Have you heard of the Big Joy Project?
The Big Joy Project is a citizen-science research study created by Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, science director at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, who believes that happiness, resilience, connection, and kindness are skills that can be taught and developed —with practice. Over time, they can evolve into habits, and from habits become a new way of experiencing the world.
The Big Joy Project combines small and tangible interventions (micro-acts) proven to improve overall well-being, into a seven-day online happiness program.
Citizen-science engages the public in scientific research and data collection. Volunteers, contribute to scientific projects by collecting, analyzing, or interpreting data.
This approach allows for large-scale data collection and promotes public participation in scientific discovery. Citizen-science projects can cover various fields such as astronomy, ecology, and biology, among others.
At the time of writing this blog, more than 84,000 people from 200+ countries have participated in this one-week study, and what we know so far is that by the end of the short program, project participants increased their well-being by 26% and improved their sleep quality by 12%.
Dr. Simon-Thomas and her team hope to learn a lot from the Big Joy Project, including answers to these questions::
- Does performing micro-acts of JOY change how people feel in the short-term?
- Does completing a micro-act of JOY early in the day sustain benefits over the course of the whole day?
- Does performing micro-acts of JOY have an additive effect over the whole week?
- How does each micro-act of JOY impact positive affect and negative affect, and the balance between the two? This will help understand what helps relieve stress and sadness vs. what boosts JOY, vs. what changes both?
- Which micro-acts of JOY work best on average and for which type of people?
- Is there a differences by age, race/ethnicity, sociodemographics, geography, and baseline levels of well-being and life stress?
Participants start by taking an on-line survey to answer questions about their emotions, stress, and their social tendencies. Then, every day for seven consecutive days, they agree to try small, happiness-boosting activities, which the researchers have dubbed “micro-acts” of joy.
The study team sees these micro-acts as integral to building better well-being and happiness by improving social trust, positive emotions, and reducing stress.
The seven-day program includes meditating, practicing gratitude, feeling awe, performing acts of kindness, practicing active listening, affirming values, and finding silver linings by reframing past hardships.
I signed up for the project.
Each day I am asked how I’m feeling in the morning, and then given a micro-act of JOY exercise, which only takes a few minutes. So far, I’ve had to make a list, watch a video, and do a small interaction activity. After completing the task, I am asked to reflect on the thoughts and feelings I had while doing the micro-act of JOY. Then I record my mood, and do a final check-in in the evening.
Completing these check-ins is important because:
1. It matters to the researchers how you’re feeling at any given moment and that’s why they check-in
2. The more check-ins you complete, the more robust your individualized JOY Report will be at the end of your 7 days!
3. Your “before and after emotions” will help scientists uncover the next frontier of knowledge about the nature of JOY and how we all can most effectively create it for ourselves.
On the day I signed up, they started me off right away with a check-in and an introductory micro-act of JOY so that I could get a taste of what the full week would be like. Once I completed that first micro-act of JOY, I was asked a series of questions — to create my “profile”. It’s actually to know a bit about me and establish a baseline for my current well-being.
I strongly encourage you to check out The BIG JOY Project and take part in the largest-ever citizen-science project in existence! You can get to the site with this link. :https://ggia.berkeley.edu/bigjoy
Bonus Notes
Mission: JOY – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times is a film featuring two of the most revered global icons, who joined forces one last time to share ancient wisdom and cutting-edge neuroscience that shows us exactly how we can each access more joy, no matter our circumstances.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu shared their wisdom (and humor) through this laugh-out-loud funny documentary film, inspired by their international bestseller, The Book of Joy.
The film has been selected for 42 film festivals and counting in the US, Canada*, Nigeria, Brazil, Israel and Greece. So far it has won 5 Audience Awards and 2 Jury Awards and has been featured numerous times as the opening night or closing night feature.
The film has been featured at Goals House – UN General Assembly, New York Times Climate Hub / Natural History Museum Nature Bar at COP26, and the Nobel Organization will be screening the film in March 2022.
* Coming late 2023 in Canada on CBC Gem
