What others Are Saying
The three factors that seem to have the greatest influence on increasing our happiness are our ability to reframe our situation more positively, our ability to experience gratitude, and our choice to be kind and generous.
―His Holiness the Dalai Lama
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
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– John Smith
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How to Live Joyfully Even in Challenging Times
Featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
How to Live Joyfully Even in Challenging Times
Meet Your Guides
HIS
HOLINESS
THE DALAI
LAMA
The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu
THUPTEN
JINPA,
PHD
35-year translator for the Dalai Lama
THE REV.
MPHO TUTU
VAN FURTH
Daughter of Archbishop Tutu
DOUGLAS
ABRAMS
Coauthor of The Book of Joy
A Note from Our Founder, Tami Simon
For many, myself included, experiencing joy every day isn’t easy. But what if we had a way to find joy not in outer circumstances but through a deep appreciation of life and a connection with our own generous heart?
This is the type of unstoppable joy embodied by Nobel Peace Prize laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Here we find two spiritual leaders who have experienced the violence of systemic oppression and incomprehensible difficulties and who, despite their hardships—or as they would say, because of them—are two of the most joyful people to ever walk the planet.
Living in connection with unstoppable joy takes commitment and inner training. To lead us in such a training, Sounds True brings you essential highlights and teachings from five days of dialogues between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a dialogue series that is the foundation of the New York Times bestseller The Book of Joy.
To create this online training, Sounds True is partnering with coauthor of The Book of Joy and visionary founder of Idea Architects, Douglas Abrams. Douglas, along with Dr. Thupten Jinpa (35-year translator for the Dalai Lama) and the Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth (daughter of Archbishop Tutu), will be your guides through these extraordinary teachings. To say you’re in great hands is truly an understatement.
No matter how much suffering we have been through, there is a spark of joy inside each of us—of appreciation, of pure life force, of deep care and generosity—that can’t be extinguished. When we give this spark our attention, it grows… and grows. Ultimately, we become a cause of joy and a cherished source of lasting happiness for other people.
Unstoppable joy is within our reach. Let’s bring our full hearts to this at a time when joy is so very needed.
With love on the journey,
Tami Simon
Founder and Publisher, Sounds True
How Do We Experience Authentic Joy Even in the Face of Adversity?
Learn the Secrets to Feeling More Happy, Purposeful, and Playful Each Day
It’s inevitable that we’ll face hardships in life. But what if we can turn those challenges into lessons to help us live more joyfully, even in the face of adversity?
We can look at the remarkable lives of two incredible spiritual leaders—His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu—for guidance.
Despite the extreme hardships both endured in their lives, these leaders teach us how to remain lighthearted, playful, and joyful. Their actions, words, and wisdom have positively impacted the lives of tens of millions of people worldwide.
What is their secret to living joyfully in the face of adversity?
In their New York Times bestseller, The Book of Joy, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu shared their 8 pillars of joy—qualities of the heart and mind that we, too, can cultivate to begin experiencing more joy each and every day.
Before the Archbishop’s passing in 2021, he and the Dalai Lama met to discuss several of the 8 pillars in the award-winning documentary film Mission: JOY.
And now, we bring you the Unstoppable Joy course featuring some of the most powerful documentary footage of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu, along with additional teachings from author Douglas Abrams, Dr. Thupten Jinpa, and The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth, to help you apply these transformative lessons directly to your life.
Whether or not you’ve read the book or watched the documentary, this in-depth course will be a one-of-a-kind experience with unique insights and practices that provide the foundation for lasting joy through all seasons.
In this course you’ll discover:
The 8 pillars of joy—essential qualities of the heart and mind—and how to begin embodying them so that you begin enjoying more of a steadfast inner calm each and every day.
How to deal with and overcome obstacles to joy including fear, stress, anger, grief, and illness that can leave us feeling heavy and burdened at times.
Proven, powerful practices to help you integrate the 8 pillars of joy and utilize them when you need them most.
How to transform your experience of joy from a temporary state into an enduring character trait so that you feel more grounded, purposeful, and playful no matter what life throws at you.
MEET YOUR GUIDES
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and of Tibetan Buddhism. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and the US Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. Born in a small village in northeastern Tibet in 1935, he was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama. He has been a passionate advocate for a secular, universal approach to cultivating fundamental human values.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, archbishop emeritus of South Africa, passed away on December 26, 2021, at the age of 90. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In 1995, Tutu was appointed chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Nelson Mandela, where he inspired a new way for countries to move forward after experiencing civil conflict and oppression. Archbishop Tutu is regarded as a leading moral voice and an icon of hope.
