Finding Joy in The Book of Joy

Posted by Feb 13, 2017 Books, Full Grown Bookworms

Are you having trouble finding joy in your life? There is a difference between feeling happiness and feeling really, truly joyful. That is an important point that the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu want to make clear to those seeking joy. While we can experience happiness while eating a delicious bit of food or watching a TV show we enjoy, it is not the same as true lasting joy in your life.

Over the course of a week in the Dalai Lama’s home in Dharamsala, India, these two spiritual men engaged in deep conversations. These include discussions on the nature of joy, the obstacles to joy, and the positive qualities needed for joy. Their hope was to help people find joy in their lives, even as the world seems to be less joyful. This book is the result of those conversations between these two great spiritual leaders.

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The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World is written by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams, who has been writing for Archbishop Tutu and other spiritual leaders for years. He manages to capture their conversations, as well as their constant teasing, and transcribe it in a way that is easy and enjoyable to read. In addition, he also references many joy “experts”, including scientists who have studied joy and happiness and real people who maintain a joyful existence against all odds. These include a Holocaust survivor and a man who was wrongly convicted and sat on death row for 30 years.

Some of the stories in this book are breathtaking, including the stories of the Dalai Lama’s exile and Archbishop Tutu’s struggle against apartheid. While they have dealt with tremendous struggles in their lives, they manage to face the day with gratitude and joy. The fact that the people in these situations manage to live a joyful life gives hope to the rest of us that we can also find it.

Everyone can find joy

While the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu are spiritual leaders, the book is not meant to be a religious text. They make it clear that it is meant to be a guide for everyone to find joy, regardless of their religious beliefs. Abrams discusses many scientific studies that have been done on this topic as well. It is interesting how much the scientific studies back up the points made by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu. No matter what your beliefs are, there is something in this book for you!

The book is broken up into 3 main sections: The Nature of True Joy, The Obstacles to Joy and The Eight Pillars of Joy. The first section discusses the definition of true joy and what it means to our lives. They discuss the relationship between pleasure and joy, as well as suffering and joy. Both men have endured tremendous difficulties in their lives, but they are adamant that they will not dwell on the negatives in life. This alone is inspiring. This section also has many great tidbits of knowledge, including the idea that suffering is sometimes necessary for us to feel and understand joy.

What are the obstacles we face in finding joy?

The second part of the book discusses the obstacles to joy. Abrams mentions that he has gathered questions from around the world for this historic meeting. One of the most asked questions was how we are supposed to feel joy in a world filled with so much suffering. The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu confront the many obstacles of joy, including stress, anger, grief, despair, loneliness, death and more. Through stories, bits of wisdom and dashes of scientific research, they explain how each of these obstacles can be overcome.

The third section outlines the Eight Pillars of Joy, or the positive qualities that allow us to feel and understand joy. The book outlines these pillars as:

  • Perspective
  • Humility
  • Humor
  • Acceptance
  • Forgiveness
  • Gratitude
  • Compassion
  • Generosity

Each pillar receives it’s own chapter as the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu share stories, lessons and tidbits to help the reader understand how to cultivate these positive qualities, and why they are so crucial to living a joyful life. These teachings are complemented by scientific study once again. Abrams fills out the chapters with his own narrative and his discussions with other “experts” in joy. Their words resonated with me and I often found myself setting the book aside and contemplating how to put these qualities into action. The stories they share of people who have suffered and found joy and peace will inspire you to put aside your own troubles.
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Start living with joy!

The book ends as it begins, with a glimpse into the friendship and joyfulness of the two spiritual leaders, as they celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday at the Tibetan Children’s Village. Despite the suffering in their lives and the lives of the people they serve, these two men are joyful beings. They cherish each other and like to have a good time. Their constant teasing and joking throughout the book makes you wish you were also there for their conversations. Their teachings are poignant, especially as the world seems to be getting angrier and moving so much faster. The final chapter is a compilation of joy practices. These include non-religious practices, as well as ones from Buddhism and Christianity. I found these to be a fantastic start in putting the lessons from this book into action.

