February 12, 2025 • 29 mins
Episode Summary:
In this episode of Celeste's Therapist Podcast, Celeste delves into the powerful concept of experiencing joy as an act of resistance. She shares her personal reflections on the overwhelming emotions and feelings of helplessness that many people, including herself, have been grappling with in light of current global events. Celeste offers practical advice on how to shift our thinking patterns and harness joy as a transformative and empowering force. She encourages listeners to use the podcast as a tool for personal growth, suggesting they take notes and revisit them to fully absorb each week's insights. For more information about Celeste and her work, listeners can visit celestatherapist.com or her wellness center at stwit.com.
Key Points:
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Understanding and shifting thought patterns
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The importance of joy in challenging times
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Overcoming feelings of hopelessness and helplessness
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Practical tips for cultivating joy and resilience
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Website: www.stwyt.com
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Email: info@STWYT.com
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Follow Celeste: @CelesteTheTherapist
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, hey, thank you all so much for joining another episode of Celeste's
Therapist Podcast. My name is Celeste. If you're new here, I just want to say thank
you so much for being here. I really appreciate you.
What we're doing on this podcast is we are learning how to
understand what's going on with us and ways we can work on shifting. I
always find that we get stuck in some of the ways that we think
(00:23):
because we don't have any other way of thinking. So I want
you to use this podcast as a tool to help you on your journey. So
I encourage like a notebook, look at it as a class, right?
Grab your notebook, grab your pen, take notes,
go back to the notes. Cause every single week we're talking about something
new. And if you want to learn more about me,
(00:44):
you can go to celestatherapist.com or I have a
wellness center, stwit.com. You can go there. to
find out more about me. Today we're talking about joy as
an act of resistance. It's something that's been really
heavily on my spirit. I've been struggling with
having a lot of feelings around the things that are
(01:06):
happening around the world. I'm working with
people every day, so I'm constantly in community and
talking to people about how they're struggling. And
I realized people feel very hopeless
or helpless in some situations. And so
my goal today is to help you, if that's you, if you feel
(01:27):
like, I've been struggling, feeling hopeless, I've been feeling helpless, I've
been struggling with a lot of rage, a lot of emotions. I
want you to learn a new way of operating so that
you don't allow it to take over because our mind goes
at the pace that we take it. And so if we're only focusing on
all the things that we don't have control over, we are
(01:47):
going to find ourselves struggling and being in a dark place. So
my goal is to give you a new way of thinking about it. So we're talking about
joy as an act of resistance. So first I want to define joy, right? And
also if you're listening, this podcast is on YouTube. So
if you go to Celeste Therapist, you can find this podcast, episode
(02:08):
504. So joy is a profound and uplifting emotion characterized by
feelings of happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. It
often arises from positive experiences, connections with others.
Joy can be both spontaneous and cultivated. allowing
you to find light even in challenging circumstances. Joy
serves as a source of energy and motivation, empowering you to embrace life
(02:30):
fully and engage in your personal growth and transformation. You
know, that's one of the things that I find myself having often
is joy. And there's a lot of chaos happening. I
can see the chaos. I talk to people in the chaos. I sit with
people in grieving moments. And those moments are very
hard. But I promise you, what keeps me going is the joy
(02:51):
that I'm finding myself being able to cultivate. And it's
something that I had to learn how to do. If you
told me 20 years ago it was possible to have joy,
I promise you I wouldn't have believed you. It's something
kind of like if you're building a muscle, I had to work on cultivating it,
right? That's the purpose of today's podcast is I want to help you
(03:11):
learn how you can do that with your own life. So that's
the definition of joy. Let's talk about resistance, right? That's
something that's important I want you to think about. So understanding resistance, right?
So resistance refers to the act of opposing or
standing against something, particularly oppressive structures, societal
norms, or personal challenges. It embodies the
(03:33):
struggle to maintain your identity, values, and beliefs in
the face of adversity. Resistance is a proactive stance against
the status quo, where you assert your right to joy, well-being,
and self-expression. It highlights the importance of fighting against
apathy and exhaustion caused by external pressures, using
joy as a powerful tool for change and empowerment. Resistance
(03:58):
is something I feel like I've always had. I've
never been somebody that went with the status quo. I never cared
about how people viewed me. I thought about where
I wanted to go, even if it wasn't where others were going. Years
ago, when I started coming on social media, probably around
like 2010 talking about mental health. You know, it wasn't
(04:19):
the popular thing, the way mental health is talked about now. In
2010, it wasn't talked about then. But because I got so much
value out of working on myself, I felt a passion
to want to help others by doing that. And it literally
started with just posting quotes on social media. I
feel like I've always been in a resistance space of
(04:41):
not going with the norm, not doing the status quo, like
the norm in America didn't feel right, right? And I was
always mindful of that. And in 2025, even
more so, you know, if I was like that back then, like 15, 20 years
ago, imagine how much more I'm like that now, right? So
that's kind of what resistance means. Now,
(05:04):
when you together joy and resistance, it creates a dynamic interplay
where you can harness your joy to fuel your resistance
against oppression, ultimately leading to personal and
collective transformation. I need to
say that because I need you to understand, like, this emotion chart that I'm putting up
right here, this is from BEAM. It's a really great organization. you
(05:27):
can hold on to more than one emotion. You don't have to just have one. You
know, when I'm working with people, they may be struggling with their parent because of how they
are, how they're not accepting, but they love their parent, and they
struggle, right? And I say, you know, you can love your parent and not like how they
treat you. Like, you can hold on to two emotions. I think in
America, we look at things as black and white. We don't look at the gray. So
(05:48):
knowing that, like, yes, there's rage, right? There's so
many hard things that are happening that we don't have control
over. But does that mean that I don't deserve joy?
I've heard people say, I wanted
to have this birthday party, but I feel bad because of everything that's going
on in the world. It's like, so do you stop creating
(06:09):
joy because of everything that's happening in the world? Mind you, everything that's happening
in the world, you don't have control over. It's not about ignoring
what is happening, but it's also not about allowing
what's happening to take over your life. Right. That's the
message that I want to share with you today. Um, because I
know a lot of times it's hard to do that. I
(06:30):
was listening to a podcast and, um, it was, gosh,
I can't think of the name of it. Um, 10% happier, 10% happier.
