Resisting Joyfully: Black Joy and the Power of Hope
To be a person of color is to historically know resistance.
We continue to:
Resist arrest.
Resist inherent racism.
Resist subpar medical treatment.
Resist economic disparity.
Resist the stigma of simply being in your own skin.
There’s fight in the minority narrative. It includes blood, tears, and a whole lot of loss.
And yet, there are twenty-two-year-old black girls reciting poems at the presidential elections. A dancer turned astronaut as the first black woman in space, and a brown-skinned jazz piano prodigy who won’t allow being blind to hinder his gift.
This. Is. Resilience.
Or as scientists define it: “the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress.”
And how does the black body continue to recover generation after generation?
Joy Joy down in my soul.
Black Joy is activism in its purest form.
What is Black Joy?
Black joy is confirmation that our narrative as a people is not monolithic.
It is 2 parts hope, 3 parts faith, a sprinkle of positive thinking, and whole lotta culture.
It is the elasticity that keeps us from completely shredding from the generational trauma and historical abuse.
It is NOT erasure of difficulties or negative experience or dismissive of collective struggles.
Instead, it is showing the whole truth by creating balance in the black experience as one not just of tribulation but triumph too.
It’s how we get to take control of our own narrative by acknowledging the creativity and beauty within us that shines despite circumstances.
Writer and broadcaster Chanté Joseph reflects for Vogue UK:
Where society has told us to “be quiet”, and that we’re “too loud” and “too different”, it is an act of resistance to revel in the joy that they have spent much of history trying to take away from us.
We can actively trace the spatial and temporal control of Black expression from slavery and colonialism through to today. This is why the act of joy is resistance and as we use our physical bodies to protest, march and demand change, we must also use them to experience the pleasure of joy.
The Power of Hope
The first black president of the United States didn’t pick his campaign slogan by happenstance.
Matthew Gallagher, an associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Houston notes that:
“Hope brings oxygen into our consciousness.
If we generate hope, then we are motivated. We’re motivated to act because we feel that there’s possibility that the outcome that we want might happen. If we don’t have hope, where do we find motivation?
In the absence of it…there’s paralysis.”
Hope offers chemical benefits too, in the form of endorphins and lowered stress levels, which scientists agree make people more productive and excited about daily life.
Hope can be a powerful aspect of one’s mental wellbeing and overall wellness, during times of loss and struggle.
What Positive Thinking is Actually Doing to Your Brain
While it may sound like fluff or “bandaid therapy” to some, channeling your thoughts to uplifting experiences is not just for the spirit but for the neuroplasticity of the brain as well.
After all, every thought releases some type of chemical. When positive thoughts are generated, when you’re feeling happy, or optimistic, cortisol decreases and the brain produces serotonin, creating a feeling of well-being.
When you’re anxious, under stress, or angry, the brain actually draws precious metabolic energy away from the prefrontal cortex. With these negative thoughts, the brain can’t perform at a high or even normal capacity. When stressed or scared, it’s difficult to take in and process new material, let alone think creatively.
Getting in Touch With Black Joy on a Daily Basis
In the spirit of the National Month of Hope, we want to find more ways to reconnect with the Joy and hope that is our beautiful people and heritage.
Pop Sugar brilliantly interviewed Black Therapists for practical ways to connect to Black Joy on the daily.
Here are the Top 8:
- Meditate
- Learn Your Limits With News Consumption and Social Media
- Take Up Journaling
- Read Fiction by Black Authors
- Find a Support System
- Physically Take Care of Your Body
- Put Up Boundaries
- Do Anything That Brings You Joy
Registered psychotherapist Meghan Watson, who’s based in Toronto and is the founder of Bloom Psychology & Wellness, reflects:
“Black joy isn’t, in many ways, different from joy itself. “Sometimes Black joy can be recognizing and enjoying and savoring your coffee in the morning. That is my Black joy because I am Black, and I am joyful.”
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