in store for you for 2026. And another really
way to boost your joy this year is to be sure to follow us or subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening. Again, we'll have more episodes coming to you.
all fully focused on helping you tap into your joy this year.
there'll probably be even a few surprise episodes coming, I think we'll surprise ourselves and drop some. Surprise Henry.
Henry (01:13)
Yeah, it's a surprise all the way around.
Aimee Prasek (01:18)
No plans set there yet, but we'll see what happens.
All right, so this month we are talking about our Element of Inspiration. And we define that as this experience of being awakened to new possibilities and connecting with that experience in such a way that we take action and nourishing action. And we love this Element of Joy
for January because there's a lot of pressure around resolutions, I think, for many of us. And so often we create resolutions from a place maybe opposite of inspiration, like obligation or guilt or shame, which isn't so motivating.
Henry (02:07)
Yeah, you know, you're right. I think that this turn of the year, which is a great opportunity, but it's challenging sometimes to know how to really work with the energy of that. I think falling into this sense of being resolute and using your willpower to change for the better is one way that that happens. And I think another way is that we get
often get kind of hooked into maybe grasping for hope, which in a grasping sort of way. So I'm thinking of a conversation I just had with a colleague recently, a friend and colleague
was talking about this and said she just didn't really like the word hope that much. I think it didn't feel empowering to her, maybe a little passive, you know, almost like
Oh, if I just wait, you know, hopefully something will change. anyway, she would she preferred looking for possibility. And I kind of resonated with that possibility. So I like the way you just defined inspiration, Aimee, you know, being awakened to new possibilities, but not just seeing possibilities, but also taking nourishing action. Wise, wise action.
Most of the people that I work with, in fact, most of the people I know have found the year 2025 to be really hard. I think it knocked the wind out of a lot of folks
various ways and maybe not just a little, but a lot.
And I do think one of the things that many of us love about the new year is that we do get to turn the page. You know, it's just that metaphorical thing, but it's something we can utilize. And so no matter what the previous year has brought to us, and I will say that for me, this was a really hard year.
But I think we get the sense of a fresh start, a blank canvas, a chance to see new possibilities, new possibilities. And maybe we can even grab hold of some of them this time around. I think that's the real beauty of inspiration. It's
taking a fresh breath every time at the new year, every moment in fact is quite literally a new beginning. And I think if we stay open to possibility, then it just never ends. It is always there for us to look at, to see, to maybe take action with.
Aimee Prasek (04:52)
Hmm. First, Henry, yes, I love that definition. And it sounds like you do as well. It's your definition of inspiration. yeah, that's why you resonate with it.
Henry (05:05)
Well, no wonder I like it so much. That's very funny.
Aimee Prasek (05:11)
I love that definition as well and also agree there is something enlivening about kind of this fresh start of the new year.
I think it can help us remember that inspiration is not just nice to have, it really is an important part of our lives, of living, and we can cultivate it. We don't have to just sit around and wait for inspiration to strike us, which makes me think of your friend's ⁓ critique of hope,
But just like inspiration, at least the way we do Hope in joy lab, it is really empowering. And it's focused on that action that that arises from within us. So we'll get into that more here throughout the month.
But first, I want to get into more of the power of inspiration, share some research why this is worth our time. So I just want to popcorn some findings here. Individuals who score higher on something called the inspiration scale, report more absorption in tasks and higher completion rates of those tasks versus folks who score lower on the inspiration scale. Folks who score higher also have a stronger drive
Henry (06:25)
Hmm.
Aimee Prasek (06:29)
to complete their work and at the same time are less competitive, which I love. I know I love that combo, right? Additionally, folks who score higher on this scale are more intrinsically motivated, meaning that they do things because it matters to them. We do a lot on intrinsic motivation here at Joy Lab. I'll find some episodes as well where we really hit on that and the power of that makes a difference for goal completion.
Henry (06:33)
That's interesting. Yeah.
Aimee Prasek (06:55)
Folks who score higher on the inspiration scale also report more self-esteem and optimism. So inspiration can act as this powerful fuel for us to actually take action, not to impress others, but action that is meaningful to us and that we engage in because it fills us.
Henry (07:15)
Hmm. You know, that makes me wonder, that research you just referenced, whether the folks who score higher on the inspiration scale are just born that way, you know, kind of like, like some of us are naturally more optimistic than others. Or is this something that they practice that they intentionally work to get better at? And maybe the research doesn't address that necessarily, but
I know what we believe here at Joy Lab, and that is that inspiration is a skill. And no matter where we fall on that scale that you just referred to, we can move ourselves upward a little at a time to take real advantage of this incredible engine for wise action that we call inspiration. So that's what I believe.
Aimee Prasek (07:50)
Yes.
Henry (08:11)
And I'm curious what the science says on this. So maybe we'll get into that this month, as well as some really practical ideas for how to tap into this beautiful resource of power that lies dormant, I think, so much of the time inside of us.
Aimee Prasek (08:31)
Yeah, that's a really good question. Sort of chicken or the egg. We'll get into that this month. Maybe sneak peek here though. The science of this is really empowering. And if it only worked for optimists, then I would not be here talking about it. Clearly. I'll also say quickly actually that doctors Todd Thrash and Andrew Elliott. those are the folks who created the inspiration scale. They're key researchers in this.
