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Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright aim to explore the meaning of joy, the differences between joy and happiness, and practical ways to cultivate more joy in daily life living with ADHD.

This episode dives into the essence of joy, including surprise moments as well as practices that help align us to experience joy more frequently. Nikki shares insights from a recent retreat focused on sound, music, and vibrations for generating joy and harmony in life.

Key points covered:

• Defining joy as moments of transcendent happiness sparked by surprise, versus the overall state of happiness. "Joy involves changes in visual perception. Colors seem brighter, motor behavior, physical movements feel freer and easier, smiling happens involuntarily."
• Happiness as a constant state, while joy represents fleeting peaks within the state of contentment. An analogy: "Happiness is a 100-story building and joy is the elevator that takes you to higher floors briefly."
• The importance of letting difficult emotions move through you rather than ruminating endlessly. "Feel the storm, and then let it move through you."

Questions we answer in this episode:

• What is the difference between joy and happiness?
• How can we cultivate more joy in daily life?
• What are tools for moving through grief or trauma to regain joy?

Key Takeaways:

• If seeking joy, focus on aligning practices toward joy.
• Turn toward positive thoughts, music, sights that spark joy. What you focus on grows.
• Meditation, journaling, and talk therapy help stop rumination loops.

This is an uplifting episode on aligning ourselves to notice and generate more joy in daily life. Quotes like "the past no longer counts, the future hasn't been written yet" inspire us to be present for fleeting moments of joy.

Links & Notes

• Learning to Learn and the Navigation of Moods: The Meta-Skill for the Acquisition of Skills
• The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
• Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett: How to Understand Emotions - Huberman Lab
• Dig into the podcast Shownotes Database

• (00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
• (02:26) - Support the Podcast and Become a Patron!
• (03:20) - Joy & ADHD
• (06:32) - What is Joy?
• (14:48) - Do you create joy?
• (22:12) - Moods
• (25:20) - 17 Seconds
• (33:32) - Huberman Labs Podcast Note