And it was a lady on there. She's, she was like, you know, I got, I
got bad news from the oncologist. And she said,
because Peter, I think his name is Peter, who hosts it. He said,
well, he's talking about her active resistance
(06:52):
and how she cultivates being present, right? Because
being present is where peace is found. And she said,
I have this report, but I also, my kids are good. Like,
this is happening and that's happening. She's like, there's so many other things
happening. She was like, it's easy to just stick with
that diagnosis and what the oncologist said and
(07:14):
focus on the hard thing, right? That's easy to do. She was
like, but I have to be intentional on making sure I'm
reminding myself all of the other great things that are happening. Right.
And so that's something that I want to remind you of what's going on, even,
you know, there's so many hard things that are happening. And,
um, even though I don't really watch the news, I talk to people and
(07:37):
I'm sitting with people every day and, and grieving in different ways,
um, for different reasons. And, um, it's very
hard sometimes. Excuse me. Sometimes I'll
say to myself, like, I don't know how I'm able to do this. Right.
And, um, those moments where it gets hard. And
I'm very mindful and intentional on doing things that
(07:59):
bring me joy, taking care of my mental health, taking care
of my physical health, right, allowing self-care in my
life. And so there's a sense of peace that
comes over me, right? So it's not that I'm walking around
all joyous and peaceful all the time. There's moments of rage that
happens, right? But I don't allow those moments to take over,
(08:20):
right? Because I know how powerful the mind is. And I know my mind
is looking for a direction from me. So I'm very
mindful of what's going on. I want to share
something from Audre Lorde. She was a writer. She
was an amazing woman. And she said, you know, joy provides the
energy for change, right? Because whether you realize it
(08:41):
or not, energy transfers, right? You could be around somebody, and let's say
they're always talking about, oh, this is wrong, and that's wrong, and never
nothing going right. You'll find yourself feeling drained. And
you could be around somebody that has so much energy, they're peaceful, and
they're talking about all these good things that they got going on, and you can leave there
feeling motivated. That's energy. So Joy provides the
(09:01):
energy for change. Lorde discusses how embracing joy and
the erotic can empower you to resist oppression and
create meaningful change in your life and community.
Her perspective highlights that joy is not merely just
a fleeting emotion, but a powerful force
that fuels resilience and activism. By
(09:23):
cultivating joy, you can find the strength to challenge the status quo
and engage in transformative actions that promote personal and
collective liberation. And I think about people that are activists and
on the ground and that are working to create change.
And I really want you to continue to do that. But
I also want to make sure you're cultivating joy. I also want to
(09:45):
make sure you're cultivating care and wellness for yourself because
this work is not ending tomorrow, right? The
things that are happening is not going to go away next week. And
I don't want you to succumb to the pressures of
everything that's going on because you didn't have
the ability to work on inserting some
(10:08):
joy in creating something different in your life. It's
easy to get locked in in this work, especially when you have a passion and
you want to help people. Somebody like me, I don't like bullies. That's
the one area of my life that has always been constant. I
don't like it when people take advantage of people. I struggle with that, my emotions
around it. And so I'm living in a time in
(10:28):
2025 where it's like, I
wake up, I can't believe that happened. I can't believe this man said that. Like,
it's like you're so baffled by it, right? So
for me, I keep reminding myself of my purpose
and why I'm here and the things that I'm doing to help me, like, be
okay. And so for people that are, like, activists and on
(10:49):
the streets and doing this work, I really want you to make sure that
you're allowing yourself to bring in joy, because if you don't,
like, you can break down your system just by
all of that energy just being in you and not going anywhere. So,
you know, that's joy, that's resistance, right? Let's talk
about the benefits of experiencing joy, bringing joy into
(11:11):
your life. Because one of the things on this podcast, if
you're new, is like, we're going to talk about the issues. We're also going
to talk about solutions and why it happens so that you
can work on creating change. So one
of the benefits is improved mental health, right? So if
you work on creating joy, it can help reduce your stress and
(11:32):
anxiety, and it can also enhance your mood.
It can allow you to have more of a positive mood and
help combat some sadness and depression that you may be feeling. So
if you've been struggling with stress and anxiety and some
sadness and depression, allowing joy
into your life can help offset that, right? I'm not saying
(11:54):
it's going to change. I'm not saying you're never going to be sad or never going to feel anxious, but
Creating joy, allowing joy into your life can really help that. Another
way you can be helped by allowing joy in
your life is increased resilience. So you have
the coping mechanism. Joy provides you with the emotional resources you
need to cope with challenges and setbacks. When
(12:17):
people look at my story and they look at everything that I've done,
you would never know all
of the things that I've gone through. You would never know all of the doors that
was closed. You would never know all of the ways that I
had to struggle to get to this place, especially as a black woman. But
the thing that's helped me is me thinking about, OK, my
(12:38):
future. I continue to look at my future self. But also,
I allow joy into my life. I allow things that
I love in my life. I'm taking care of myself. So increased
resilience happens when you allow joy. Strengthen
social connections. So joy often arises from social interactions and
shared experiences. I always say like, when
(12:59):
you do, we're not meant to do life alone. And when you're in community,
something powerful happens, energy is transferred. Building
and maintaining strong relationships can enhance resilience as
supportive networks provide encouragement and help during the
tough times. And speaking of the community,
I created an online community called Shift Community, where
(13:22):
you can go. It's not on social media. That was my
goal, not to create something that was on social media. But there's
different spaces on there. And I'm going to be building the spaces as
we continue to grow. But right now, there's a discussion board where
we can discuss And the two spaces that I created was gratitude, because
that's important for me, especially in times like this, and also
(13:43):
healing your inner child space, right? And so this space
is a way for community to happen, because I'm always talking about
community and how important it is. I know people
live all around the world, finances or not, Your
finances doesn't allow some spaces for you to be in, right? So
God laid it on my heart to create this space so
(14:06):
that people can come together and find community outside
of social media where there's not a lot of distractions. So being
in community is something that can really help with
the way that you're feeling, because when you're by
yourself, those negative thoughts can end up taking over.
