You can start a joy revolution
(or any social change movement)
Five simple steps, even if you have no time or money.
Maybe you want to increase joy in your community, but you’re wondering: How can I start it up? Maybe you have no time or no money — but still want to help.
Last Friday, I discussed five key steps[1] for building social change movements with the talented, committed Project 351 Alumni Leadership Council youth. We all can use these steps to spark community joy — whether by starting a smiling revolution (which requires neither time nor money), a workout group, or a full joyful community effort.
This post features these five steps — with examples and information for each:
1) Start with what you know. (And get to know more about what you want to start with[2]). I learned both the importance of mental health from my birth mother’s challenges, and the importance of a community joy approach from her resilience.
One Teen Magazine article led me to take several college-level happiness and psychology courses;[3] read, listen (podcasts), and watch (TED Talks, documentaries) extensively; and attend a “Happy Camp” retreat[4]. We integrated what matters for joy with sociology, design, and public health to build a movement; and distilled it into the community joy approach. Experts confirmed our five pillars captured what matters most. And we began this work.
Use the five pillars. Bring what you know and who you know together to increase joy. Maybe smiling is your favorite — and you can make it contagious. Maybe you love to cook (or play checkers or work out) — and want to start a community dinner (or game or fitness routine) series to strengthen community relationships. Take your passion, combine with 1–5 joyful pillars, and start something that will strengthen relationships and your community.
2) Lead with a vision. I have known for fifteen years I wanted to significantly, measurably increase joy (sustained emotional wellbeing) in community. Joy matters. Joy also promotes mental and physical health and stronger democracy. While we experiment, and adjust our approach to maximize impact, our vision for joy anchors our work.
If your dream came true, what would be different? Maybe more people would say hi on neighborhood streets, or would meditate. Maybe community joy would measurably increase. Start with your vision, try an approach, learn, adjust, repeat.
3) Talk with people. I shared the joyful vision with anyone who would listen: in conversation, as a Nantucket Project Fellow, and in a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce TOYL speech.
My good friend Steve Holt told me about the opportunity to lead East Boston Social Centers. When I applied, I told the board about the joy vision (they still hired me). We continue to tell people, including with this blog.
When you tell people, they can support you. They can ask how to help. And they will give advice to help build out your model.
Talk about your vision with anyone who will listen. Find early champions and collaborators. Or post on social, poster, stand at a T station and hand out flyers. And smile.
4) Find your own compass. I start with trying to better live the community joy pillars myself. From there, we bring the community joy approach to the Social Centers team, then to our programs and then to our community. We strive to move at a manageable, joyful pace (I can always do better) — knowing that will take longer, but also take us further.
Success will be measured over the course of years. We shouldn’t compare to others’ pace of change or approach (except to foster learning). We should celebrate each other’s successes and recognize we are all different people pursuing different goals.
We all have cause to be proud and cause to be humble. We all can change one hour, or one day, or one life with our smile (and can be proud of that impact). At the same time, this work is humbling. Striving for increased joy is an ongoing human project, and the work will continue long after we are gone.
5) Thank people. Joy is all about gratitude. I don’t thank people enough. Thank you Project 351 for inspiring me to write this. Thank you family, friends, and supporters known and unknown who have given more in support of this work (and in support of me) than I can ever return. The best I can do is try to pay it forward — and remember thanking is an act of joy.
Thank you for reading!
Now: to the revolution![5]
[1] While I’m calling them steps, they aren’t one and done. We repeat them as we continue the work.
[2] Sorry for bad grammar with my preposition. I did it for the structure.
[3] You can audit UC Berkeley’s Science of Happiness for free at: https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/what_we_do/event/the_science_of_happiness . Thank you Allyson Trenteseaux for telling us!
[4] Story for another time. Shout out to Vanessa for being a good sport and booking it for us both as a birthday gift!
[5] Shout for my son and daughter’s work to memorize all the music of Hamilton.
This is the 19th post about boosting joy the only way we can: in community. Whether you’re increasing your personal joy; making your community the next Finland; saving democracy; or just a friend reading along, this column is for you. Please share and subscribe (https://medium.com/@justinpasquariello). To join our movement, please send me an email or support East Boston Social Centers: https://www.ebsocialcenters.org/support
