Unlock Your Joy Code

Quiz Questions

• 1.
  What's your morning routine?

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  • A.
    Routine? I’m lucky if I get up in time for a shower!
  • B.
    I like to drink my morning coffee in silence.
  • C.
    Check email and/or social media while I get ready, come on, that’s what everyone does right?
  • D.
    10-15 minutes of meditation or at least I try.
  • E.
    Some kind of exercise or movement.
• 2.
  You have to give a presentation at work. You’re most worried that:

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  • A.
    That you’ll have an anxiety attack during the presentation.
  • B.
    You’ll forget how to talk with your hands and not make eye contact with anyone.
  • C.
    You’ll stumble over your words and communicate the wrong message.
  • D.
    People will be talking about your mistakes behind your back.
  • E.
    You’ll do even worse than you expect.
• 3.
  You have a night all to yourself. How do you spend it?

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  • A.
    Excited for a chance to be alone but worried something will happen because it couldn’t possibly be this easy to have a night alone.
  • B.
    Doing chores and wishing you could actually have a night to spend how you want.
  • C.
    Nothing. I’m too overwhelmed by the potential options of what I could do.
  • D.
    Laying on the couch watching Netflix.
  • E.
    Overwhelmed by the silence, wondering if someone is going to break into the house.
• 4.
  Your toes finally hit the warm sand in Mexico. Your first thought is:

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  • A.
    This feels nice—what should I have for dinner to celebrate my first night here?
  • B.
    I hope there aren’t any sharks in this water, but also what is that dried seaweed smell and did I apply enough sunscreen?
  • C.
    I want to swim, but what if I get stung by a jellyfish?
  • D.
    I better take this moment in because I’ll probably never be able to afford another vacation like this.
  • E.
    I don’t deserve this.
• 5.
  If you could have any superpower, which one would you choose?

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  • A.
    Taking away the hurt and pain of others.
  • B.
    Ability to be completely at peace and content.
  • C.
    To be the fastest person in the world.
  • D.
    Flying freely in the sky.
  • E.
    Make all your problems vanish.
• 6.
  Something challenging arises in your life, how do you typically respond?

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  • A.
    I freak out and get panicky, that’s the best way for me to get motivated or pay attention.
  • B.
    I go for a walk or run and try to think of my most creative options.
  • C.
    I feel all the feels and sometimes end up spiraling.
  • D.
    I try to think positively but that just makes me feel worse.
  • E.
    I take a deep breath and then find someone to talk to.
• 7.
  You’ve been granted one wish. Which do you choose?

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  • A.
    To finally feel relaxed and actually enjoy my life.
  • B.
    To access the resources others have in life that seem to get them ahead of the game.
  • C.
    Unlimited wishes, duh!
  • D.
    To truly accept myself, flaws and all.
  • E.
    To lose weight without hitting the gym.
• 8.
  You become passionate about a new topic, how do you research & gather information?

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  • A.
    Go down the endless social media rabbit hole.
  • B.
    Join a class or group to learn from others.
  • C.
    I get so overwhelmed I do nothing.
  • D.
    I listen to every podcast I can find.
  • E.
    Buy every book written on the subject.