(14:26):
Besides increased resilience, another way is it can enhance creativity
and problem solving. So when you're allowing joy in your life, your
mind will be more open, right? The joy fosters a
sense of openness and curiosity, allowing you to think creatively and
explore new ideas. This is so true for me. Where
I'm at now, like I admire people that be like, oh, I know what I want to do, right? They
(14:48):
have this plan laid out. I didn't have a plan laid out. I didn't know. I
just knew I wanted to help people. I didn't know what it would look like. I never could
have imagined anything like what I'm doing to the level that I'm doing right now.
But me allowing joy in my life, taking
care of myself, allows my mind to be open to
the possibilities, right? If my mind is in a dark space, what
(15:10):
possibilities are there but darkness? Right? So I
want you to remember that, like, because some people may feel guilty, like, oh, well, how
can I work on creating joy when all this is happening? Guess
what? All this is happening, whether I choose to create joy or not, it's going
to happen. It's happening. Right? So I really want you to
work on shifting your perspective around it. Also, it
(15:30):
can increase your motivation, right? Experiencing joy can boost
motivation and engagement in various activities, personal
and professional. And then also greater
life satisfaction, right? If you work on creating joy
in your life, your sense of purpose start to look different, right?
Joy often comes from engaging in activities that
(15:52):
align with your values and your passion. This
alignment can lead to a deeper sense of purpose. And
also, you know, you'll have a positive outlook on
your circumstances, right? So regular experiences of joy can
help you develop a more optimistic perspective, make it easier
to focus on the positive aspects of life and cultivate gratitude.
(16:14):
So, you know, these are some things that are
important to think about as you are working on.
So these are some things that is so important for you
to think about as you are working on like
changing up your algorithm in your head. And the last thing
is your physical health benefits, right? If you allow
(16:36):
joy into your life, I promise you, you'll notice a
difference in your physical wellness. So your immune
system will be improved, right? Joy can have a positive effect on physical health,
including boosting your immune system, and then longevity. So
studies have shown that people who experience higher levels of joy and
positive emotions tend to have longer lifespans as
(16:57):
joy is associated with the healthier lifestyle. choices,
and reduced and chronic diseases. So
there you have it. Those are some ways and reasons why
creating joy can be beneficial and helpful to you. I don't want
to just say, oh, create joy. I want you to know why it's important to
create joy. And then you may be like, but Celeste, what are
(17:20):
some practical ways to cultivate joy? Because that's
a real question. Celeste, you're telling me to create joy. What
does that realistically look like? As you can see
on, if you're on YouTube, some practical ways and
all of these ways that I'm about to list are free, right?
Because I don't want people to allow finances
(17:43):
to stop them from creating the things that can help
them in their journey, right? I'm all about starting where you
are, using what you have. I created this podcast because
of it. I created this podcast because I wanted to provide
people with a resource that was free for them to
be able to work on their journey. I just hate
(18:04):
that in America, they allow
for things that we need to be
looked at as something that's attached to money. right?
And I know we need money to survive, but I also know that it's
not available for everyone. And I don't want people to feel hopeless because they
don't have the financial means. That's why I say use this podcast as
(18:26):
a way, take notes, right? Get your notebook. And then
obviously my shift community, like go into that community, start
cultivating like relationships So
the first thing is practicing gratitude, always important, right? Two,
engage in activities that you love. It could be something from
like learning how to knit. For me, it was gardening, right?
(18:49):
It could be music, dancing in front of the TV. It
could be reading, right? Think about the things that you love. It could be drawing, right?
It could be writing. If you're a writer, start writing, right? It
doesn't have to be attached to a publishing company to write. Like
I said, I started coming on social media, posting quotes.
(19:10):
I wanted to work with people in some capacity, but
I didn't know what that would look like. But I started posting quotes. And
from posting quotes, I have a whole wellness center, right?
There was a bunch of steps in between. But I started
where I was, and I used what I had. I found joy in
posting positive quotes for people. And sometimes people would write under, like,
(19:30):
oh my gosh, this is so good, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes nobody wrote under it.
It wasn't about getting that validation from somebody writing under
it. It was about me feeling like I'm fulfilling a part
of my purpose and what I know is going to help people. Connecting
with others is important. Again, try to find community. If
you can't find community, there's always online
(19:53):
communities, like my shifting community. Practicing
mindfulness is another way to cultivate joy. Prioritizing your
self-care, it includes moving your body. I just
got an alert. My Apple Watch
was like, oh, wow, you got a 10-day streak of working out.
I've never done that in my life but I've been struggling
(20:15):
with a lot of rage around everything that's going on and so I
decided to enhance and increase the activities that I
do that bring me joy and I know I feel good after
I'm done. So I'm using that rage
and working out, and I'm feeling good after. So
really prioritizing your self-care is important. Creating
(20:38):
a joyful environment. This includes getting off of social media, getting off
of the news. not talking about those things over and
over again, right? So when I think about cultivating an
environment that is joyful, it also
includes taking some things out of your environment. It also includes
maybe reading a book on wellness or
(20:58):
care or listening to something, right? It may seem
foreign or new or different, But in order for
you to get to where you need to be, your system is going to be a
little bit uncomfortable. If you're somebody that's always on social media, and
you're not typically a reader, you're not typically listening to certain things, start
making your system uncomfortable until it gets comfortable. Because
(21:20):
that's what it's going to take to create that safe environment for yourself.