Douglas Abrams
Doug Abrams is a multiple New York Times bestselling author, as well as an editor, literary agent, and film producer. He is the founder and president of Idea Architects, a creative book and media agency helping visionaries create a wiser, healthier, and more just world. In addition to cowriting The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, he’s also worked with other Nobel laureates, including Nelson Mandela.
Thupten Jinpa, PhD
Dr. Thupten Jinpa is the founder and chairman of Compassion Institute, and the principal author of Compassion Cultivation Training™ (CCT©), developed at Stanford University. Jinpa trained as a monk at the Shartse College of Ganden Monastic University, South India, where he received the Geshe Lharam degree. He has been the principal English translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 1985 and has translated and collaborated on numerous books by the Dalai Lama.
The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth
Reverend Mpho Andrea Tutu van Furth is a South African Anglican priest, author, public speaker, and activist. She was the founding director of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and served as executive director from 2011 to 2016. She has coauthored a number of books including The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World and Tutu: The Authorised Portrait.
What You’ll Receive Inside Unstoppable Joy
In the Unstoppable Joy course, we’ll dive deeper into the transformative spiritual teachings introduced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the New York Times bestseller, The Book of Joy and the award-winning documentary film Mission: JOY.
In each module, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu discuss a powerful teaching on how to expand your joy, including practices for increasing mindfulness, compassion, well-being, and deep growth.
Author Douglas Abrams and spiritual luminaries Dr. Thupten Jinpa, and The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth will also provide practical wisdom on how to apply these principles to your life.
IN THIS INSPIRING COURSE YOU WILL EXPERIENCE:
An In-Depth Curriculum on How to Expand Your Joy
Each module features transformative teachings from the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu, followed by deeper insight and conversation to help you integrate the teachings to cultivate greater inner peace, happiness and well-being.
Guided Practices to Support Each Lesson
In each module, after exploring each pillar of joy in depth, your course guides, Douglas Abrams, Dr. Jinpa, and Rev. Tutu van Furth, will share practical wisdom on how to apply these transformative lessons directly to your life.
Self-Reflection Journaling and Action Prompts
Each week you’ll have recommended activities to reflect on what you learned, how each pillar of joy currently shows up for you, and where you’d like to expand your joy in the future.
"Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters."
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The Unstoppable Joy Course Curriculum
With your success in mind, we’ve designed this course as a 10-week journey—one module a week over the course of 10 weeks. However, you will receive access to all of the modules right away so you can move through the teachings at your own pace.
Get acquainted with your guides and what you’ll be learning inside the course.
- Introduction and welcome from your teachers, Douglas Abrams, Rev. Mpho Tutu van Furth, and Dr. Thupten Jinpa, with their background and connection to the course material
- Course overview and what you can expect, plus tips to help you get the most from the course
- Written self-reflection to uncover your intentions and current obstacles to joy in your own life
- Explanation of the difference between joy and happiness, and the truest source of joy
Identify the stumbling blocks to joy that we each face, and explore the mindset with which the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu approach the inevitable moments of suffering.
- Begin to reframe suffering as an opportunity testing you to find greater joy
- Learn the definition of what the Dalai Lama calls “mental immunity”—what it is, why we avoid it, and how the practice can help us move from temporary joy to lasting pleasure
- Explore the art of deeper self-kindness and patience, and begin to see yourself as what Archbishop Tutu calls a “masterpiece in the making”
- At the end of this session, our guides will frame specific obstacles and provide suggestions on working through each
Learn to look at life’s challenges—including interpersonal conflict, anger, and loss—in a different light with insights on changing your perspective to reveal new vistas of joy.
- Hear the Dalai Lama explain what he calls taking a “wider perspective” and how he was able to reframe more than 50 years of living in exile
- Gain an understanding of the ways in which deep beauty and healing can ultimately come through difficulties, and learn three techniques for shifting perspective
- Become familiar with the perspective that joy is not about escaping suffering, but seeing the opportunity in the challenges
Gain an increased appreciation for the role of humility in creating a joyful life.
- The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu share stories about humility on their own paths and how being humble leads to deeper gratitude and fulfillment
- Understand the distinction between “self-worth” and a “sense of superiority” and, in turn, how acting with humility decreases isolation, judgment, and indifference
- Recognize our common humanity with a guided practice to create empathy and see yourself as a part of the larger whole wishing to find happiness and be free of suffering
Learn to “find the funny” in difficult moments, and watch your joy levels skyrocket.