Quiz Outcomes

• 1.
  Gratitude

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  You're likely to discover more Joy in life by establishing a consistent gratitude practice.Before you say, “Oh, no, not gratitude, again!” hear me out. I know gratitude is oversold as a wishy-washy platitude. But trust me, it’s a superpower that is way larger than any Hallmark commercial. It’s not about faking positivity. It is about looking at life, instead of away, and finding the sliver of this moment that feels like something worth living and fighting for. And if scientific proof is your jam, I need to tell you that gratitude fundamentally shifts biochemistry and puts you in an awareness state to make change. Yep, it does all that. It’s on par in changing neurochemistry and immunology with tools like exercise or high-intensity interval training. It’s real science and magic all the same. And it may be one of the most powerful tools for healing through oppression and suffering I know.When you say thank you for something, you arrive into your life instead of escaping it. Thank you for this job, this friend, this cup of coffee. Studies show that people who do something as simple as keep a gratitude journal, noting one to three things a day they’re grateful for, feel better, sleep deeper, get sick less often, and even have more hope for life. Just by noting something they appreciate every day. This might be one of the simplest yet most consistent prescriptions I give to patients. (And I swear to you, each and every time, I hear, “I didn’t realize how powerful this would be.”)But it just starts there. That’s the gateway to gratitude. Then I take you on the real journey of how to use it every day, especially when your life or the world is going awry. Not to avoid the realities, but to see them more clearly.Take a pause. Right now, pause and think of one thing to be grateful for. This is the simple seed of a powerful gratitude practice. If you can, commit to looking for one thing, three if you’re an overachiever, every day. Start there. And when you’re ready, move on to even deeper practice.Take action. Three simple ways to dive deeper:1) Watch my TEDx talk on how gratitude for the worst things imaginable can unlock healing you did not imagine. Not because you need to do this right away, but I want you to know what’s possible.2) Dive deeper into the science of gratitude in my book, Joy Is My Justice. You will be amazed at how gratitude can be used in the hardest of times and how it is not contrived, but actually the most powerful practice for suffering. I also have a free gratitude meditation on my website for you to try.3) If you want community support, you can also join my free private gratitude community on Facebook. It is a simple but profound practice to express your gratitude daily in a safe environment. And there are members who have been there for years who tell me that even bearing witness to the practice has unlocked Joy for them. I’ll be visiting your inbox weekly with more gems as we get to know each other. But if you only take one thing from this quiz, let it be this. Looking for the good in the world unlocks the discovery of goodness within you, and that my friend, is pure Joy.
• 2.
  Hope

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  Your path to discovering more Joy in life is through hope. I know what you’re thinking. Hope is wishy-washy. It’s not based in reality. And I’m guessing you’ve said this many times, “I don’t want to get my hopes up.” Or that you don’t want someone to give you “false hope?” You are worried if you think something will work out but it doesn’t, then you will be disappointed. I get it. That feels scary. But I need to let you in on some secrets about hope that could change everything.You think you don’t want to have false hope. But Hope is truer than anything you can imagine. It’s what gets you up every day, even when things aren’t going right. It’s what your body knows is true even when your mind tries to convince you otherwise.And hope is not contrived or false positivity. Think about it. To have hope, you are by definition acknowledging that today is not what you want. You admit this reality is not what you desire while holding hope for something better. People tend to use hope and optimism as synonyms, but that isn’t accurate. Optimism is believing things will be okay. Hope makes no assumption that things will be okay; it is instead personal action to make even one small aspect better today. Hope may be the truest, most innate gift we have. It is powerful and steadfast and not dependent on a belief that life always works out because for many of us, it simply has not. Hope is the conviction that there is a reason to keep fighting, because we choose to see what others cannot. It’s a great balancer in life, it gives solace to all the anger, fear and grief of the moment. And space to hold it all more carefully.And if none of that convinces you, hear this. Hope protects your brain, in the most loving way, even if the hope is merely for fear to not overtake you. It is a salve to your mind and body. It keeps you out of your threat centers so you can think more clearly. And here’s the deal. It costs nothing to try this. So if you want more Joy in your life, it’s a tool worth picking up.Take a pause. The next time you’re wanting to be hopeful for something or someone, but feel scared to do so, take a moment, stop and remember this: If you can’t hope, what is there left? And if you don’t get what you were hoping for, what have you lost? Find your own authentic way to hold hope close: I am scared, but today I choose hope. Take action. Dive deeper into hope.Try a Hope meditation for free on my website. It’s a great place to start practicing hope. And then start with maybe an easy challenge in your life in which you’ve felt resistant to holding hope. See what magic happens.Learn more about how hope can help you discover a more Joyous life in my book, Joy Is My Justice. I teach you not only how others have used hope after traumatic events but how the science shows that it cultivates a path to more ease and safety in your body. If you’re interested in working on hope and Joy in a deeper way, I am now offering a limited number of Joy Journeys, non-medical virtual sessions with me to explore a personalized Joy practice in the context of your unique needs. Head over to my website to explore this service in more detail. And I’ll be visiting your inbox weekly with more gems as we get to know each other. But if you only take one thing from this quiz, let it be this. Holding hope for yourself and your life is one of the most powerful acts of Joy you can perform.
• 3.
  Movement