Setting intentional goals, right? If you're somebody that might
tell yourself like, oh, Celeste, I don't know how to be consistent. I don't know how
to create goals. Start with something small. If you don't make up your bed,
start with just making up your bed every morning. Make a commitment to make
up your bed every morning, right? If you make up your bed, if there's something,
(21:41):
let's say, moving your body, you don't move your body, make a commitment to go
for a walk, right? Like, you know what? I'm going to go for
a walk two days a week, right? It's not about going to the
gym or getting clothes. If you're somebody that says you want to start reading,
you know what? Set your alarm for a certain time and
then set your timer for 20 minutes and read for 20 minutes. I
(22:01):
promise you, the more you start being intentional on the little things,
You'll find yourself being able to gain confidence that
you can do the bigger things. One of the goals I had during the pandemic is
I wanted to drink more water, right? That may seem insignificant to
someone, but I wanted to work on getting more hydrated because it
wasn't something that I did all the time. And so what I did, I got
(22:23):
a sticky note. I put it on my computer, the computer that I use every single day.
to meet with people. Every time I opened it up, I would see that yellow sticky note
and it would say, don't forget to drink water. And before I started working,
I would grab me a bottle of water. And as you
can see, if you're watching me on my video, look at this, I got my water right here. I
don't go anywhere without my water because I've built the practice. I don't
(22:44):
need the sticky note anymore. So start with
something small. If you want to work on being intentional about your
goals, you may have aspirations to do something like
bigger, but it's going to take you starting smaller, right?
Start with the little things and then start to build your way up.
Practicing kindness, right? Doing something nice for someone. Donating
(23:08):
your time. That's something that really actually brings joy. Embracing
playfulness is something that could bring in joy. And then
reflecting on joyful moments, right? I ask
my kids four questions every night. One is, how are you feeling? What
went well today? Um, what did you do to prepare
for your tomorrow? And then what are you grateful for? Like, what,
(23:30):
what are you grateful for? And what went well today allows them to embrace the
moments. My goal in doing that with them is for them to
learn. I want this to be like more natural than not for
them to get more into the moment. It's not something in America we talk about.
We only talk about, Oh, you don't have this, get this. You're, you're,
you're sweeping with the broom, get a Swiffer. Your broom's not good enough. Oh,
you have an iPhone 10. No, you need an iPhone 16. It's
(23:55):
never satisfied. And so we learn not
to be satisfied with what we have. I've been to a lot of places
that are not as rich as America is.
That's a lot poorer. And the amount of joy that
comes on people's faces is mind-blowing. I
remember the first time I went somewhere, and I was just like, wow, it's
(24:15):
not even like they have. But look at the joy that's in their spirit. You can feel
it. It's contagious, the joy that happens. Right.
So I do, I want you to think about like what you have, I
want you to think about starting where you are and you
know, last podcast I made it, I said finances, pay attention to
your finances, pay attention to what you're spending money on.
(24:37):
Right. A lot of times we're spending money on things we don't need. I
always say, get a notebook. Yeah, I sell a guided journal, but if you
don't have no money to get no journal, get you a notebook, get you a paper and
pen, go to the dollar store and use that to start writing things
down. Don't allow the way
society is to make you think that you got to buy something
(24:58):
and break your bank to be okay. Yeah,
those things would be nice. It'd be nice to have a coach. It would be nice to spend
all this money on therapy, right? Because everybody doesn't have insurance. Everybody
can't find a therapy. If I had the money to buy the therapist I
wanted or have the coach or have this or that, that would be
great. But guess what? I don't have it. And I
(25:18):
want you to refuse to allow what you don't have to stop you from being great
and getting to where you need to be. That's the attitude I want you to have,
right? Um, so, you know, this was
important for me to talk about as something that's been
on my spirit for a while. Um, you know,
this, the things that I'm doing to be okay. Um,
(25:39):
I try to come to you in real time with things that, um,
are important in the world. Um, and I, I want you
to, I want to encourage you to work on finding joy,
creating joy in the midst of all the things that are happening. Also,
my wellness center is in Stoughton. I have events that are happening. So
I created this monthly connections thing.
(26:02):
And I had the first one for February. We crafted. It
was so cool. We did bracelets. Some people did
wine glasses. It was so cool. Next month,
we're doing connections. So I called the series Connections because
making connections as adults can be really hard. Um, so
the next one we're doing next month is movie and
(26:22):
chill. So we are going to watch the classic coming to
America, have a little trivia before come
by yourself or bring a friend. Um, it's going to be such a
good time. Um, you know, there's something powerful about
community and I think that's where we're heading is community. Like we
need community. We cannot do this alone. Um, so
(26:43):
that's one of the social things that I'm having. Um, the next event
that I'm having, so I have these next events monthly. Um,
so we have rest and recharge that's happening in March. Um,
we just added Friday night restore. So
the last Friday of every month, we're going to do restorative yoga here.
And restorative yoga is a gentle meditative practice that soothes
(27:04):
the nervous system. and invites deep relaxation. Using
supportive props like blankets and bolsters, you'll settle into postures for
extended period, allowing your body to release tension
effortlessly. This practice helps regulate stress, improve sleep,
and cultivate profound sense of calm. Uh, this is a
great class for, uh, beginners. If you are somebody
(27:26):
that feels like you have things trapped in your body, these
somatic classes that I'm providing are a great way to start
your process. Um, I've taken them here and it's
been so good. Um, especially I took the rest and recharge class.
We did breath work, chair, yoga, meditation, all within an hour.
And I, I started feeling really wound up.
(27:48):
And I remember after it was over, I was just like, oh my gosh, my body feels
so good. And then the next class we're having here,
that's the third Tuesday of every month, Mindful Yen. So
Mindful Yen offers yoga postures that are held in
stillness for short periods of time, focusing on the connective tissue.
Various breath techniques and concepts of mindfulness are
(28:10):
woven into class narrative as poses are held. And
we have the bolsters, we have the blankets, we have the water. You
literally just have to come. So if you want to learn more
about these events, all you got to do is go to stwyt.com slash
events, and you'll find out more. If you want to follow me or
my socials, you can follow all my socials by searching Celeste
(28:32):
the Therapist. If you want to follow my wellness into socials, all
you got to do is search stwyt.com. And
that is the acronym for shifting the way you think. So
one of the things that I want to make it clear, you have the
power to create change. You just have to have faith to believe in yourself. And
when you believe in yourself, no one can take that away from you. So
(28:53):
my challenge to you is to work on creating joy.
