Kate Bowler: Is Joy Possible When Things Are Difficult?

What does it mean to feel joy amid moments of real difficulty and even sorrow? Not in the sense of being falsely upbeat or pretending that everything’s ok—but as a way to sit with and honor what’s going on in our lives.

Kate Bowler is a bestselling author known for her writing about loss, grief, and hope. She’s also a professor at Duke University who studies the history of religion, and host of the podcast Everything Happens. Her latest book is calledJoyful, Anyway.

In this conversation we explore how joy is very different from positivity or happiness, and how it can co-exist with struggle. We also get into how constantly seeking to optimize our lives can actually hold us back. 

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