Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships—or, as they would say, because of them—they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. And, actually, that’s where the book starts: with a bittersweet discussion about the roots of its absence. Namely, mindfulness’ greatest nemeses. The obstacles to Joy. Acceptance. This is where the change actually happens. More often than not, you can’t change reality. But you can change your attitude towards it. If you just focus on the thing that is making you sad, then the sadness is all you see. But if you look around, you will see that joy is everywhere. In fact, if you know how to use pain the proper way, it can become a constructive force. And t o experience suffering the proper way, you need to shift your focus from yourself to others.

And who would know more about spirituality than Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, who share their knowledge in “The Book of Joy” ? Who Should Read “The Book of Joy”? And Why? Forgiveness. If you want to live in the present, forgiveness is your best shot at freeing yourself from the past. You’re doing everybody a favor. But it takes a lot of courage, dedication, and self-sacrifice to attain it and share it with others. Fear, stress, and anxiety. ( Feeling nervous?) Frustration and anger. ( Do you want to shout out loud?) Sadness and grief… Despair and loneliness. ( Oh, how bad you want to hug someone right away…) Envy. ( “That guy goes past yet again in his Mercedes-Benz…”) Adversity, illness, fear of death. ( “And, you say, this is ‘The Book of Joy’, ha? Really?”) And you can do this by building upon a strong foundation. The one made of the eight pillars of joy: perspective, humility, humor, acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity.Compare yourself to those who have less. We’ve told you before: the very fact you’re able to read this article means that you’re more fortunate than about 4 billion people.

I loved the simple message of finding joy. It seems to be a message that a lot of people are having a hard time finding these days. The concept of joy is illustrated by a colorful wisp like wind. The illustrations are whimsical and captivating. This story has a such a sweet sentiment. In fact, most of the people reading this sentence haven’t been on Earth as long as Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu have been soul-crushingly oppressed.It is all in your mind. You can think of suffering as something which hinders happiness – but, if so, be prepared to be unhappy. Because suffering is inevitable. If you can’t change it – why should you maximize its effects by worrying about it?.

Their message for every child is that joy is never far away. Even in hard times, joy never truly disappears. And when we share our joy with others, it grows inside us. Humility– be humble and modest. As John C. Maxwell says wittily: “People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.” They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy. Well, the first step is understanding the nature of fear and frustration. You need to understand that fears are not rooted in reality – they are facets of your mind.

Soon after it was published, “The Book of Joy” was predicted to become one of the all-time favorite gift-books – up there, with Dr. Seuss’“Oh, the Places You Will Go” and “ Who Moved My Cheese?” And, of course, the prediction came true: who wouldn’t want to get a book on joy written by two Nobel Peace Prize winners? However, there’s one Nobel Prize category, which is a bit different from the rest: the Peace Prize. Not because, unlike all the others, this one’s given out in Oslo, Norway. So, from now on – try to look at things from a different angle. Be humble and laugh out loud when someone’s making a joke about your faults. Accept reality when you can’t change it – and forgive those who harm you. Be grateful for what you have and feel compassionate with those who have less. Rarely you find a text written by not one – but two Nobel Prize winners. In fact, excepting some books or articles written by joint Nobel Prize winners, we’re not even sure that we can think of any other example at the moment.

A kind of a structured transcript of their discussions in Dharmsala; and one of the most beautiful joint efforts to discover the nature of joy, the obstacles which stand before us to attain it, and the pillars upon which it is founded. He was born in 1935 as Lhamo Thondup and renamed four years later as Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, or Tenzin Gyatso for short. He became Tibet’s leader in 1950 and received his Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. You win a Nobel Prize for being an original thinker, and unless you win it the same year with your co-author, the chances are you’re not really a pioneer. Now, Tutu isn’t a young man himself: four years older than the Dalai Lama, he was 84 at the time of this visit. At one point during their week-long conversation in Dharamsala, he even makes a joke about this: “You must shorten your answers,” he says to the Dalai Lama, who claims that they have plenty of time. “ I am brief.” Especially today – when we need to tend the better angels of our nature just a little more to reach a world bereaved of violence.Even when you wake to the rain and your joy is washed away, it's waiting at the bottom of the puddle. In their only collaboration for children, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu use their childhood stories to show young people how to find joy even in hard times and why sharing joy with others makes it grow. The two spiritual masters tell a simple story of how every child has joy inside them, even when it sometimes hides, and how we can find it, keep it close, and grow it by sharing it with the world. We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy—from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu should know this better than many. Both faced persecution for large periods of their lives; both had to live in exile. There are many things which may stand on your way to true joy. Fear, stress, and anxiety – almost on a daily basis. Frustration and anger – every time someone does something you don’t like. Sadness and grief… Despair and loneliness. Feelings which will inevitably come with some great loss. Envy – which makes you want more when you don’t really need it.