I am so sorry for your loss, and cannot imagine what you are going through. I admire your ability to be grateful for what you had while also allowing yourself to not be okay all of the time. It sounds like you have a lot of love and support around you. My heart goes out to you. 
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I use an app to help with mindful eating (Noom) and I just started a mini-course they have called “Create space for joy in your life”. I obviously thought of #TeamJoy immediately as soon as I saw this!
In the first lesson they say we can create joy by focusing on four areas:
- Doing things that give us pleasure
- Doing things that give us meaning
- Doing things that give us a sense of accomplishment
- Doing things that give us a feeling of connection with others
That makes sense to me and sounds similar to a lot of what’s been discussed by Cenk & Ana and on the discussion boards. Thought I’d share in case the list helps anyone focus on types of steps they can take to start or continue down the path of joy.
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perspective: About 24 years ago I lost a women who was like a sister and mom to me my kids called her aunty grandma.I could not understand why she was taken at such a pivital point in my life and I struggled. about 5 months later My father in law got cancer and I took care of him until his death, again I had trouble understanding why. about 4 months after his death my grandfather died after a short hospital stay. At his funeral, my mom informed us all that she had some tests run and she had cancer. 4 days shy of a year since father in law died my mom passed. I have always been a care giver, and even with all my medical back ground and knowledge I just could not make sense of all of these people leaving me. about 1 year later, I started looking after a older woman, and she did not want to die in hospital she wanted to stay at home. I offered my help and took care of her until she died peacefully at home. I found a joy in that time, and answers to so many WHY’s. In all the times I had faced that loss, I could not see the gift…I had in big or small ways allowed each of them to go. I found that like watching each of my grand babies be born, watching people walk to the end of their journy was just as special and magical. I took care of several more people whose chose to stay at home for their end of life care, and I made a point of talking to them learning about their lives and hearing stories about their adventures. Many stories I later learned the family knew nothing about. I got the chance to share bits and peices of their loved one with them, and I got to have a small peice to take with me on my next adventure. they say that life is not about the destination but about the roads less traveled that we take.
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I love the series on finding joy on Tuesdays. I love TYT, and it helps me feel connected, but the joy theme is the best. I am so impressed by the stories. Like Ana, they had me crying. It is so great to find other empaths.
I have been working on finding joy for several years, and feeling isolated is challenging. After trauma, ten years ago, I became ill with chronic fatigue and, more recently, have significant difficulty walking due to severe hip osteoarthritis. I sleep most of the day and can only work part-time online from home. I have challenges grocery shopping because the store’s electric carts are not always available or useable, so I am reluctant to leave the house.
I find joy in four things. One is my cats, especially watching my kitten play so joyfully (my 20 y.o. cat sleeps all day). A second joy is my part-time online instructor job, which supports students with challenges (I am an empath). I love to connect with them. A third is flooding my social media with humor posts. Social media is not depressing because I select mostly humor groups. Did you know that there are over 50 Far Side groups on Facebook? My fourth joy is playing music on the mandolin, fiddle, or harp when I have the energy. I try to find joy in something each day. Operation Hope #teamhope
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Keven Smith is just Awesome. This is how I feel when I hear people trying to cancel others. Too many people now are just looking for a reason to go after someone/thing. It’s all negative and no positive.
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I have found that if I pay too much attention to the details of what’s going on around the world (and also to, on, and in the world), I become more and more despondent. I find cutting down on these details helps me in that I spend less time reading/listening/absorbing and more time doing.
The doing is what is empowering. Empowering helps (but does not totally) alleviate said despondency.
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I know that the week for making mistakes, I mean, as an assignment was that from 05/21/2024 to 05/27/2024 but I seem to have a rate of one mistake per week since I have nade at least three of them on the last three weeks. I will now follow the example of one of my heroes and correct it to the best of my ability
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So here it goes @cenkuygur, I would like to apologize for my word choice during my intervention on the town hall for one of those in May. I used the word vitriolic to describe your style when I actually meant passionate or firebrand maybe, as long as it doesn’t have any negative connotations: I did not intend to portray your style as something negative, I actually love the way you express your ideas and you do achieve to stand out. And since I value effectiveness in all these endeavors, why wouldn’t I?
