Ever felt like you were Luke Skywalker sitting across from Yoda himself?

That’s how I felt sharing appetizers with neuroscientist, Dr. Jim Wilder a couple years ago. Mindy and I spent an evening at a Boulder café with Jim and his wife, Kitty. And this was no shallow conversation!” 

"In your years of study, what would you say are the most important things you would want people to know about the brain?" What Jim said really surprised me. 

God designed your brain to run on joy like a car runs on fuel,” Jim explained.

"Our brains crave joy like nothing else.”

“Joy?” I said. “How is that?”

"Our brains are like scanners actively searching the horizon day in and day out for joy. We seek out the joy that might be the kind of expression we see in someone’s face who’s authentically excited to see us."

His Face Shine Upon You

I learned from Jim that such joyful expression is the same joy that comes from the Hebrew prayer of blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26.

“The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

That “face shine upon you” idea is what our brains thrive on! Total and complete joy. That really excited to see you look!

Joy but how?

As you might have already noticed, I’m a super practical person. Net it out! Does it work? Theory is great, but then what? Yes, but how?

Here’s  good news.

Something magic happens to fuel joy in our brain when we regularly pause to ask, “What is good?” 

In other words, “In what ways is God’s face shining on me right now?” We intentionally home in on the good and CHOOSE to give thanks.

Just today I read words from author, Ann Vos Kamp, who wrote,

“As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible…. The holy grail of joy is not some exotic location or emotional mountain peak experience. The joy wonder could be here! Here in the messy, piercing ache of now, joy might be unbelievably possible!” 

Vos Kamp then points to the stories of Jesus where He gives thanks before doing extraordinary things. She notices, “there is thanks… then the mind-blowing miracle!”

Miracles happen when we appreciate the good even BEFORE other good or great things come our way.

Jesus would give thanks to God - then do something miraculous. Might it be true that appreciation precedes the miracle? 

Might your own extraordinary miracles be just on the other side of giving thanks? Appreciating the now?

Practicing Appreciation to Start Your Day

In the last 5 years I have done one thing almost every single day… and I will never not do it: I simply start my day (after grabbing coffee) by listing 5 to 10 things I can appreciate… and as I do I can feel my brain shift and the joy break through. I use Evernote as my tool.

Hands down, appreciating the good is one of the best things for brain health out there I love it! I highly recommend it.

Its super simple! No need to be eloquent or even not repeat yourself.

Here’s what I wrote as appreciation just today

Fell back asleep last night

Health

Financial provision

Studio Shed being built

Barney (my awesome dog!)

1000 Gifts book (the one by Ann Vos Kamp)

You see, pretty simple!  Just write what you appreciate. 

Try it today, or even for a few days or a week… and see what it does to your brain! Appreciate the good as a way of life and watch your life come on fire… miracles even!

Warning: you just might experience the cool connection between appreciation and joy!

Have a great day!

Jeff