By Renée Graham — 2020
Black people should not deny themselves spaces where we find joy and wonder—they are too rare in our lives.
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CLEAR ALL
Adjusting your attitude is easier than you think.
Pleasure can be a boon or a burden, depending on our relationship to it. It can leaven laborious days, or lead us to waste them. The pleasures of a mild stimulant such as caffeine can be harmless or even beneficial, but the pleasures of amphetamines can be deadly.
Where society has told Black people to “be quiet”, or that we’re “too loud”, revelling in joy is an act of resistance. As our feeds become even more inundated with images of trauma, joy can help us heal, too.
Black joy isn’t about erasing the difficulties of the Black experience, but showing the whole truth by creating balance, says Kleaver Cruz.
What better way to use Black History Month than as practice for creating a world that demands displays of Black joy and pleasure year-round?
We think of awe as an emotion reserved for the most extraordinary moments—summiting a mountain, the birth of a child, an exquisite live performance. But researchers who study awe say the emotion shouldn’t be associated only with rare events.
According to Dacher Keltner, there are important evolutionary reasons: It’s good for our minds, bodies, and social connections.
We all want more well-being in our lives.
What is happiness, and is it achievable? Moreover, is the pursuit of happiness really where we ought to be putting our efforts, or as people of faith and morals, are there other more virtuous pursuits that we should be pursuing?
Want to grow your well-being? Here are the skills you need.
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