Teacher Training
Joy Study
A six-month education on the emotions of learning, growth and human flourishing.
Positive emotions are more than good feelings. Research reveals that specific emotions build distinct psychological resources - broadened attention, deeper social bonds and capacity for resilience. These resources compound and coalesce into upward spirals of personal and social growth.
The Joy Study brings this well established science into structured practice, studying six positive emotions through first hand experience and the design of task, environment and communication.
Joy
›What creates joy?
Pleasurable excitement — when something good is happening and you can fully engage with it.
›What does joy create?
Broadened attention, play, creativity, and connection.
Pride
›What creates pride?
Effort-attributed success after engagement with meaningful challenge — effortful accomplishment that feels earned and important.
›What does pride create?
Motivation, persistence, the desire to do well, willingness to take on challenges.
Serenity
›What creates serenity?
A settled state in safe conditions — or trained capacity to remain settled regardless of what's arising.
›What does serenity create?
Sustained attention, recovery from stress, non-reactive presence, confidence in uncertainty.
Love
›What creates love?
Shared positive emotion in close synchrony — moments of mutual attunement and care.
›What does love create?
Deep social bonds, immune function, prosocial orientation, the foundation of long-term flourishing.
Interest
›What creates interest?
Novelty or complexity appraised as comprehensible and relevant — new things you feel you can engage with.
›What does interest create?
Knowledge, skill, exploration, expansion of what one can attend to.
Inspiration
›What creates inspiration?
Encounter with something exceptional that exceeds what we know — and calls for us to grow.
›What does inspiration create?
Vision, motivation toward higher goals, creative output, sense of purpose.