Healing is Bullshit Without Joy
Why laughter, sunlight, and dumb jokes might matter more than your next breakthrough.
Welcome
This week I woke up in a fog, asking the usual: What the fuck am I doing? Who the fuck am I?
I’ve spent so much time fixing, healing, optimizing. Breathing in. Holding. Breathing out. Holding. Sitting still. Digging deep. Paying bills. Paying dues. Trying to become someone better.
But what if better isn’t the goal?
What if I laughed more? What if I played more? What if I let myself be a goddamn human for once?
Turns out, joy is medicine too. And sometimes, it works faster than all the other stuff.
This Week’s Truth
Most of my healing has felt like work. Read more books. Learn new breathwork. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. Hold. Sit still. Dig deep. Earn money. Pay alimony. Stress over credit cards.
But life isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a miracle we’re even here — specks of life on a spinning rock hurling through space.
This week, I remembered something simple: Joy doesn’t wait at the end of the work.
Sometimes, joy is the work.
A belly laugh. A drum circle that’s out of rhythm but full of soul. A dumb song with good vibes. A friend who reminds you you’re alive.
That kind of joy gets me further than another self-help book ever has.
Something to Ponder
What if I stopped trying to get somewhere with my healing? What if I let it be enough to just show up, breathe, and play?
“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.” — Alan Watts
Root Work
This week, forget trying to get it right. Let yourself be a fool. A kid. A man who laughs too loud.
Go outside. Breathe deep through your nose. Let the exhale be long enough to lose your grip a little.
Then do something useless. Something with no goal but joy. Throw a rock in a river. Make a weird noise just to hear it echo. Fall out of a tree (preferably after you’ve climbed it).
That’s the work. Come back to your breath. Then come back to your life.
My Favorite Breathwork Practices
Here are some of my favorite practices I keep coming back to. Simple. Powerful. You can try one each day, or pick your favorite and make it part of your daily rhythm.
Breathing Technique: Coherent Breathing
Why it helps: Coherent breathing involves breathing at a steady rate of about five to six breaths per minute, helps regulate the autonomic nervous system and promotes balance between the heart and brain.
Want a guided version? Coherent Breathing Timer
Breathing Technique: Foundational Breathing
Why it helps: This rhythm anchors your attention inward. The breath hold invites stillness. The Uajjayi exhale activates your vagus nerve — calming your nervous system and helping you shift from freeze to grounded presence.
Want a guided version? Foundational Breathwork - Guided Breathwork
Breathing Technique: Rebalancing Breath
Why : A long, slow exhale through the nose tells your nervous system you’re safe. It calms the fight-or-flight response and helps you soften the grip of doing, fixing, or holding it all together.
Want a guided version? Rebalancing Breathwork - Release Stress and Anxiety
The Foundational Breathwork and Rebalancing Breathwork videos were developed by Awakened Breath—a beautiful breathwork community I’m a part of. They’ve helped me ground, reset, and start again. Check out the Awakened Breath Tribe here.
If you want to go deeper and learn how to build deeper practice, message me, I’d love to help.
The Song
This is one of my favorite songs. It reminds me that joy doesn’t have to be tidy or earned — it can just show up, wild and uninvited. His voice cracks and climbs like a man remembering what it feels like to feel. It’s not perfect, and that’s the point.
“Happy” - Martin Sexton
I think I'm happy/ Like the first day of summer vacation/ Happy when I get some rest and relaxation/ Happy like the choir on Sunday morning/ Sweet and true
This week’s been about coming back to life — not just healing, but laughing, playing, feeling the damn sun — and this song carries that spirit.
This song feels like a grin breaking through a cloudy day. It doesn’t explain joy — it just is joy. A reminder that maybe you don’t need a reason to feel good. Maybe the reason is that you’re still here.
Hit play. Breathe. Smile. Let yourself feel it.
Remember
You weren’t put on this earth just to heal. You’re here to live.
To laugh. To play. To feel the sun on your face and not need a damn reason.
The breath brings you back. Joy keeps you here.