I want you to ask yourself, self, what am I doing
to create joy in my life? It could be like, you know what? When
I get home from work, I'm just going to have me a cup of hot tea. I'm going
to wake up in the morning, listen to some music, right? Don't
make it complicated. Do not make it complicated. But
(29:13):
I want you to work on creating joy. Until next time, beautiful
Hey, hey, thank you all so much for joining another episode of Celeste's
Therapist Podcast. My name is Celeste. If you're new here, I just want to say thank
you so much for being here. I really appreciate you.
What we're doing on this podcast is we are learning how to
understand what's going on with us and ways we can work on shifting. I
always find that we get stuck in some of the ways that we think
(00:23):
because we don't have any other way of thinking. So I want
you to use this podcast as a tool to help you on your journey. So
I encourage like a notebook, look at it as a class, right?
Grab your notebook, grab your pen, take notes,
go back to the notes. Cause every single week we're talking about something
new. And if you want to learn more about me,
(00:44):
you can go to celestatherapist.com or I have a
wellness center, stwit.com. You can go there. to
find out more about me. Today we're talking about joy as
an act of resistance. It's something that's been really
heavily on my spirit. I've been struggling with
having a lot of feelings around the things that are
(01:06):
happening around the world. I'm working with
people every day, so I'm constantly in community and
talking to people about how they're struggling. And
I realized people feel very hopeless
or helpless in some situations. And so
my goal today is to help you, if that's you, if you feel
(01:27):
like, I've been struggling, feeling hopeless, I've been feeling helpless, I've
been struggling with a lot of rage, a lot of emotions. I
want you to learn a new way of operating so that
you don't allow it to take over because our mind goes
at the pace that we take it. And so if we're only focusing on
all the things that we don't have control over, we are
(01:47):
going to find ourselves struggling and being in a dark place. So
my goal is to give you a new way of thinking about it. So we're talking about
joy as an act of resistance. So first I want to define joy, right? And
also if you're listening, this podcast is on YouTube. So
if you go to Celeste Therapist, you can find this podcast, episode
(02:08):
504. So joy is a profound and uplifting emotion characterized by
feelings of happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. It
often arises from positive experiences, connections with others.
Joy can be both spontaneous and cultivated. allowing
you to find light even in challenging circumstances. Joy
serves as a source of energy and motivation, empowering you to embrace life
(02:30):
fully and engage in your personal growth and transformation. You
know, that's one of the things that I find myself having often
is joy. And there's a lot of chaos happening. I
can see the chaos. I talk to people in the chaos. I sit with
people in grieving moments. And those moments are very
hard. But I promise you, what keeps me going is the joy
(02:51):
that I'm finding myself being able to cultivate. And it's
something that I had to learn how to do. If you
told me 20 years ago it was possible to have joy,
I promise you I wouldn't have believed you. It's something
kind of like if you're building a muscle, I had to work on cultivating it,
right? That's the purpose of today's podcast is I want to help you
(03:11):
learn how you can do that with your own life. So that's
the definition of joy. Let's talk about resistance, right? That's
something that's important I want you to think about. So understanding resistance, right?
So resistance refers to the act of opposing or
standing against something, particularly oppressive structures, societal
norms, or personal challenges. It embodies the
(03:33):
struggle to maintain your identity, values, and beliefs in
the face of adversity. Resistance is a proactive stance against
the status quo, where you assert your right to joy, well-being,
and self-expression. It highlights the importance of fighting against
apathy and exhaustion caused by external pressures, using
joy as a powerful tool for change and empowerment. Resistance
(03:58):
is something I feel like I've always had. I've
never been somebody that went with the status quo. I never cared
about how people viewed me. I thought about where
I wanted to go, even if it wasn't where others were going. Years
ago, when I started coming on social media, probably around
like 2010 talking about mental health. You know, it wasn't
(04:19):
the popular thing, the way mental health is talked about now. In
2010, it wasn't talked about then. But because I got so much
value out of working on myself, I felt a passion
to want to help others by doing that. And it literally
started with just posting quotes on social media. I
feel like I've always been in a resistance space of
(04:41):
not going with the norm, not doing the status quo, like
the norm in America didn't feel right, right? And I was
always mindful of that. And in 2025, even
more so, you know, if I was like that back then, like 15, 20 years
ago, imagine how much more I'm like that now, right? So
that's kind of what resistance means. Now,
(05:04):
when you together joy and resistance, it creates a dynamic interplay
where you can harness your joy to fuel your resistance
against oppression, ultimately leading to personal and
collective transformation. I need to
say that because I need you to understand, like, this emotion chart that I'm putting up
right here, this is from BEAM. It's a really great organization. you
(05:27):
can hold on to more than one emotion. You don't have to just have one. You
know, when I'm working with people, they may be struggling with their parent because of how they
are, how they're not accepting, but they love their parent, and they
struggle, right? And I say, you know, you can love your parent and not like how they
treat you. Like, you can hold on to two emotions. I think in
America, we look at things as black and white. We don't look at the gray. So
(05:48):
knowing that, like, yes, there's rage, right? There's so
many hard things that are happening that we don't have control
over. But does that mean that I don't deserve joy?
I've heard people say, I wanted
to have this birthday party, but I feel bad because of everything that's going
on in the world. It's like, so do you stop creating
(06:09):
joy because of everything that's happening in the world? Mind you, everything that's happening
in the world, you don't have control over. It's not about ignoring
what is happening, but it's also not about allowing
what's happening to take over your life. Right. That's the
message that I want to share with you today. Um, because I
know a lot of times it's hard to do that. I
(06:30):
was listening to a podcast and, um, it was, gosh,
I can't think of the name of it. Um, 10% happier, 10% happier.
