Joy Doesn't Trickle Down—It Rises Up
A Million Seeds of Joy | Our September Community Project
A few weeks ago I was scrolling on Threads, and I came upon this conversation where commenters expressed how it felt like current events were sucking all the joy out of the atmosphere. Like joy had been cut off from the top for them.
And I get it. I have had moments where I have felt that too. It is an understandable response with all the heavy things going on.
But that’s where feisty Michele enters this chat.
Because joy doesn’t trickle down from above. It rises up from within.
JOY is an act of resistance to everything that would diminish the worth of our humanity or impede our ability to flourish together.
I am super feisty about this. And I’ve had some practice. I started defying medical odds the day I was born. I had 23 major surgeries by age 13. These last 12 years… I’ve lost everything twice. And this doesn’t even scratch the surface.
Like many of you, I’ve had ample opportunity to face challenges.
When things get difficult, my default is to flourish as an act of utter defiance.
I’ve been planting my fall garden this last week, and it’s had me thinking a lot about joy as a seed.
It is impossible to tell the impact of the plant by the size of the seed. Small things can make a big difference.
Growing joy is a LOT like growing a garden. It takes work, cultivation, nurturing, protection, and weeding.
It takes learning which seeds need what conditions to thrive.
And sometimes seeds don’t always take on the first try. That doesn’t mean anything other than there are times when we need to start them again.
But when I talk about joy, here’s what I don’t mean. I want to be really clear on this because there’s a lot of shaming that goes on for not overcoming well enough in some communities.
We don’t do that here.
Joy is not fake-it-till-you-make-it, weaponized toxic positivity, and hustle harder hype.
Joy is not pasting a smile in place when you are breaking into a thousand pieces inside.
Not everyone has the same access to joy. We each experience our circumstances differently.
Joy is not a denial of our circumstances or the hard things we are facing; it is a strategic response that gives us the power to keep going through them.
Victory Gardens. You've probably heard of them. During World War II, people were strongly encouraged to grow backyard vegetable gardens to supplement food rations.
In 1945, at their height, there were an estimated 20 million victory gardens in the United States that grew 40% of all the produce the US consumed.
During World War II, food was scarce. Resources were tight.
But victory gardens weren’t just about food. They gave people hope, dignity, and a way to contribute to meeting community needs.
Now, in 2025, we’re facing different challenges.
What if we had a movement of joy gardens? A movement of planting little, tiny, practical, whimsical, maybe even slightly silly seeds of joy.
A Joy Garden could be anything that plants delight and resilience where despair tries to grow.
It could be as simple as a pot of basil on your windowsill, encouraging chalk art on your driveway, a gratitude jar, a block cookout, a daily doodle, a supportive note.
Every single time we lean into deliberate, defiant, micro-acts of joy, we are cultivating a harvest of resilience.
We are growing pockets of wonder right where we are. This is resistance through delight, planting joy as a counter-narrative to despair, overconsumerism, and burnout.
And JOY seeds are everywhere. They grow in our sketchbooks, in kind words in grocery stores, in gatherings with neighbors for game nights, in building community one cup of coffee at a time, and of course in backyard gardens as well.
I heard
recently encourage someone who has been doing their part by putting grocery store carts back in place.Friends, there are no insignificant acts of kindness.
It all matters. You matter.
But sometimes, we need reminders of that, right? Especially in this noisy, loud, uncertain world.
Joy as resistance has a long-standing, storied history in activism. If that’s of interest, an incredible article from
and the Preamble by Isla Flaherty landed in my inbox while I was writing this. It’s a great read.
If you’re new here, periodically we do creative challenges as a community. It’s how this space got started.
Imagine with me… what could a million tiny acts of joy become? How much light and courage would that release? What kind of creativity and community would grow? What momentum could that make in helping us tell ourselves and one another a better story?
SO… I thought, why not us? Why wait for someone else to get this started?
We can each play a part and start right where we are.
I’ve created a #millionseedsofjoy community project for us to jump into together this September. Everything will be hosted right here on The Wonder Habit.
It is whimsical, playful, practical, and built around solid brain science to help us access more joy in action. Joy is rising, and we can rise with it.
What is one simple way you access joy in your everyday life? Tell us in the comments.
Michele what a brilliant post. I love it. I have not had the surgeries that you have had, but I have had cancer twice. I have faced a terminal disease at 19 and attacked that the same way you are describing with defiance and throughout my life (I'm 72 now) I have done that with everything I face. I'm a little overwhelmed and fatigued this year just because of all the work there has been for me but what gets me through everything is joy. For me joy is finding that quiet happiness in the little things each day. Since I was little, very little, I naturally had to find joy in whatever I could each day and that lead to a lifelong habit of feeling joy no matter what happened to me. Very often it meant reading and becoming part of that story, yes even when I was 4. Always I have found my joy in nature - the birds, the tiny things, the big things, so much. To me, toxic positivity is the absolutely worst. But finding joy in the simple things - that is where joy lives. I wish everyone who might read my reply (and even those who don't) the ability to find joy in the little things in their life. They are there - its just a mindset to be learned.
Looking up at the clouds and remembering what a miracle it is that we are hurtling through the cosmos in an environment that supports life. It's so easy to miss it and it takes my breath away every time!