Introduction: A traditional American upbringing
Young Female Indigenous Navajo Teacher Assisting Elementary Age Students in Class Room at an Elementary School in Monument Valley Utah
I grew up in a very traditional American family. I had two loving parents, the extended family got along great with them and we lived in one house. And after that, the delivery goes a little awry. I grew up in a big family. I had grown up with two African-American brothers, two Korean sisters, and one biological brother. My parents believed in adoption. They believed that adoption was such an important part of life, helping people, wanting to build our family, helping others.
And in my family, we remain close today. We don’t talk every day. We’re all over the country, but when we get together like the picture above, we get together and have nothing but fun. And the topic of joy is something that moves me but also concerns me. It concerns me because some of the times we talk about the youth in our country today, sometimes I feel that the topic of joy is not discussed enough. Luckily for me, I had two parents who felt that joy was a huge part of life.
The importance of adoption in family life
I loved making others smile. Joy became a big part of our family. One of the things my mother taught us was this idea that joy is a decision. And when we talk to my mom and when we talk, when she talks to us, you can tell she’s making a deliberate decision about joy. And when we think about joy as beings, we think about the idea that this is how we respond to life. It’s something you have to make a choice with.
And so when we talk about children, which we do every day in our profession, we talk. This is a topic we want to bring up more. And in our region, mental health is a big part of that. And joy is something I think we should spend more time on. And it’s not just about just looking at happy things, but actually finding joy and things that we don’t think of or intentionally think of as happy things. It’s not just about looking, it’s about finding joy.
Joy in education: Teach like a champion
Pupils raising their hands during class at the elementary school
Doug Lemov in the book Teach Like a Champion 2.0, talks about classrooms and talks about the idea that in classrooms you have to have joy. And he calls it the J factor, because we know as students and as teachers that if there’s no joy in your classroom, it doesn’t matter the subject matter, it doesn’t matter how great your lesson plan is, it doesn’t matter how great and how much time you’ve spent on to prepare a lesson.
What is important is that the joy you exude and the joy the children get from this lesson, this effective lesson that is meaningful and without joy, this lesson is greatly diminished. Joy is an emotion. It’s about expanding happiness, happiness in yourself, rejoicing. Something that comes to you or something that you give. And I wonder sometimes if we have forgotten the importance of joy.
Rediscovering the joy in everyday life
If I were to ask you, when was the last time you thought of the word joy Not just the experience that made you happy, but the word joy in your everyday life? A lot of people would say, well, I really don’t think about that word every day. And I suggest we do. I suggest that we purposefully seek out things that make us happy or opportunities to bring joy to others.
Today. This is a scene you see all over the country. In fact, a lot has been discussed today, a lot about today. This idea, myself included, that we catch ourselves. We could be in a restaurant, we could be in the grocery store. And this is the scene we see or the scene we take part in. It’s not very pleasant.
The power of joy in relationships
Happy boyfriend embracing his girlfriend while doing home finances together online on a laptop computer in the kitchen.
I love technology, I love its power, I love using it. But many times we have to think about ourselves every time. Can we look for something that is happy? Can we bring joy into our lives? Why joy Joy is not only about things. It is something that lies within each of us. Imagine if I asked you the question, does anyone here fill up their car with gas on their way? Do you have your own gas tank to fill up your car? Well, the answer, of course, is no. We go to gas stations, but joy in many ways could be the gasoline of life, the ability to be successful in life. The happy people are successful. Happy people are healthy. Happy people succeed. I want to tell you a story that many of you may know.
Spreading joy: Mayer
Steve Mayer was a foreman in Robbinsville, New Jersey, very successful foreman, positive energy. I didn’t know Steve. I knew a lot of people who did. I knew him. And when he was tragically hit by a car by someone using his cell phone in 2016, a lot of information about Steve came out, and a lot of it had to do with the word joy.
You see, Steve, one of his biggest focuses was the idea that as humans, we’re hardwired to think selfishly rather than altruistically and this idea that when we sit there and look at our phones or when we sit there isolated or afraid to talk to people , sometimes we don’t think about the opportunity in front of us and what it would do, like my parents did in a different way.
Joy and Mental Well-Being
And when he talked about all the things that affect our kids in terms of mental well-being, he talked about, if you think about society today, hurt people, hurt people. Healthy people don’t hurt people. Happy people help people. Happy people make better people. Happy people make someone’s day. And that’s what I think we need to talk about in schools today.
This idea that if we are able to consciously talk about the subject of this threefold word joy, it will ingrain in the minds of our children that this is something that should be a natural part of life. It’s one of those things that you have to choose every day, not just talk about it today and then Monday we’ll be back at school. We don’t think about it.
Final words
What if it’s a big part of education, but happily, it’s about what we can do now? Nothing needs to change to experience joy or share joy. I like to say carpe diem. Seize the day. I like to say it all the time, but in essence it is the Carpe Guardian, which seizes the joy because our life, as I said, is 100 years and we have to seize this opportunity to be happy.
Each of you. If I said, do you want to be happy or sad, you could say, happy. Well, you have the power to choose it. You have the power to see joy in things that others do not. And it has nothing to do with circumstances. Circumstances can help make you happy, sure, but even great circumstances don’t make some people happy because they decide they’re not for it. Is not. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s not about the conditions, it’s about you. And so I hope through this experience and through your experience as young adults, through our experiences.