Creating a Joyful Life with ADHD

42 snips

Nov 9, 2023

Explore the meaning of joy and practical ways to cultivate more joy in daily life. Learn the difference between joy and happiness. Discover tools for moving through grief or trauma to regain joy. Focus on aligning practices toward joy and turn towards positive thoughts, music, and sights that spark joy. Understand the impact of ADHD on interpreting others' intentions and living a joyful life through mindfulness and taking action on desires.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

Attending the 'Creating Joy and Harmony' Workshop

03:33 • 2min

Creating Joy and Overcoming Negative Thoughts

05:13 • 19min

Negative Thoughts and Rumination

24:36 • 8min

The Myth of Smiling Equals Happiness and Brain Predictions

32:41 • 6min

Authenticity, ADHD, and Creating a Joyful Life

38:15 • 4min

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

(00:00) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(01:49) - Support the Podcast and Become a Patron!
(02:43) - Joy & ADHD
(05:55) - What is Joy?
(14:11) - Do you create joy?
(21:35) - Moods
(24:43) - 17 Seconds
(32:55) - Huberman Labs Podcast Note

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