Mission: Joy

My Valentine night included re-watching Mission: Joy/ Finding Happiness in Troubled Times. (Netflix)

Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama meet in India for an illuminating conversation, two aging bald men who radiate joy.  It's contagious!  Both times I watched it, I felt lighter, happier. 

When asked by his friend "Tutu," how he stands to be away from Tibet, his country, the Dalai Lama says that being a refugee gave him more opportunities to learn than living in a gilded cage would have.  It's all about learning, he said. One can learn from adversity as much as one can learn from ease.

"Wherever you have experienced much love, that is home."

Desmond Tutu sums it up like this: There is nothing worse than being thrown out of your home.  And yet you--you could be a sourpuss--have turned it into spreading love and compassion.  

"What is that word, sourpuss?" the Dalai Lama asks his translator.

"Just keep your face like that," Tutu tells him, imitating his look of confusion.  "But when you smile, you spread happiness." 

The film includes a short piece by a scientist tho studies happiness: studies actually show that people who do acts of kindness for others have a stronger immune system, are more productive, and live longer.  There's a difference, these two men agree, between "wise selfish and foolish selfish."  Wise selfish means taking care of yourself and the well being of others; foolish selfish is thinking only about yourself. 

I suggest you watch the rest for yourself....it's really good.