Henry (08:44)
Huh,
Aimee Prasek (08:58)
area, they identify inspiration as both a state and a trait. And I don't want to get in the weeds here too much with that. But I think it's helpful to note. So a trait is sort of in the psychological research and such is more about personality traits and temperaments. Talk about temperament here, right?
Henry (09:13)
Yeah, it's kind of more
long standing. It's enduring.
Aimee Prasek (09:18)
Yes, stable, enduring more enduring characteristics of ourselves, and how we think and, and feel and kind of move in the world. Though I think there's a lot that can move in there. And that can happen there. And then state is the experience of it being in the state of inspiration. Now mindfulness has been through this state versus trait debate. And researchers like here in the case of inspiration, say, yeah, it's both. You don't have to have
this personality trait of mindfulness to experience right the state of mindfulness but it probably helps and maybe one more thing here because I just can't I can't help myself when we start talking about this stuff
Henry (09:59)
you
Aimee Prasek (10:00)
So in mindfulness literature, and there's way more of that than the inspiration literature, it seems to be the case that as we increase the amount of state mindfulness that we experience, trait mindfulness changes in the same direction, positive relationship. So we can practice the state and we can shift the trait. And I think the same thing goes for inspiration. All of our elements of joy actually
Henry (10:25)
Yeah.
Aimee Prasek (10:30)
Henry, you've worked with thousands of folks like have you in the field, have you seen sort of that movement from state to trait? Does that make sense?
Henry (10:37)
Yeah,
it's I think of it as as just kind of sliding along that continuum, you know that we often refer to and and you know, we all want to be moving in the direction of greater health, greater well being, greater joy. And I think with each of our elements of joy, that's a realistic possibility. It's kind of what we want to be seeing as moving along that continuum towards.
you know, towards a greater sense of well-being.
Aimee Prasek (11:07)
Yeah, yeah, these are the learned nature of these skills, learned optimism, these learned inner states, learned inner traits. So, okay, so I'll put that aside for a moment.
Let's, but let's set that actually as the foundation and talk about cultivating it. How do we boost inspiration? How do we experience more of that state more often? And we can look at the research here as well. There are three common factors that can increase the likelihood of us experiencing inspiration or here are here are a few to consider. The first is openness to experience makes sense when we're rigid and closed off, inspiration can't break through. Second is positive
affect,
which really is our openness to and experience of positive emotions and inner states. We do that work here. And the third one is pretty boring. It's preparation. I know. So when you're thinking about inspiration, it's like 99 % preparation. Yeah. So
Henry (12:06)
That is pretty boring. ⁓
You
Aimee Prasek (12:18)
And this is not unique for inspiration behind so many positive emotions and inner states that are out there for us to experience it's preparation. preparing the ground for this stuff, keeping our eyes and minds open to this stuff. There's a lot of tending to the fields.
So we're gonna open up, we'll tap into some positive inner states and we'll prepare, we'll practice some things that will make inspiration more part of our lives this month. And we're gonna do that through a series on self connection, which I'm really excited about.
So what's self-connection? It's a sense of connection with ourselves, feeling connected. If you've ever experienced depression and anxiety, probably know what the opposite feels like, sort of feeling disconnected. It is uncomfortable to say the least. And it might feel kind of insurmountable, like getting from disconnection to connection is impossible, but I really think it's easier than we might imagine.
when we break it down. So we're going to be doing that. And to do that, I like to lean on the concept work from researchers, Klusman, Curtin, Langer and Nichols. So they define self connection as a sense of connection to the perceived self that includes the relationship of three components, self awareness, self acceptance and self alignment. And we're going to get into each of those components this month.
And then we'll also end the month by looking at a really powerful kind of goal setting strategy called self-concordant goals. And all of this will work to set some kindling for inspiration.
Henry (14:07)
I love this, Aimee. I can't wait to dig into it. I look forward to learning more about the research, which I'm not that familiar with actually. And you know, we love to start with the science here at Joy Lab. And I so appreciate how steeped you are in it, Aimee. You just keep finding great stuff.
Aimee Prasek (14:11)
Me too!
Henry (14:33)
And then, starting there, we're gonna get into how to use it and move beyond the science, in a sense, to learn how to live our lives in richer and more meaningful ways.
And in that, I think what we call applied mindfulness can add so much to those three concepts you mentioned, the self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-alignment. I love those three ideas. And even now, I'm starting to see the possibilities. I'm starting to get inspired. This is gonna be a great start to the year, Aimee.
Aimee Prasek (15:08)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is gonna be great. So folks, do be sure, subscribe, follow the podcast so that you know when these episodes are dropping because as much as absolutely you could listen to each one independently, and they will make sense, They're really going to kind of build on each other in a lot of really great ways this month. So it would be awesome to kind of stick through and we're going to have some practices that you can engage in that will kind of build through the month as well. If you're in the Joy Lab program, you'll
see how this work on self connection will make sense as well with your experiments. I think even deepen them a little bit more. to close our time today, I want to share some wisdom from Carl Jung, some motivation for self connection. Here it is. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes.
