Everybody wants to experience joy. But it often eludes us. Coursey blends brain insight with practical wisdom to show you how you can more consistently experience joy. He deftly weaves colorful life stories into how he encourages the reader to engage their “joy switch.” I recommend The Joy Switch to anyone who wants greater satisfaction in their relationships with people and with God.
The Joy Switch
How Your Brain's Secret Circuit Affects Your Relationships - And How You Can Activate It
Life is hard when you're not yourself.
Why do we sometimes feel more connected in our relationships than at other times? Perhaps you sometimes find it easy and exciting to spend time with your loved ones—but sometimes, especially when things don’t go according to plan, you feel incapable of connecting in conversations. You then feel distant from those you love most. What if the answer to remaining connected in relationships has been right under your nose—or, rather, right inside your head all along?
Discover the simple switch in your brain that activates—or deactivates—what you most need for relational connectivity: joy. In The Joy Switch, learn how the simple flip of this brain switch either enables you to remain present for those around you or causes you to become overwhelmed—and ultimately inhibited from being your best self—when problems arise. You’ll learn how to maximize your relational brain, how to recognize when your brain’s joy switch is flipped, and how to take steps to restore your relational sweet-spot. This book will help you love others and remain fully connected with yourself while being the best version of who you were made to be.
Endorsements
There are some great reasons why you will love our book but don’t just take our word for it!
DR. CHARLES STONE
Lead Pastor at West Park Church in London, Ontario, Canada; author of six books, including Holy Noticing: The Bible, Your Brain, and the Mindful Space between Moments
Politics, money, and religion—why are there topics and people we just cannot talk about? How does family love turn into shouting, silence, hurt feelings, and distance? The Joy Switch explains the clear mechanism in the brain that few people understand but we all see. You know you already need to know this!
JIM WILDER, PHD
Author and international speaker on the neuroscience of trauma recovery and prevention
In The Joy Switch, Chris Coursey presents a treasure trove of information. What makes this book extraordinary is the honest, humbling transparency that Chris offers, sharing his struggles and failures as well as his victories. It is his honest report of the challenge of actually living this material that gives it so much traction. I have no doubt that the transformation to experience more joy will come to the life of any reader of The Joy Switch.
DR. BILL ATWOOD
Anglican bishop and author, The General, The Boy, and Recapturing Joy
The Joy Switch is one of those books that can change your life. If you take the time to do the exercises Chris has assembled, there is no way your joy won’t grow! Understanding the material gathered in this book will give you a relationship-improving paradigm that you will wish you had known years before.
DR. MARCUS WARNER
Coauthor, The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled Marriages
This book is about how to get joy, keep joy, and what to do to get it back when you’ve lost it. Thanks, Chris, for another great book simplifying complex topics and giving us practical activities to learn the skill of building and maintaining relational joy. Let the relational revival begin!
MONICA MOUER, MS, LCMHCS, CSAT, CERTIFIED EMDR THERAPIST
Center for Family Transformation, Founder and Clinical Director
I am delighted that Chris Coursey, founder of THRIVE and author of Transforming Fellowship: 19 Skills That Build Joyful Community, has published his latest valuable work, The Joy Switch. With humor and helpful clarity, Coursey demonstrates, encourages, and challenges us to do exercises that cultivate life-giving habits of joy and appreciation, which are foundational skills that galvanize the transformation promised us in discipleship in Christ. The Joy Switch is a valuable starting place in the growing Life Model-THRIVE library for those who seek real change and want effective, measurable results.
CYNTHIA JACOBSEN
Soul coach, writer, founder and director of Whole Heart Living
Joy—it’s the one emotion we long to have dominate the way we describe our relationships, seasons of life, and current circumstances. Yet joy also seems the most difficult to revive when we encounter stress, conflict, grief, or loss. In The Joy Switch, Chris Coursey provides an evidence-based, practical understanding of how our brain processes and produces joy, and what we can do to not only restore joy but thrive in joyfulness. Whether you’ve experienced trauma, broken relationships, or significant loss, The Joy Switch will offer you concrete steps to enhance and sustain a disciplined practice of joy in your daily life.
DEBORAH GORTON, PHD
Psychologist, professor, and author of Embracing Uncomfortable: Facing Our Fears While Pursuing Our Purpose
YouVersion Reading Plan
a 6-day plan
God created human beings to live joyfully. It’s a gift that He has given and wired into the way that we were created. In this 6-day plan, Chris Coursey helps you identify when your “joy switch” has turned off and provides biblical pathways for living in the joy God gave you.
Extras
Take your Joy to another level with free and paid resources!
Free Assessment
What’s Your Relational Temperature?
Recognize When You are Losing Joy. Identify Your Particular Triggers.
Learn How to Stay in Joy.
YouTube Playlist
The story behind The Joy Switch and learn new skills!
We’ve compiled a special YouTube playlist around The Joy Switch.
Online Course
Learn how to understand your joy switch.
Chris Coursey, will teach you practical tools for not only gaining awareness to recognize your triggers but also how to turn your joy switch back on.