The Radical Act of Savoring Pleasant Moments

Describing her childhood in wartime Iran, Ari Honorvar says, "We were attacked from the outside and from within. There was an actual war, with daily funerals, random bombings, and missile attacks. We were so on the edge that a door would slam too loudly and someone would have a heart attack.Children started getting gray hair. And then there was a war on Joy that hurt in a different way. Our favorite pastimes became crimes. The Morality police went to work, cracking down on playing cards, backgammon, music and dancing. As our civil liberties were systematically stripped away hundreds and thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest these Draconian measures, but the regime's repressive tactics became more brutal and more horrific. When there is a war on Joy there is also a war on people's coping mechanisms." In this powerful talk, Ari Honarvar makes a case for the value of summoning joy even in, and perhaps particularly in, the midst of adversity, and explores the mindful practice of savoring intervention.

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