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Hey, TYT and fellow members
I am watching live for the first time in a long time despite being a member over the past few of years. I wanted to share my story of hope and joy.
I was at an incredibly dark point in my life and, without giving grueome details, I had chosen how I was going to make my exit. By chance, I met an amazing friend who made me reconsider my decision. Since then, I have run 5 marathons, met a wonderful woman who I went on to marry, got a job as the head brewer at my local brewery (and I’m totally kicking ass), have my first child on the way and am finacially stable enough to have made my first extra donation to TYT yesterday. I have found sourced of genuine happiness and will never be the same man again.
Life is so hard, but you can find happiness. If you’re open and don’t feel the joy rushing in yet, you haven’t found the right life/people yet. Keep reaching out. You are worth the effort, I promise you. I love you all.
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I am so happy for you and your family! It is always inspiring to hear from people who were able to come out on the other side of depression to find real joy. Congratulations on your baby; I wish your wife an easy and healthy pregnancy. 
This week’s #OperationJoy assignment >>>>>>>>>>>>> Check out Cenk’s To Do list! #teamjoy. https://fb.watch/sQ3iboX-4u/
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That link isn’t working for the Operation Joy “Cheat List” on Facebook @karaeastman . It just takes me to the Facebook “Watch” page not the actual video. Is there a link to a “short” on YouTube or maybe TikTok?
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You beat me to it! I just screengrabbed it, too. I also made a clip of the full discussion about the to-do list if anyone’s interested and will post it here momentarily.
EDIT: Here it is.
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You both beat me! 
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I decided to do a self-check for the #OperationJoy to-do list for last week. Four successes and three still-working-on-it’s, not bad!
Do something that makes you happy: I read for fun (instead of just work) and watched TYT.- Do something nice: One thing was I left a 20% tip for “just” a pick-up order.
Reject judgement. Got down on myself for slipping on my diet (but picked it back up the next day)- Find something I love about myself. I spend lots of quality time with my daughter, and really enjoy doing it
- Don’t be afraid of making a mistake. I did this checklist but was still a little worried since I’m the only one to post one (at least so far!)
- Choose the perspective that’s right for you. Too often, I feel I’m still way too cynical about progressives making a difference
- Choose to be happy. I had a cold but instead of wallowing in not feeling well I chose to suggest (and do!) fun family activities like playing Taboo.
Now my next challenge is to see if I can do a self-check again for this week (either mentally or posting again)!
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You knocked it out of the park! This may sound silly, but I never thought of actually creating a checklist and writing down my progress weekly–now I am even more inspired. I loved reading your list, thank you.
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#teamjoy #operationjoy My husband’s small business has changed drastically since the pandemic, and has yet to recover. I work full-time in education and recently decided to add a weekend job to ease our financial stress. The day before I started that new job, my husband signed a contract that relieved the need for me to work two jobs. I don’t believe in a “higher power” but sometimes the universe’s timing feels divine. We are so joyful & thankful this week. His business isn’t out of the woods, but I already see a
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I am so happy for you, and glad you don’t need to have another job on top of your already full-time work. (Working in education is actually full-time plus already, I would imagine.) I wish you and your husband all the best, and may your business continue to flourish!
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I woke up at 3:45 this morning in order to make it to work at 4:45. It was an exhausting and unacceptably hot day in the brewery. I was a sweaty, disheveled mess. It was a reasonable case to make that it was a miserable day.
I defy! I made 10 barrels (about 310 gallons) of a beer that I’ve just been itching to brew. On my way out the door, I had a few customers say that they love when they see me brewing because it means something delicious on the horizon.
I could have felt the weight of the grind. I decided to feel the love. In that moment, I was a rockstar.
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