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September 6, 2024

In the spirit of new beginnings, I’d like us to begin this academic year by embracing and fostering joy, individually and collectively.

I challenge us all to choose joy and share joy as a path to new discoveries, to increased connectivity, to staying attuned to what matters most, and importantly, to learning.

In a recent NYT article, writer Joshua Barone explains the staying power of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony final moment, ode to joy. Barone goes on to highlight a letter of Beethoven’s, in which he writes of “the empire of the mind,” which he regarded as “the highest of all spiritual and worldly monarchies.” This, in the face of the aftermath of violent 18th century revolution and the early 19th century’s return to autocracy in Europe. For Beethoven, the Enlightenment ideals of learning and progress still held power – and joy.

In an  from Stanford’s Lifestyle Medicine Program, Donovan Giang writes about how joy and gratitude are linked to well-being in medical students. Joy even acts on the cardiovascular level, increasing resilience and recovery times. Joy is a choice, and making the choice to approach even stressful experiences from an attitude of joy is an investment in our well-being.

Learning should be a joyous activity. When we choose to approach our studies, our research, and our endeavors from a place of joy, we conduct our best work, and become our best selves, in our personal lives and in our collaborations. Learning pushes the bounds of human flourishing outward – when we find joy in learning, there’s a desire to share that joy with others, to learn from and teach one another.

To borrow from a master of joy, Dr. Seuss: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

Let’s go forward this semester from a place of openness, of exploration, of free-spirited learning, and of abundant joy.

Warmly,

Gilda