I highly recommend this book to everyone seeking to find lasting joy in their lives. The lessons from these two great spiritual leaders will stick with you, while their constant humor will keep you entertained. Though these are heavy topics, this book is an easy and inspiring read. It is one that I will certainly read again and again. (Next time I will read it armed with post its and highlighters to catch all their nuggets of wisdom!). If you are intent on finding joy in your life, this book is a great place to start!

 

108 comments on “Finding Joy in The Book of Joy”

    • I will have to check that one out! I love how funny and down to Earth he seems in this one. It makes me want to sit and chat with him!

    • It is a really good book, and it definitely gives you easy ways to find more joy in your life! Focusing on the positive is one of their suggestions!

  10. I’ve never heard of this book! Which is kind of embarrassing because it seems like the perfect pick-me-up book that you’d read in book club. I’ll have to check it out!

    • It was actually recommended to me in a book club! It is a great read. Uplifting and informative while being entertaining.

  12. I am going to put this on my must read list as well as purchasing this as a gift for several people in my life. It sounds wonderful and I will be reading it.

  17. What an interesting collaboration between those two. It makes perfect sense but I never thought about the two of them teaming up 🙂

    Being from South Africa I am very familiar with Tutu and am so glad to see his thinking published in a format that more people will be exposed to.

    • I had no idea they were friends, but their teasing throughout the book is so funny and quite adorable. This was a great book that made me an instant fan of his!

  20. I am going to put this on my must read list. I love reading things that are uplifting and motivating to improve my life.

  21. Wow this sounds like s great book, although I am wary of any text that states happiness is a choice. To me, that negates mental illness and is truly unfair to those of us living it. However! I love the Dalai Llama and he certainly has been through a lot of suffering (I am not as familiar with the archbishop). Buddhism is actually predicated upon the belief that life is suffering, so I am definitely interested in reading a Buddhist/interfaith perspective on achieving joy.

    • I understand that completely. I have loved ones dealing with depression, and it is definitely not something they can choose their way out of it. The Archbishop and the Dalai Lama make an effort to point out that happiness and joy are different things, and that we can’t understand joy without suffering. They spend a lot of the text talking about suffering. I hope you read it and enjoy it.

  26. I love that they have collaborated on this; crashing through religious differences. Joy isw most certainly an enigmatic thing and something we often mistake for happiness.

    • I agree! I love how they work together despite their different ideas. Definitely something more people need to try these days!

  27. Such an interesting book! I love reading about these types of spiritual things. I’m definitely thinking of reading this one. Thank you for the review, it’s well written and very detailed!

  34. It definitely sounds like a great book. I haven’t had much time lately to read and that bothers me very much. Maybe I’ll be able to start again soon and add it to my list of must reads

    • I made it my mission to try to read a chapter of it a night. I got out of my intense reading habit for too long! Had to get back into it for myself!

  36. I will need to check this out a little more to add it to my read list which is way long but I always have room for more.

  38. This sounds like a wonderful book! Some days it’s really hard to start upbeat and positive, so this may be a good read to help out with that. 🙂

  42. Wow! This looks like a must-read! I will definitely look for a copy. Thanks for posting! xx

    Jacq
    jacqwritesworld.com
    #humpdayhype

  46. Thank you for this thorough review. This book intrigues me a lot, as my quest in life is not “happyness” but indeed (moment of) Joy. I’ll add this to my reading list, thank you!

  50. I believe that true joy, the one that’s truly everlasting, not of this world (because nothing from this world lasts) is only possible when you walk with God. Real peace and joy comes from Him and knowing you’re His child. I do think this book could be a lovely pick-me-up kind of a read and hopefully will cheer up many but then again, hopefully it doesn’t offer that fleeing joy, if you know what I mean, lovely.
    xox Nadia
    http://www.mielandmint.com

    • What I really enjoyed about this book was how these two very spiritual men were able to come together and agree on the path to joy, while still being true to their spirituality. It is a very inspiring read that will hopefully bring more compassion and peace to the world.

  53. This sounds like the most amazing book, I’ve written it down to try and grab a copy of it. I definitely struggle with joy, and for me sometimes I think it comes down to perspective – I can be a glass half-empty kind of gal. But I’d love to read these conversations and see what insight they have to share. Thanks for sharing your review with us!
    #humpdayhype

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