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