If we believe that joy comes from the outside, then we perceive it as an endowment. Something that has to be sought outside of ourselves and that it ends when the source is no longer accessible. This external attribution triggers a need to entangle the joy we experience with the perceived source. For example, if we believe that someone “brings” us joy, when the person is not present, joy is diminished by a feeling of anguish because we miss the source. And if the relationship is terminated, joy ends with a feeling of despair because the source is no longer available. But in both cases, it is only a suspension of joy.

The preparation to enter the portals of joy requires challenging the illusion of externality. Joy is inherently ours and it is triggered from within, rather than endowed by an outside source. When the outside source, seemingly entangled with joy, is not present or ends, the triggering mechanism is suspended or deactivated respectively, rather than lost. Ironically, we endow others to trigger the joy that already exists within us, but the illusion of external attribution leads us to believe that others are the endowers. This workshop provides the didactic compass to access joy and the experiential tools to sustain it even under times of turbulence.