What is the main message of Joy on Demand?

The main message of Joy on Demand is that we can cultivate joy and happiness through simple mindfulness practices.

Who is the author of Joy on Demand?

Chade-Meng Tan is the author of Joy on Demand.

Mindfulness & Happiness

Joy on Demand Book Summary - Joy on Demand Book explained in key points

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Joy on Demand summary

Name: Joy on Demand
Rating: 4.3 (96 reviews)
Author: Chade-Meng Tan

Chade-Meng Tan

The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within

4.3 (96 ratings)

18 mins

Brief summary

Joy on Demand by Chade-Meng Tan is a guidebook on cultivating happiness, mindfulness, and inner peace through simple meditation practices. It offers practical guidance and techniques to improve one's emotional well-being and overall quality of life.

Topics

Meditation

Table of Contents

Joy on Demand
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn how meditation can make you happier.

Are you a happy, joyful person? It’s perhaps not the easiest question to answer. And indeed, your answer might even change over time. But whatever your current status, there is a foolproof way to feel happier and more joyful, and it doesn’t require any money or expensive tools.

You probably already know that meditation can help you manage stress and boost your performance, but in fact, it goes much deeper and can have a profound impact on your well-being and happiness, too.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

why most adults feel much the same as they did as teenagers;
that you need to familiarize your mind with feeling joy; and
why feeling love for a stranger will make you happier.

A person’s level of happiness tends to remain static unless improved through regular meditation practice.

There was once a Chinese man who visited a palm reader. After examining the man’s hands, the palm reader told him he was miserable and would remain that way until he turned forty. The man was thrilled by this information, assuming that he simply had to hold out till he turned forty, at which point he would finally be happy. However, he had misunderstood; the palm reader clarified that, at forty, the man would finally become accustomed to his misery.

For the man in the example, and most people worldwide, happiness remains stable over their lifetimes. Studies have even shown that humans are highly adaptable to both negative and positive life circumstances; we return to our base level of happiness, or unhappiness, with relative ease.

Just take a 1978 study by the psychologist Philip Brickman, which found that neither winning the lottery nor being paralyzed in an accident had a long-term impact on a person’s happiness level. Following the initial elation or shock, a person will adapt to the momentous change, going back to feeling the way he did before the event.

Or consider a 1996 study of twins done by the psychologist David Lykken, which concluded that at least 50 percent of the human ability to remain happy depends on genetics. Surprisingly enough, external factors like money and education only account for about 3 percent of this ability.

The implication here is that, if a person is born unhappy, she simply has to suck it up. But, actually, there is something you can do about it; mental strengths, like joy and resilience, can be increased through practice.

In fact, just as working out can strengthen one’s muscles, mental exercises can increase one’s happiness. The author made this incredible discovery when he began meditating. He soon found that this practice is for the mind what doing sit-ups or running laps are for the body.

How come?

Well, when the mind is strengthened, it becomes more capable of achieving certain results – say, the experience of joy.

But this requires regular meditation, which can be difficult to commit to. But in the following blinks, you’ll learn why it’s worth it and what you stand to gain from establishing a practice of your own.

Meditation has much to offer, from a renewed sense of calm to the development of emotional strength.

If you’ve ever exercised, you know how difficult it can be to get started and how fulfilling it usually is once you do. Well, the same goes for meditation. This mental practice is initially challenging, but it comes with innumerable benefits, the first of which is an experience of profound calm.

In fact, through regular meditation, you can learn how to actively calm your mind. Naturally, this doesn’t happen overnight. At first, your mind will be susceptible to the same incessant thoughts that it’s prone to now. But as you practice, you’ll be able to reliably calm your thoughts during meditation.

Meditation can bring you rapid joy if you commit to your practice.

Before we get into the mechanics of exactly how meditation works, it’s important to understand how you can make it a daily practice. It may be tricky, but it’s likely not as difficult as you think.

In fact, you can easily make meditation more accessible by harnessing the power of joy. Here’s how:

In one breath, you can feel the life-changing benefits of meditation.

If you’re like most people, the last blink probably made you wonder how little effort you can put in while still deriving benefits from your meditation practice. It’s a natural question, and the answer is sure to take your breath away.

Quite literally, a single inhalation and exhalation are enough to experience some of the benefits meditation has to offer. Don’t buy it? Just try this exercise out for yourself:

A meditative state can be achieved by focusing on a particular object or sensation or even by simply taking a moment for rest.

Imagine walking into a room full of cash and being told you could take home as much money as you could carry. You probably wouldn’t settle for some spare change, right? Well, the same thing goes for meditation.

The breath you learned about in the last blink is the equivalent of spare change – and you can easily have much more than that. But to advance beyond this basic point, you first need to establish the foundation of meditation: settling the mind through anchoring.

Joy is all around you and, by noticing it in its small instances, you can take steps toward happiness.

Pour water out onto a downward slope, and it will effortlessly flow down it, following its natural inclination. In the same way, for you to flow toward joy, you must become naturally inclined to feel happiness.

The first step is to make your mind more familiar with joy. This is a simple principle but a logical one as well. After all, when the mind becomes acquainted with the experience of joy, it simultaneously learns to notice it more easily. From there, the mind even begins to seek out joy and works to create the conditions under which it will occur.

Meditation can soothe negative emotions through love and compassion.

Just about everybody has experienced a bad day at work. But did you know that you can turn such an experience around by employing a simple mental exercise?

Well, you can. Just by thinking thoughts of loving-kindness, you can transform your mood into one of great happiness. Here’s how:

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What is Joy on Demand about?

Joy on Demand (2016) is a guide to finding inner peace, calm and joy through the ancient practice of meditation. These blinks walk you through a simple, entry-level program that will transform moments of misery into windows of hope, eventually guiding you to true, sustained happiness.

Joy on Demand Review

Joy on Demand (2016) is a thought-provoking book that explores the benefits of cultivating joy in our daily lives. Here's what makes this book worth reading:

It offers a practical approach to finding joy by providing simple exercises and techniques that can be incorporated into everyday routines.
Backed by scientific research and personal experiences, the book presents a compelling case for the importance of joy in our overall well-being.
With its conversational tone and relatable anecdotes, it engages readers and makes the exploration of joy an enjoyable and insightful journey.

Best quote from Joy on Demand

I started meditating because I was miserable enough to try anything.

—Chade-Meng Tan

Who should read Joy on Demand?

Depressed and anxious people everywhere
Workaholics, worriers and anyone who is unhappy
Aspiring spiritual souls

About the Author

Chade-Meng Tan began his career as an engineer before gradually discovering his spiritual side. As a best-selling author and the creator of a number of wildly popular mindfulness courses, he now shares his insights about joy with people around the world.

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Mindfulness & Happiness

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