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  You're likely to find more Joy in life through consistent movement. I know, I know. It feels like falling on the couch at the end of the day is not only what you want, but what you deserve. I wouldn’t dispute that. But hear me out. Forget all the diatribe about exercise and how many steps to get each day. I’m talking about the most innate thing we can do, move our bodies, to whatever ability available to you. See, the thing is that emotions are ‘energy in motion’ and they need movement to transform and get unstuck. I say almost daily to patients, “If you don’t move your body, your mind will also not move.” Movement of any kind can be the antidote to the stuckness you may be feeling and help you move forward with your life. It is also a powerful drug in the brain, stimulating what is called our endocannabinoid receptor system, that makes us feel pleasure and even the high some people identify. Moving your body makes this system more sensitive so that when you stimulate the receptors used to bond with others, it can feel better each time. You feel even more Joy. Movement also increases a sophisticated neurochemical in the brain called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps us improve memory and learning, among other things. And it’s not just about your biochemistry. Movement is primal and awakens you to your body, the vessel that carries you forward each day, even when your mind doubts you can.I could go on and on about the science. It’s so abundant that I can’t even begin to summarize it. But let’s put the data away for a second and just focus on the truth you already know. As you meet your body and learn to move it, so too, you can meet your pain and learn to move that.Movement is innate. It is primal. And you need it to move towards Joy. Trust me. It’s time to get unstuck. And I’m here to show you how. Take a pause. Soak all this in. Movement increases both feel-good hormones and BDNF. Your body can feel Joy and then, remember and learn from this moment so the next boost of Joy is even stronger. That’s powerful medicine.Take action.I know this can feel overwhelming. Where do I start? But don’t let the ideal of what your mind is imagining be the barrier to the magic you can start right now. This is not about measuring your steps or losing weight. It’s about gently stepping into your body. And to whatever ability you have. It could be running, spinning, or shaking in your wheelchair.Let’s go deeper. Try one of these action steps and just notice how your week may be different than the last. 1) To learn more about how movement affects your daily relationship with Joy, read my book, Joy Is My Justice where you’ll find my shaking and dancing meditations and learn about how movement allows us to take up larger space in the world.2) Start small and simple. Seriously. It might be taking a short stroll around the block if that feels safe, after dinner. This is a long held tradition in the longest living communities in the world. The benefits to our metabolism, energy centers, and longevity are endless but I won’t bore you with the medicine right now. Instead, just know that it doesn’t matter how long this practice is, it matters that we start the habit and stacking the habit with something you already do, like eating dinner, makes it more likely it will stick.Try moving with music. This is an incredible way to bring Joy back into your life. Notice I didn’t say dance. Just move how the music moves you. Turn on music of your choice in the morning or evening and see how it changes your day. Just notice.3) And lastly, you can try moving in nature. There is so much science to show how this decreases stress levels and improves well-being. I love to stop and literally breathe in the trees around me. It may sound woo but it actually decreases the stress hormone cortisol when we do this. Go ahead, no one will even know you’re trying it!I’ll be visiting your inbox weekly with more gems as we get to know each other. But if you only take one thing from this quiz, let it be this. Moving your body is a revolutionary act when you feel stuck. It’s accessible, free and your body’s innate desire.
• 4.
  Self- Compassion

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  You're likely to uncover more Joy in your daily life by expanding your compassion capacity. You think if you are ‘too easy’ on yourself with compassion, you’ll never achieve anything. You think that self-compassion is for people who just want to give in and not make change. And I know, I know if you hear, “Just love yourself,” one more time, you’re going to close this screen. Wait one second though. And hear me out. What I’m about to say may change everything. Self-compassion is the MOST powerful way to stay accountable. Yep, the most powerful way to make change.And wait one more thing…Loving yourself is a bold act of Justice. Yes, Justice.Ok, hear me out now on all of this?You see, accountability in no dictionary ever contains the word ‘shame.’ Self-Compassion isn’t all woo, although it does feel good, I won’t lie. Something interesting happens in the brain when you berate yourself. You see it as a threat! Yep, as danger. And so you retreat or fight. Both activate your midbrain threat centers which take you out of the part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, that makes change and incites motivation! You think if you ‘let yourself off the hook,’ you won’t make change. But it’s the exact opposite. You will go into ‘survival mode’ when you shame yourself and then reach for the exact thing you are trying to change, and worst of all, suffer more. I’ll let you in on a secret of how to extend yourself compassion while still staying accountable, below in the action steps!And the Justice part? Well, self-compassion has a secret superpower worth knowing. It supports the pathway of safety in your body so that as you experience your pain or the pain of another, you inhibit your defense pathways, those threat centers. You work on compassion for yourself and others not just to feel better or give love, but to feel safer. When you extend compassion to yourself, you see that it is possible to reduce the fight-or-flight stress response which shows up as less reactivity in both your cardiovascular system and emotional centers of your brain. Hear this well: self-compassion settles your heart and body. Even when the world is not compassionate toward you, you can use the Justice of self-compassion to make it safer for you to step into it.Take a pause.Take a Pause and just try this out in the simplest form. Notice when you berate yourself and offer yourself some compassion for being human just like everyone else. You deserve this love. Your body needs it for more Joy. When you accept your own imperfections, it also makes it easier to see others’ flaws and think, I’ve been there or I get that. That’s the ventral vagus nerve kicking in, making us connect even stronger to others, but most important, to ourselves. Kristin Neff, one of the pioneering researchers in self-compassion, says this principle of common humanity is one of the core components of this work.Take action. Let’s dive even deeper when you’re ready.Explore compassion as an active practice in Joy Is My Justice. Discover practical exercises that you can easily implement into your daily life, increasing your capacity to feel Joy. Readers have literally told me that reading and integrating the section on self-compassion felt like “a huge weight was taken off my shoulders.” It’s time to unburden yourself.Try my free lovingkindness exercise on my website. It’s my loving gift to you even if you don’t have the book so you can start this important work.If you’re interested in working on Self-compassion in a deeper way, I am now offering a limited number of Joy Journeys, non-medical virtual sessions with me to explore a personalized Joy practice in the context of your unique needs. Head over to my website to explore this service in more detail. I’ll be visiting your inbox weekly with more gems as we get to know each other. But if you only take one thing from this quiz, let it be this. Loving yourself is a radical act of Joy. And the more you can do it, the more you will motivate yourself to, not only change the parts of your life that are dragging you down, but to seek more Joy. You deserve this Justice.
• 5.
  Breath