And it was a lady on there. She's, she was like, you know, I got, I
got bad news from the oncologist. And she said,
because Peter, I think his name is Peter, who hosts it. He said,
well, he's talking about her active resistance
(06:52):
and how she cultivates being present, right? Because
being present is where peace is found. And she said,
I have this report, but I also, my kids are good. Like,
this is happening and that's happening. She's like, there's so many other things
happening. She was like, it's easy to just stick with
that diagnosis and what the oncologist said and
(07:14):
focus on the hard thing, right? That's easy to do. She was
like, but I have to be intentional on making sure I'm
reminding myself all of the other great things that are happening. Right.
And so that's something that I want to remind you of what's going on, even,
you know, there's so many hard things that are happening. And,
um, even though I don't really watch the news, I talk to people and
(07:37):
I'm sitting with people every day and, and grieving in different ways,
um, for different reasons. And, um, it's very
hard sometimes. Excuse me. Sometimes I'll
say to myself, like, I don't know how I'm able to do this. Right.
And, um, those moments where it gets hard. And
I'm very mindful and intentional on doing things that
(07:59):
bring me joy, taking care of my mental health, taking care
of my physical health, right, allowing self-care in my
life. And so there's a sense of peace that
comes over me, right? So it's not that I'm walking around
all joyous and peaceful all the time. There's moments of rage that
happens, right? But I don't allow those moments to take over,
(08:20):
right? Because I know how powerful the mind is. And I know my mind
is looking for a direction from me. So I'm very
mindful of what's going on. I want to share
something from Audre Lorde. She was a writer. She
was an amazing woman. And she said, you know, joy provides the
energy for change, right? Because whether you realize it
(08:41):
or not, energy transfers, right? You could be around somebody, and let's say
they're always talking about, oh, this is wrong, and that's wrong, and never
nothing going right. You'll find yourself feeling drained. And
you could be around somebody that has so much energy, they're peaceful, and
they're talking about all these good things that they got going on, and you can leave there
feeling motivated. That's energy. So Joy provides the
(09:01):
energy for change. Lorde discusses how embracing joy and
the erotic can empower you to resist oppression and
create meaningful change in your life and community.
Her perspective highlights that joy is not merely just
a fleeting emotion, but a powerful force
that fuels resilience and activism. By
(09:23):
cultivating joy, you can find the strength to challenge the status quo
and engage in transformative actions that promote personal and
collective liberation. And I think about people that are activists and
on the ground and that are working to create change.
And I really want you to continue to do that. But
I also want to make sure you're cultivating joy. I also want to
(09:45):
make sure you're cultivating care and wellness for yourself because
this work is not ending tomorrow, right? The
things that are happening is not going to go away next week. And
I don't want you to succumb to the pressures of
everything that's going on because you didn't have
the ability to work on inserting some
(10:08):
joy in creating something different in your life. It's
easy to get locked in in this work, especially when you have a passion and
you want to help people. Somebody like me, I don't like bullies. That's
the one area of my life that has always been constant. I
don't like it when people take advantage of people. I struggle with that, my emotions
around it. And so I'm living in a time in
(10:28):
2025 where it's like, I
wake up, I can't believe that happened. I can't believe this man said that. Like,
it's like you're so baffled by it, right? So
for me, I keep reminding myself of my purpose
and why I'm here and the things that I'm doing to help me, like, be
okay. And so for people that are, like, activists and on
(10:49):
the streets and doing this work, I really want you to make sure that
you're allowing yourself to bring in joy, because if you don't,
like, you can break down your system just by
all of that energy just being in you and not going anywhere. So,
you know, that's joy, that's resistance, right? Let's talk
about the benefits of experiencing joy, bringing joy into
(11:11):
your life. Because one of the things on this podcast, if
you're new, is like, we're going to talk about the issues. We're also going
to talk about solutions and why it happens so that you
can work on creating change. So one
of the benefits is improved mental health, right? So if
you work on creating joy, it can help reduce your stress and
(11:32):
anxiety, and it can also enhance your mood.
It can allow you to have more of a positive mood and
help combat some sadness and depression that you may be feeling. So
if you've been struggling with stress and anxiety and some
sadness and depression, allowing joy
into your life can help offset that, right? I'm not saying
(11:54):
it's going to change. I'm not saying you're never going to be sad or never going to feel anxious, but
Creating joy, allowing joy into your life can really help that. Another
way you can be helped by allowing joy in
your life is increased resilience. So you have
the coping mechanism. Joy provides you with the emotional resources you
need to cope with challenges and setbacks. When
(12:17):
people look at my story and they look at everything that I've done,
you would never know all
of the things that I've gone through. You would never know all of the doors that
was closed. You would never know all of the ways that I
had to struggle to get to this place, especially as a black woman. But
the thing that's helped me is me thinking about, OK, my
(12:38):
future. I continue to look at my future self. But also,
I allow joy into my life. I allow things that
I love in my life. I'm taking care of myself. So increased
resilience happens when you allow joy. Strengthen
social connections. So joy often arises from social interactions and
shared experiences. I always say like, when
(12:59):
you do, we're not meant to do life alone. And when you're in community,
something powerful happens, energy is transferred. Building
and maintaining strong relationships can enhance resilience as
supportive networks provide encouragement and help during the
tough times. And speaking of the community,
I created an online community called Shift Community, where
(13:22):
you can go. It's not on social media. That was my
goal, not to create something that was on social media. But there's
different spaces on there. And I'm going to be building the spaces as
we continue to grow. But right now, there's a discussion board where
we can discuss And the two spaces that I created was gratitude, because
that's important for me, especially in times like this, and also
(13:43):
healing your inner child space, right? And so this space
is a way for community to happen, because I'm always talking about
community and how important it is. I know people
live all around the world, finances or not, Your
finances doesn't allow some spaces for you to be in, right? So
God laid it on my heart to create this space so
(14:06):
that people can come together and find community outside
of social media where there's not a lot of distractions. So being
in community is something that can really help with
the way that you're feeling, because when you're by
yourself, those negative thoughts can end up taking over.
