A Sample-Session Mini-Course, consisting of Session 1, in its entirety, of the 8-session evergreen course, Maximizing Joy: In Your Life, Work, Relationships — and World.

"Joy, and such associated feelings as bliss and happiness, are often in short supply in this troubled world. In this remarkable course, Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder and their guest speakers teach their virtual students how to find and maximize joy, not only in such obvious settings as family, faith, music, Nature, work settings, and loving relationships (with pets as well as other humans) but also in adversity, contemplation, and solitude. Their discussion of the neurophysiology of joy presents its underlying mechanisms. Too often joy is taken for granted, but this course provides ways to find it, maximize it, and make it a part of everyday life."

—Stanley Krippner, PhD, author, A Chaotic Life: The Memoirs of Stanley Krippner, Pioneering Humanistic Psychologist

SESSION 1 of the full course is titled, "Why Non-Joy Seems to Win So Much of the Time, and What We Can Do About It"

We hope you’ll take advantage of this sampler mini-course, Laying a Foundation for Maximizing Your Joy, to benefit from what it can offer you and to see if you want to get the whole Maximizing Joy course. Learning our answers to these questions, “why non-joy seems to win so much of the time, and what we can do about it,” from both scientific and psycho-spiritual perspectives, can be a huge gift to your optimal total wellness — and joy!

Like all the other course sessions, Session 1 includes three recordings available in video and audio-only formats:

• a presentation by us, Saniel and Linda, organized around 3 key points
• a bonus interview with neuropsychologist Rick Hanson PhD on that theme
• a Q&A and conversation session with participants in the original live course

Rick Hanson’s interview includes practice exercises, and this session also offers two guided meditations led by Linda, one a brief “Gazing” practice and the other an exploration of "Six-Step Recognition Yoga."

As a courtesy, for Session 1 only, you also get lightly edited transcripts of all five of these recordings except the Q&A/Conversation — our presentation, the bonus interview with Rick Hanson, and both experiential practices. These transcripts are offered as supplemental adjuncts to those primary video and audio-only course communications.

Key points on existential vs. experiential joy
from our mini-course presentation,
plus a clarifying comment

• Corresponding to the two general kinds of joy — experiential and existential — experiential non-joy and existential non-joy seem to win so much of the time, each in different ways and for its own reasons.
• To overcome experiences of non-joy and so maximize experiential forms of joy, we mainly need to cultivate empowering mindsets and practice actions oriented to joy.
• To outgrow existential forms of non-joy and so maximize the innate, unshakable joy of being who we are, we mainly need to cultivate joy-sustaining, whole-being recognitions and develop new worldviews.

More on the difference between the two kinds of joy:

Experiential joy is the result of things that happen to us, both external, like a friend’s warm hello, and internal, like a pleasant memory. Experiential joys come and go, none are permanent.

Existential joy is not the result of anything that happens to us. It’s not caused by any kind of experience. It’s our most essential sense of our being. Once clearly accessed, we feel it’s innate, somehow always present at the core of all our experiences, both positive and negative.

You can learn more about these distinctions both from this mini-course and from our talk introducing the 8-session Maximizing Joy course, “The Two Kinds of Joy, and Why It’s Totally OK for You to Maximize Both.” And, more fully, from the whole course!

"Velcro vs. Teflon in the brain”:
Rick Hanson, PhD, in his mini-course interview,
on what it takes to go
beyond the brain’s “negativity bias”

The acclaimed author of Buddha’s Brain and other books, Rick Hanson explains in the mini-course / Session 1 bonus interview why “the brain is like Velcro for bad experiences, but Teflon for positive ones,” and why we need to “install” our positive experiences as abiding traits, not just have them “wash through” as temporary states. Rick says:

There's a famous saying: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

Firing, that's state, that's activation. That's the first stage.

Wiring, that's trait. That's installation. That's the second stage.

The takeaway point, though, is that most of us routinely forget the second stage.

Experiencing does not equal learning. It's haunting and poignant and humbling for therapists, teachers, counselors, coaches, mindfulness trainers, you name it, human resources trainers, parents, educators, to realize that so many of the hard-won experiences that people have in a moment, that might be enjoyable or useful in a moment have no lasting value. They wash through the brain.

Meanwhile, because of the brain's so-called negativity bias, our momentary experiences of stress, hassle, frustration, hurt, loneliness, loss, anger, worry, those go right in.

The brain is like Velcro for bad experiences, but Teflon for positive ones.

When you purchase the Laying a Foundation for Maximizing Your Joy mini-course, our thank-you letter will include a special link for buying the full course — which we warmly invite you to do! Using that link, you’ll automatically get a discount for the $9 you paid for the mini-course.

For a more complete description of the full course, please go to maxjoyinfo.com. That page includes "The Two Kinds of Joy, and Why It’s Totally OK for You to Maximize Both," the introductory video presentation for the course by the two of us, Saniel and Linda.

You can also see a list of the 8 session titles and the accompanying bonus guest interviewees and get other information about the full course here in our Store.

We hope Laying a Foundation for Maximizing Your Joy will leave you hungry and curious to learn more and to delight in the presence and communications of all of us who created the full course. Timelessly “evergreen,” and more timely than ever, it could be a crucial resource for you for years to come. 

Thank you so much for your interest in our offerings! We hope to hear from you soon. If you have questions, please write us at [email protected]. And see our website, www.sanielandlinda.com.

Heart-blessings and warm well-wishes,

Saniel & Linda

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