Joyful Anyway is a 2026 book by Kate Bowler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a 2026 book by Kate Bowler titled Joyful Anyway. Google Books has a preview of it. On page 155 she has a Venn diagram for Joy from Hope, Gratitude, and Delight overlapping, as is shown above via a colorized version.

 

On page 156 in Chapter 28 she says:

 

“Joy (According to Researchers)

 

1] Joy is uncontrollable. It ranks lowest out of emotions in its ability to be yanked into your life by sheer force of will.

 

2] Joy is not the same thing as gratitude, exactly, but grateful people are more likely to experience it. And it will make you grateful in the end.

 

3] Joy is random. You can get used to happiness (see also hedonic treadmill), but you can’t get used to joy. Because you can’t get used to a surprise.

 

4] Joy might be random, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be more prepared. Theologian Karl Barth wrote that we should hold ourselves ‘in readiness for joy,’ On your mark..get set..joy.

 

5] You can almost make joy a character trait. Not quite, because joy is nit permanent. But you can become a more and more joyful person. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

 

6] Joy will make us hopeful. A joyful person will have the ability to see possibilities and grace and even the redemption of things that feel completely ruined.

 

7] Joy will delight the crap out of us, If you’re not dlighted, it’s not joy. It’s probably indigestion.

 

8] If we want to know if it’s joy we should look for feelings of (a) harmony, (b) aliveness, (c) transcendence, and (d) unselfconsciousness.

 

9] Joy can be easier and easier to experience. We just have to practice.”

 

And on page 215 in Chapter 40 she says:

 

“Ways to (Almost) Guarantee Joy for No Reason

 

Welcome to what my sister Maria calls No Reason Season. Congratulations! You are getting off the superhighways of efficiency! You are saying ‘No!’ to usefulness! Stop sprinting toward self-mastery and have some experiences that are not for any reason except your delight.

 

1} Host a taste-test party. It can be for anything – ketchup, generic colas, best vanilla ice cream, fast-food French fries. Remove the labels and have everyone rank their favorites.

 

2} Pretend you are in a sitcom the next time you meet a stranger. Life is much funnier if you imagine a laugh track playing in the background.

 

3} Dress as your favorite nineties album cover. Do it solo. Or invite others in on the fun. (secondhand clothing stores have everything you need for time travel.)

 

4} Make up weirdly specific songs about your pet. Or sing seventies love ballads to them, inserting their names: ‘Hold me closer, Tiny Hazelnut!’

 

5} Wear your most sparkly outfit to your next appointment or meeting. Declare it is Sequin Friday or Sparkle Tuesday and be surprised other people didn’t get the memo.

 

6} Fold your toilet paper into tiny origami like at a fancy hotel. Bonus points if you can figure out how to make animals out of towels and surprise your roommate with a towel sloth on the counter.

 

7} Keep premade cookie dough in the freezer for any and all occasions. Sprinkle a little salt on the top because who can stop you?

 

8} Pick a walk-up song for everyone in your home or at the office. Play it as they come in, as LOUDLY AS YOU WANT.

 

There is more. There is more. There is more. There is more. (repeated 39 times)”