(14:26):
Besides increased resilience, another way is it can enhance creativity
and problem solving. So when you're allowing joy in your life, your
mind will be more open, right? The joy fosters a
sense of openness and curiosity, allowing you to think creatively and
explore new ideas. This is so true for me. Where
I'm at now, like I admire people that be like, oh, I know what I want to do, right? They
(14:48):
have this plan laid out. I didn't have a plan laid out. I didn't know. I
just knew I wanted to help people. I didn't know what it would look like. I never could
have imagined anything like what I'm doing to the level that I'm doing right now.
But me allowing joy in my life, taking
care of myself, allows my mind to be open to
the possibilities, right? If my mind is in a dark space, what
(15:10):
possibilities are there but darkness? Right? So I
want you to remember that, like, because some people may feel guilty, like, oh, well, how
can I work on creating joy when all this is happening? Guess
what? All this is happening, whether I choose to create joy or not, it's going
to happen. It's happening. Right? So I really want you to
work on shifting your perspective around it. Also, it
(15:30):
can increase your motivation, right? Experiencing joy can boost
motivation and engagement in various activities, personal
and professional. And then also greater
life satisfaction, right? If you work on creating joy
in your life, your sense of purpose start to look different, right?
Joy often comes from engaging in activities that
(15:52):
align with your values and your passion. This
alignment can lead to a deeper sense of purpose. And
also, you know, you'll have a positive outlook on
your circumstances, right? So regular experiences of joy can
help you develop a more optimistic perspective, make it easier
to focus on the positive aspects of life and cultivate gratitude.
(16:14):
So, you know, these are some things that are
important to think about as you are working on.
So these are some things that is so important for you
to think about as you are working on like
changing up your algorithm in your head. And the last thing
is your physical health benefits, right? If you allow
(16:36):
joy into your life, I promise you, you'll notice a
difference in your physical wellness. So your immune
system will be improved, right? Joy can have a positive effect on physical health,
including boosting your immune system, and then longevity. So
studies have shown that people who experience higher levels of joy and
positive emotions tend to have longer lifespans as
(16:57):
joy is associated with the healthier lifestyle. choices,
and reduced and chronic diseases. So
there you have it. Those are some ways and reasons why
creating joy can be beneficial and helpful to you. I don't want
to just say, oh, create joy. I want you to know why it's important to
create joy. And then you may be like, but Celeste, what are
(17:20):
some practical ways to cultivate joy? Because that's
a real question. Celeste, you're telling me to create joy. What
does that realistically look like? As you can see
on, if you're on YouTube, some practical ways and
all of these ways that I'm about to list are free, right?
Because I don't want people to allow finances
(17:43):
to stop them from creating the things that can help
them in their journey, right? I'm all about starting where you
are, using what you have. I created this podcast because
of it. I created this podcast because I wanted to provide
people with a resource that was free for them to
be able to work on their journey. I just hate
(18:04):
that in America, they allow
for things that we need to be
looked at as something that's attached to money. right?
And I know we need money to survive, but I also know that it's
not available for everyone. And I don't want people to feel hopeless because they
don't have the financial means. That's why I say use this podcast as
(18:26):
a way, take notes, right? Get your notebook. And then
obviously my shift community, like go into that community, start
cultivating like relationships So
the first thing is practicing gratitude, always important, right? Two,
engage in activities that you love. It could be something from
like learning how to knit. For me, it was gardening, right?
(18:49):
It could be music, dancing in front of the TV. It
could be reading, right? Think about the things that you love. It could be drawing, right?
It could be writing. If you're a writer, start writing, right? It
doesn't have to be attached to a publishing company to write. Like
I said, I started coming on social media, posting quotes.
(19:10):
I wanted to work with people in some capacity, but
I didn't know what that would look like. But I started posting quotes. And
from posting quotes, I have a whole wellness center, right?
There was a bunch of steps in between. But I started
where I was, and I used what I had. I found joy in
posting positive quotes for people. And sometimes people would write under, like,
(19:30):
oh my gosh, this is so good, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes nobody wrote under it.
It wasn't about getting that validation from somebody writing under
it. It was about me feeling like I'm fulfilling a part
of my purpose and what I know is going to help people. Connecting
with others is important. Again, try to find community. If
you can't find community, there's always online
(19:53):
communities, like my shifting community. Practicing
mindfulness is another way to cultivate joy. Prioritizing your
self-care, it includes moving your body. I just
got an alert. My Apple Watch
was like, oh, wow, you got a 10-day streak of working out.
I've never done that in my life but I've been struggling
(20:15):
with a lot of rage around everything that's going on and so I
decided to enhance and increase the activities that I
do that bring me joy and I know I feel good after
I'm done. So I'm using that rage
and working out, and I'm feeling good after. So
really prioritizing your self-care is important. Creating
(20:38):
a joyful environment. This includes getting off of social media, getting off
of the news. not talking about those things over and
over again, right? So when I think about cultivating an
environment that is joyful, it also
includes taking some things out of your environment. It also includes
maybe reading a book on wellness or
(20:58):
care or listening to something, right? It may seem
foreign or new or different, But in order for
you to get to where you need to be, your system is going to be a
little bit uncomfortable. If you're somebody that's always on social media, and
you're not typically a reader, you're not typically listening to certain things, start
making your system uncomfortable until it gets comfortable. Because
(21:20):
that's what it's going to take to create that safe environment for yourself.
Setting intentional goals, right? If you're somebody that might
tell yourself like, oh, Celeste, I don't know how to be consistent. I don't know how
to create goals. Start with something small. If you don't make up your bed,
start with just making up your bed every morning. Make a commitment to make
up your bed every morning, right? If you make up your bed, if there's something,
(21:41):
let's say, moving your body, you don't move your body, make a commitment to go
for a walk, right? Like, you know what? I'm going to go for
a walk two days a week, right? It's not about going to the
gym or getting clothes. If you're somebody that says you want to start reading,
you know what? Set your alarm for a certain time and
then set your timer for 20 minutes and read for 20 minutes. I
(22:01):
promise you, the more you start being intentional on the little things,
You'll find yourself being able to gain confidence that
you can do the bigger things. One of the goals I had during the pandemic is
I wanted to drink more water, right? That may seem insignificant to
someone, but I wanted to work on getting more hydrated because it
wasn't something that I did all the time. And so what I did, I got
(22:23):
a sticky note. I put it on my computer, the computer that I use every single day.
to meet with people. Every time I opened it up, I would see that yellow sticky note
and it would say, don't forget to drink water. And before I started working,
I would grab me a bottle of water. And as you
can see, if you're watching me on my video, look at this, I got my water right here. I
don't go anywhere without my water because I've built the practice. I don't
(22:44):
need the sticky note anymore. So start with
something small. If you want to work on being intentional about your
goals, you may have aspirations to do something like
bigger, but it's going to take you starting smaller, right?
