# Redefining joy beyond the big smiles

- **Episode:** [221](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/221.md) (2025-08-07)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** joy, happiness, busyness, societal-pressure, authenticity
- **Time:** 19:55–23:55 (start 1195s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/221?t=1195](https://truthliesandwork.com/221?t=1195)

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[19:55] Leanne Elliott: I'm busy. She's right. People do say that all the time. It is our default response, and she's connecting it to this need to belong, to be loved. But Al, I'm thinking about our listeners who genuinely are busy, not by choice, but by necessity
[20:09] Al Elliott: That was exactly what I was thinking when I was talking to Carolina. So I pushed back on this. Let's see what she says. What happens if you haven't got the luxury to be able to go out there and follow what brings you joy because you have to bring in money to feed a family or to care for a sick one? What are we supposed to do now?
[20:26] Carolina Lasso: I think joy, the word joy also has that sense of euphoria and big smiles. I think the type of joy I would want to connect with and the type of joy I talk about is one that is a lot more grounded on the inner knowing, the inner yes. It's a little bit of connecting to that inner compass that tells us it's this way. The yes is here. Not necessarily the big laughter and smiles that are not always possible. Let me come back to that, but I do want to address what you're mentioning, which is the toxic positive positivity that ignores marginalization, oppression, injustice in the world. And that, uh, no, with just a change in mindset, I'm not just going to go and all of a sudden change my circumstances when there's something systemic that prevents me from doing it no matter what I do. So I do think there is something there that we do need to address and we do need to change. Therefore, we need more people willing to follow their inner knowing to address those changes, to make the change happen. And so for everybody, it's that discernment of, I keep going back to that word, right? But that ability to connect to our inner wisdom. And say, what's next for me? Where is that next step? And so I talk about follow your joy from that perspective. What gives me inner peace? Another word I use is enthusiasm from the Greek in theos, in God, in divinity. And I don't talk about religion, but I do sense that extra, like, connection to source, connection to something bigger that guides you. It guides me because it gives me peace. It gives me, um, extra sense of curiosity and motivation. And so lately I've been talking a lot more about either enthusiasm or curiosity, follow your curiosity. So if you are a person who has to work 3 shifts and you do not have the time, the space, there's so much going on, you're going through complex times. How can you connect to that which gives you a little bit more inner peace, tranquility, that sense of curiosity and motivation? And I do believe that the bigger change, I talk about this a lot when I talk about purpose, but the bigger change toward purpose, toward flourishing happens one step at a time, one breadcrumb of curiosity at a time. Picking up the breadcrumbs one at a time of curiosity and enthusiasm. And sure, if there is joy, that's wonderful. If you can uncover it, if it's present, that's beautiful. But it's more about that grounded level of inner knowing
[23:35] Leanne Elliott: I'm glad she addressed the systemic issues there. She's not just saying think positive when someone's working 3 jobs
[23:42] Al Elliott: Yeah, but I was still a little skeptical because follow your curiosity when you're absolutely exhausted. I just didn't know whether that was gonna be feasible. Now, wait until you hear what she tells us about next, about just how far her busyness went