- Gain an understanding of how lightening the mood and taking ourselves less seriously is the path to greater joy and deeper connection
- Learn the secret approach the Archbishop always had at the ready to bring his infectious laughter to any situation
- Practice: Rev. Tutu van Furth leads us in laughing qigong to bring lightness to heavy situations and diffuse pain and suffering
Find how accepting ourselves, other people, loss, and our troubled world helps us move into action from a place of truly honoring what is.
- Look at examples of acceptance in both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu’s lives to understand the concept more fully
- Learn why we struggle with acceptance and how to find greater peace with things as they are
- Join Dr. Jinpa for a guided practice on acceptance to deepen vulnerability, avoid denial, and move through challenging situations with more ease
Rediscover the importance of forgiving—both yourself and others—to bring resolution to painful cycles in your life.
- Look at forgiveness through the lens of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s work leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the wake of apartheid and the learnings of both he and the Dalai Lama around forgiveness on their own paths
- Understand how a lack of forgiveness impacts overall health, and how forgiveness can unchain us from our past to move forward in the most positive, joyous way
- Rev. Tutu van Furth leads us through a practice on forgiving when the person we want to forgive is not available
Explore the life-changing, life-savoring relationship between gratitude and joy and the ways in which cultivating a grateful heart can profoundly impact your life and connection to others.
- Remove obstacles to gratitude, and increase the level of joy in your life
- Learn to bring more gratitude into your life with a practice led by Rev. Tutu van Furth
- Learn to retrain the brain to accept challenges as blessings as well
Recognize that compassion is at the core of lasting joy and happiness, and learn how we are “wired for compassion.”
- Discover the proven benefits of compassion and how it can be harnessed for healing with examples from Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama
- Understand the important difference between empathy and compassion, and how compassion helps us avoid burnout
- Dr. Thupten Jinpa leads a compassion practice to help you free yourself and others from suffering
Unlock the power of generosity to foster meaningful connections and create a richer, more gratifying life.
- Learn how giving our time, resources, and talents enriches other people’s lives and cultivates a sense of fulfillment within ourselves
- Discover how simple acts of kindness create a ripple effect of positivity that can change the world
- Set intentions to take your joy practices into daily life moving forward
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE TEACHERS Who Will Guide You in the Course
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– John Smith
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.”
– John Smith
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.”
– John Smith
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.”
– John Smith
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.”
– John Smith
Unstoppable Joy
How to Live Joyfully Even in Challenging Times
COURSE SUMMARY
AN IN-DEPTH CURRICULUM on how to experience more joy in life
AUDIO DOWNLOADS of all materials if you prefer to listen on the go
LIFETIME ACCESS to all course materials
Join Us for Unstoppable Joy
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We unconditionally guarantee your satisfaction (and hopefully overflowing joy) with all Sounds True products for one year when purchased via our website. However, if you are not 100% satisfied for any reason, simply return it with the receipt for a full refund.
Tami Simon, Founder of Sounds True
Frequently Asked Questions
With your success in mind, we’ve designed this course as a 10-week journey—one module a week over the course of 10 weeks. However, you will receive access to all of the modules right away so you can move through the teachings at your own pace.
We estimate that each module will take approximately one hour to go through.
Plus you’ll receive lifetime access to all of the course materials so that you can experience them again anytime you like.
The only criteria for enrolling in Unstoppable Joy is a desire to experience more joy and a steadfast inner calm in your life.
To get the most out of the course, we recommend that you go through all of the modules in their entirety and take the time to complete the practices that are shared throughout the course.
We’re so glad you found yourself here and that you are considering enrolling in Unstoppable Joy. In this course, you’ll discover how to cultivate the 8 pillars of joy—essential qualities of the heart and mind—so that you can begin experiencing more of a steadfast inner calm each and every day.
We created this course to go deeper into the themes presented in The Book of Joy that resonated with so many readers. The book provides insight into the intense longing we all have to feel more joy in our lives, and the need for practical guidance on finding joy when we’re in the midst of pain and struggle.
Together, we’ll start to change our perception of joy through the teachings and friendship of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both of whom experienced extreme hardships throughout their lives yet remained extremely joyful and compassionate nonetheless. Through their words, we’re able to see how we can alter our own perceptions to achieve the same level of happiness.
We hope you’ll join us on this journey to joyful living!
Absolutely. As with all of Sounds True’s offerings, you can explore this course risk-free for an entire year. If it fails to meet your expectations for any reason, simply contact our customer support team for a full refund.
Yes, we are offering financial aid to a limited number of participants who would benefit from assistance. If you’d like to apply, you can do so here.
© 2024 SOUNDS TRUE · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© 2024 SOUNDS TRUE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© 2023 AWARENESS TRAINING INSTITUTE ·
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