Start with the little things and then start to build your way up.
Practicing kindness, right? Doing something nice for someone. Donating
(23:08):
your time. That's something that really actually brings joy. Embracing
playfulness is something that could bring in joy. And then
reflecting on joyful moments, right? I ask
my kids four questions every night. One is, how are you feeling? What
went well today? Um, what did you do to prepare
for your tomorrow? And then what are you grateful for? Like, what,
(23:30):
what are you grateful for? And what went well today allows them to embrace the
moments. My goal in doing that with them is for them to
learn. I want this to be like more natural than not for
them to get more into the moment. It's not something in America we talk about.
We only talk about, Oh, you don't have this, get this. You're, you're,
you're sweeping with the broom, get a Swiffer. Your broom's not good enough. Oh,
you have an iPhone 10. No, you need an iPhone 16. It's
(23:55):
never satisfied. And so we learn not
to be satisfied with what we have. I've been to a lot of places
that are not as rich as America is.
That's a lot poorer. And the amount of joy that
comes on people's faces is mind-blowing. I
remember the first time I went somewhere, and I was just like, wow, it's
(24:15):
not even like they have. But look at the joy that's in their spirit. You can feel
it. It's contagious, the joy that happens. Right.
So I do, I want you to think about like what you have, I
want you to think about starting where you are and you
know, last podcast I made it, I said finances, pay attention to
your finances, pay attention to what you're spending money on.
(24:37):
Right. A lot of times we're spending money on things we don't need. I
always say, get a notebook. Yeah, I sell a guided journal, but if you
don't have no money to get no journal, get you a notebook, get you a paper and
pen, go to the dollar store and use that to start writing things
down. Don't allow the way
society is to make you think that you got to buy something
(24:58):
and break your bank to be okay. Yeah,
those things would be nice. It'd be nice to have a coach. It would be nice to spend
all this money on therapy, right? Because everybody doesn't have insurance. Everybody
can't find a therapy. If I had the money to buy the therapist I
wanted or have the coach or have this or that, that would be
great. But guess what? I don't have it. And I
(25:18):
want you to refuse to allow what you don't have to stop you from being great
and getting to where you need to be. That's the attitude I want you to have,
right? Um, so, you know, this was
important for me to talk about as something that's been
on my spirit for a while. Um, you know,
this, the things that I'm doing to be okay. Um,
(25:39):
I try to come to you in real time with things that, um,
are important in the world. Um, and I, I want you
to, I want to encourage you to work on finding joy,
creating joy in the midst of all the things that are happening. Also,
my wellness center is in Stoughton. I have events that are happening. So
I created this monthly connections thing.
(26:02):
And I had the first one for February. We crafted. It
was so cool. We did bracelets. Some people did
wine glasses. It was so cool. Next month,
we're doing connections. So I called the series Connections because
making connections as adults can be really hard. Um, so
the next one we're doing next month is movie and
(26:22):
chill. So we are going to watch the classic coming to
America, have a little trivia before come
by yourself or bring a friend. Um, it's going to be such a
good time. Um, you know, there's something powerful about
community and I think that's where we're heading is community. Like we
need community. We cannot do this alone. Um, so
(26:43):
that's one of the social things that I'm having. Um, the next event
that I'm having, so I have these next events monthly. Um,
so we have rest and recharge that's happening in March. Um,
we just added Friday night restore. So
the last Friday of every month, we're going to do restorative yoga here.
And restorative yoga is a gentle meditative practice that soothes
(27:04):
the nervous system. and invites deep relaxation. Using
supportive props like blankets and bolsters, you'll settle into postures for
extended period, allowing your body to release tension
effortlessly. This practice helps regulate stress, improve sleep,
and cultivate profound sense of calm. Uh, this is a
great class for, uh, beginners. If you are somebody
(27:26):
that feels like you have things trapped in your body, these
somatic classes that I'm providing are a great way to start
your process. Um, I've taken them here and it's
been so good. Um, especially I took the rest and recharge class.
We did breath work, chair, yoga, meditation, all within an hour.
And I, I started feeling really wound up.
(27:48):
And I remember after it was over, I was just like, oh my gosh, my body feels
so good. And then the next class we're having here,
that's the third Tuesday of every month, Mindful Yen. So
Mindful Yen offers yoga postures that are held in
stillness for short periods of time, focusing on the connective tissue.
Various breath techniques and concepts of mindfulness are
(28:10):
woven into class narrative as poses are held. And
we have the bolsters, we have the blankets, we have the water. You
literally just have to come. So if you want to learn more
about these events, all you got to do is go to stwyt.com slash
events, and you'll find out more. If you want to follow me or
my socials, you can follow all my socials by searching Celeste
(28:32):
the Therapist. If you want to follow my wellness into socials, all
you got to do is search stwyt.com. And
that is the acronym for shifting the way you think. So
one of the things that I want to make it clear, you have the
power to create change. You just have to have faith to believe in yourself. And
when you believe in yourself, no one can take that away from you. So
(28:53):
my challenge to you is to work on creating joy.
I want you to ask yourself, self, what am I doing
to create joy in my life? It could be like, you know what? When
I get home from work, I'm just going to have me a cup of hot tea. I'm going
to wake up in the morning, listen to some music, right? Don't
make it complicated. Do not make it complicated. But
(29:13):
I want you to work on creating joy. Until next time, beautiful
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