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  Breathing practices may be your key to experiencing more Joy in your day-to-day life. You feel it, right? The way you brace yourself every day, anticipating the worst, yet again. You feel anxious about life and then too tense to enjoy the good when it comes. It’s time to exhale, literally.Breath, in many languages—prana, chi, ruach, also means “life force” or “spirit.” The body is wise. When you breathe deeply, you activate the vagus nerve and signal your relaxation system to slow your heart rate and breath and turn on your digestion and restorative metabolic systems. The breath signals your body that it’s time to tend to yourself. That you are safe in this moment. By learning to shine a light on your breath, you train yourself to focus on it as your way of being in a moment. Your body becomes your way of seeing the world.Think about it. We know this wisdom innately. When someone is worried about something, we say, “Take a deep breath.” When we hear bad news, we feel ourselves breathe deeply and then sometimes too rapidly if we are unable to process the news. Our breath is a compass for life but it is also the way we can restore safety and ease in our bodies even when life does not feel safe or easy in the biggest sense.If you are overwhelmed by your anger or sadness in any one moment, breathe into it and create space for more ease. Most acute emotions will pass through the body in a minute or two unless they get stuck, but the discomfort can be so great that we move to escape the sensation immediately. Try instead surfing the emotion like a wave; use your breath to ride it out. In this way, breath can be your friend, companion, and caregiver through uncomfortable moments. The movement of your breath is a way to clear out the thick underbrush of your conditioned ways of being and thinking and instead, create flow and trust. Your body is always present. Now, how can you find presence in your body?Take a pause.Think on it, when you breathe deeply, you don’t only signal your relaxation system in your body. You also expand your body—widening your chest, moving your ribs, breathing into your belly—and occupy more space. Take three deep breaths now and just notice how it feels.Take action.Let’s take this deeper when you’re ready.Think of a time in the day you can offer to your breath, even if just for one to five minutes, a time you can remember to do it easily. Maybe right when you wake up (my favorite), before you go to sleep (especially if you have insomnia), before a workday starts, or one of my favorites, in a checkout line when otherwise my mind is prone to impatience and spinning into stories. When you do this kind of ‘habit stacking,’ putting breath with something you already do, it becomes easier to remember and then once you feel the difference, you want to do it more.Explore breath, both the science and as an active practice in my book, Joy Is My Justice. Discover practical exercises that you can easily implement into your daily life, increasing your capacity to feel Joy.I have a free Body Scan exercise on my website that will give you an introduction to how to use breath to step lightly into your body. It’s a wonderful way to start the day or to unwind at the end of a long one.I’ll be visiting your inbox weekly with more gems as we get to know each other. But if you only take one thing from this quiz, let it be this. Your breath is your life force AND a way to gain more safety and ease in your body. It may be one of the most powerful tools I use each and every day to manage suffering. You deserve this Justice in your body.