Wholeness Healing Center

The Joy Factor- A Book Review

The Joy Factor, 10 Sacred Practices for Radiant Health, by Susan Smith Jones, PhD, is a wonderful handbook full of health advice, guidance for practical living, and suggestions to implement and identify “life lessons”. The introduction, “Resplendent Living” guides the reader to do a short assessment of what keeps him/her from finding joy and experiencing sacredness. In fact, the first letter of the first word of each of the chapter titles forms the acronym SACREDNESS. The promotion of a positive attitude helps to keep us healthy and encourages us to seek more healthy ways of living.

Chapter 1, Set the Bar High: I Choose to Live My Best Life, is about taking responsibility for setting goals and then taking the risk to embrace the new. This chapter provides an inventory, at the back, which helps the reader identify his/her role in the self-mastery process. Act with Kindness, I Choose to Spread Happiness Wherever I Go, is about connecting our hearts to others and being the “catalyst for change”. Chapter 3, Celebrate the Child in You, I Choose to Approach Life as a Playful Adventure is about living in the present, laughing, and enjoying your life.

Chapter 4, Resonate to the Music, I Choose the Richest Medicine for Body, Mind, and Spirit, was especially interesting with information about the brainwaves, relaxation, and healing properties of music, with some revelations that are not exactly what we have been led to believe. Chapter 5, Exercise-Fast and Slow, Alone and Together, I Choose to Move delineates the healthful properties of exercise as well as the healing aspects of being in nature. As one becomes more attuned in nature, one is able to develop more understanding about oneself, leading to Chapter 6, Deepen Your Relationship, I Choose Time for Reflection, which touts the healing properties of meditation.

Chapter 7, Nourish Yourself with Living Foods, I Choose to Support my Own Radiant Health is concerned with opening our bodies to walk into spiritual light by spiritual nutrition, which is a new approach to eating, including primarily “living foods”, which is eating foods as close to natural (raw) as can be done, which includes elimination of processed foods and increasing fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The chapter is full of suggestions for changes that are not really difficult but which can be life-changing.

Experience Ecstasy, I Choose to Turn My Dreams into Reality, Chapter 8, encourages the reader to create the reality using the affirmative to fulfill the dream. Once people step into positive thinking, use positive affirmations, and begin doing the spiritual work of moving forward, we can use the way we live to reflect our dreams, using our free will to make changes that will effect our journey forward. Paying attention to our words, being patient, and giving to others will only make us more prosperous in what we do and how we live.

Seek Opportunities for Service, I Choose a Life of True Quality, Chapter 9, is about using what we possess and using our abilities in a way to influence our achievement of serenity and how we can use silence, solitude, service and simplification on our path to serenity and happiness. Often when we are not seeking to find but to serve, we find that which we were seeking. That leads into Chapter 10, Savor Balance in All Things, I Choose the Surest Path to Joy, which is taking control over our wellness and choosing to do things in a more healthy way. Stress can be so harming and we all need to be cognizant of “stretching ourselves too thin” as balance helps to ensure our health. The mind-body connection is so important and experts are learning more all the time how our thoughts can actually fight or prevent diseases, strengthen our immune systems, and allow our bodies to heal” themselves.

The “lessons” delineated in this book are some common sense, some provable facts, and some just guidance into accepting a better way, learning moderation, and beginning to see the benefits of making some personal changes. The workbook at the end, with the questions and the affirmations, are valuable tools for cementing the prosperity possible for each one of us. The book is interspersed with quotations from some of the wisest people of the world. “You are not being called upon to change yourself. You are being asked to be more of what you already are. The invitation is bold, the stakes are high, and the outcome is certain. Dare to live your destiny now.” (Alan Cohen) This book is more than just a “good read”; it can become the map to your changing in many aspects, by becoming who you really are.

Jones, Susan Smith, PhD., ( 2011). The joy factor, 10 sacred practices for radiant health. San Francisco, CA: Conari Press.

Tags: blocks to finding joy, Finding Joys