I love leading workshops at Centrepieces Mental Health Arts Project as when people grow and achieve, I feel great! I realise that this is an experience of Joy. 

Joy is important as it fuels our inner being; so what is Joy? I find it difficult to put into words so here are some bullet points that made sense to me. Sorry for the technical speak that follows but bear with!

Joy is a state developed by our will; you have to commit to being joyous even if you don’t feel it! Believe in Joy even if you don’t feel it now.

You need to seek activity that stimulates our natural neurological process that produces the state of Joy. Example: finishing a painting you like.

We can decide to pursue activity that leads to a state of Joy. (even if we feel down).

Once in the state of Joy we can then stimulate Joy in others 

 Joy is a cycle; it depends on us to choose to energise the cycle by giving and receiving Joy. 

Mother Teresa, ‘The Ambassador of Joy’ said:

“Joy is very infectious; therefore, be always full of joy!”

Hopefully you have read my blog on the reservoir of Joy, If not it’s on this blog.

#LGCartprize2024

Three weeks later, thank you LGC as the theme of Joy caused me to think hard and research what Joy is, and even why it’s a bit alien to me. The first and very important point for me is that a reason I do not relate to Joy is because it’s a bit like waiting for a London Bus, I only remember the ones I missed that left me feeling dejected, not the ones I just got and left me with a feeling of Joy. So there is my first learning point, take notice of Joy when you experience it and enjoy it for the moment it is.

So what is Joy? Joy is an automatic reaction of our emotions, body and spirit to a stimulus. We cannot force it to happen, it must happen naturally. We will all be stimulated by different occurrences to different levels, and we need to absorb Joy and create a memory of that moment and not let it pass us by.  

An example from my life is bumping into someone I know unexpectedly in town or a park. My heart goes warm, I smile, my body relaxes, and I feel energised, all without any thought or effort. Joy catches you by surprise.

As said in my previous blog, my entry to Theo Paphitis Art Prize is a charcoal portrait of Mother Teresa titled ‘The Ambassador of Joy’.  Initially this was because I knew she had brought Joy into so many people’s lives. Then by reading more about Joy and Mother Teresa’s writings on Joy. I realise she had a deep understanding of the psychology of Joy that she has used to create a reservoir of Joy that enabled her to bring so much Joy to others; I want and maybe need a reservoir of Joy!

I am beginning to find that it’s not so difficult to create a reservoir of Joy. It starts with acknowledging an experience of Joy and then storing it in your memory. Although it cannot be guaranteed, I am now seeking three things a day that may bring me Joy. Simple everyday events such as stroking a pet, (thank you Monty), walking out and looking at a beautiful flower in the park, smiling back at someone (please smile at me), producing a drawing, the list can go on and on. I realise that I must acknowledge and store the Joy when it occurs rather than let it pass me by.

This process of entering the competition has enabled me to learn to generate a reservoir of Joy which will now fuel me through my life.

#LGCartprize2024

WJC

If you’re new to this blog, I have entered the LGC X Theo Paphitis Art Prize which has the theme of Joy. Therefore I am blogging about Joy for August.

This post is how I think about failure, as I do not want failure to prevent, or dampen, my experiences of Joy.

Managing and living with my mental ill health has often led me to reflect on why I feel so bad but no one mentioned looking at why I feel good! This I think has led me to often think more about negative experiences than positive. This may be also part of everyday British culture? How often do we recount when we just miss a bus but never on how many we just caught? To focus on failure stunts our experiences of Joy.

Failing or failure may be seem so awful that we never try new experiences and if we don’t try, we don’t grow. Therefore we need to rethink failure and get away from, and stop negative feelings of inadequacy, disappointment, being stupid or less than others. 

One step towards this is to set a realistic personal target and ignore everyone else’s targets. Remember you are a novice or beginner when you start something new and therefore expect to only achieve a step towards your target and not the whole. 

Ready for some sport? So Archery;  if you take up archery what is your novice expectation to achieve? In Archery the winner is the one who hits the gold of the target the most. But what about the novice? What is a novice target? Surely you win just by turning up to your first session, that is your gold. And, what if you just enjoy part of the session, is that also part of the gold?

 Maybe the gold medal is actually  just having a go and experiencing a smile i.e. joy along the way?

I never read the memo that says failure is negative, I was always too busy trying anything and everything to avoid feeling bad, in fact I didn’t feel anything at all but adrenaline and excitement. Until I crashed and burnt! In some ways this is a positive from my life experience, I am not afraid of failure, there is no point. I am more afraid of FOMO! (Fear of missing out!)

So don’t crash and burn, please don’t! but do rethink how you see failure and overcome negative feelings by setting novice targets and allow Joy to grow in you and others

Remember, smile at someone and experience Joy!

My competition entry can be seen on Centrepieces instagram.

WJC

To vote for WJC's artwork, follow this link and vote on entry number 96.

I volunteer as a Workshop Leader at Centrepieces and use my sports coaching to develop confidence to produce art in fellow members. As many members will tell you, if you sit at my art table, be ready to score a goal!

Back to the competition; this year’s Art Prize has the theme of Joy and they introduce the writings of C S Lewis to develop this theme. Got me hooked and I started researching Joy as although it’s something I know of, I didn’t fully understand and couldn’t articulate what I understand as Joy. Scoring a goal is excitement, not Joy. I now understand Joy is innate, it’s calm and we just need simple everyday prompts to make it flow. 

Coincidently, at the time of the competition launch, I was running workshops on Portraits using the method I had witnessed at a Frank Auerbach exhibition ‘Charcoal Heads’. I was at the Lodge with Paul helping him finish off his Dame Kelly Homes Portrait and, as he didn’t need my help, I decided to do a quick portrait and pulled a  Mother Teresa image out of the folder and thought “yes, she has a very interesting face”. Then I had one of those sessions all artists will recognize where the image just flows out of you and your sub-conscious seems to take over and there it is, and you’re left thinking “who did that? It can’t have been me”!