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In his song Ballad in Plain D, Bob Dylan famously asked “Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?” Half a century before, in a talk he gave in…

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Kai Koerber was a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a gunman murdered 14 students and three staff members there on Valentine’s Day in 2018. Seeing his peers — and himself — struggle with returning to normal, he wanted to do something to help people manage their emotions on their own terms.

While some of his classmates at the Parkland, Florida, school have worked on advocating for gun control, entered politics or simply took a step back to heal and focus on their studies, Koerber’s background in technology — he’d originally wanted to be a rocket scientist — led him in a different direction: to build a smartphone app.

The result was Joy, which uses artificial intelligence to suggest bite-sized mindfulness activities for people based on how they are feeling. The algorithm Koerber’s team built is designed to recognize how a person feels from the sound of their voice — regardless of the words or language they speak.

“In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the first thing that came to mind after we’ve experienced this horrible, traumatic event — how are we going to personally recover?” he said. “It’s great to say OK, we’re going to build a better legal infrastructure to prevent gun sales, increased background checks, all the legislative things. But people really weren’t thinking about … the mental health side of things.”

Like many of his peers, Koerber said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for a “very long time” and only recently has it gotten a little better.

“So when I came to Cal, I was like, let me just start a research team that builds some groundbreaking AI and see if that’s possible,” said the 23-year-old, who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley earlier this year. “The idea was to provide a platform to people who were struggling with, let’s say sadness, grief, anger … to be able to get a mindfulness practice or wellness practice on the go that meets our emotional needs on the go.”

He said it was important to offer activities that can be done quickly, sometimes lasting just a few seconds, wherever the user might be. It wasn’t going to be your parents’ mindfulness practice.

“The notion of mindfulness being a solo activity or something that’s confined to sitting in your room breathing is something that we’re very much trying to dispel,” Koerber said.

Mohammed Zareef-Mustafa, a former classmate of Koerber’s who’s been using the app for a few months, said the voice-emotion recognition part is “different than anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“I use the app about three times a week, because the practices are short and easy to get into. It really helps me quickly de-stress before I have to do things like job interviews,” he said.

To use Joy, you simply speak into the app. The AI is supposed to recognize how you are feeling from your voice, then suggest short activities.

It doesn’t always get your mood right, so it’s possible to manually pick your disposition. Let’s say you are feeling “neutral” at the moment. The app suggests several activities, such as 15-second exercise called “mindful consumption” that encourages you to “think about all the lives and beings involved in producing what you eat or use that day.”

Yet another activity helps you practice making an effective apology. Another has you write a letter to your future self, with a pen and a paper — remember those? Feeling sad? A suggestion pops up asking you to track how many times you’ve laughed over a seven-day period and tally it up at the end of the week to see what moments gave you a sense of joy, purpose or satisfaction.

The app is available for a $8 monthly subscription, with a discount if you subscribe for a whole year. It’s a work in progress, and as it goes with AI, the more people use it, the more accurate it becomes.

“Kai is a leader of this next generation who are thinking intentionally and with focus about how to use technology to meet the mental, physical, and climate crises of our times,” said Dacher Keltner, a professor at UC Berkeley and Koerber’s faculty advisor on the project. “It comes out of his life experience, and, unlike past technologists, he seems to feel this has to be what technology does, make the world healthier.”

A plethora of wellness apps on the market claim to help people with mental health issues, but it’s not always clear whether they work, said Colin Walsh, a professor of biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University who has studied the use of AI in suicide prevention. According to Walsh, it is feasible to take someone’s voice and glean some aspects of their emotional state.

“The challenge is if you as a user feel like it’s not really representing what you think your current state is like, that’s an issue,” he said. “There should be some mechanism by which that feedback can go back.”

The stakes also matter. Facebook, for instance, has faced some criticism in the past for its suicide prevention tool, which used AI (as well as humans) to flag users who may be contemplating suicide, and — in some serious cases — contact law enforcement to check on the person. But if the stakes are lower, Walsh said, if the technology is simply directing someone to spend some time outside, it’s unlikely to cause harm.

“The driver is there’s a huge demand there, or at least the perception of a huge demand there” Walsh said of the explosion of wellness and mental health apps in the past few years. “Despite the best of intentions with our current system — and it does a lot of good work — obviously, there’s still gaps. So I think people see technology see as a tool to try to bridge that.”

Koerber said people tend to forget, after mass shootings, that survivors don’t just “bounce back right away” from the trauma they experienced. It takes years to recover.

“This is something that people carry with them, in some way, shape or form, for the rest of their lives,” he said.

His work has also been slower and deliberate than tech entrepreneurs of the past.

“I guess young Mark Zuckerberg was very ‘move fast and break things,’” he said. “And for me, I’m all about building quality products that, you know, serve social good in the end.”

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Liberty University welcomed minister and former country music artist Granger Smith to Convocation on Wednesday to preach on the importance of denying oneself for Christ.

Smith, who performed his last concert on Aug. 26, spent 24 years touring before feeling called to leave behind country music to serve at his local church outside Austin, Texas. He is also an accomplished author and released his second book, “Like a River,” in August.

Smith began his message by telling the audience that he had been looking forward to speaking on Liberty’s campus.

“I understand the speakers are brought here to maybe bring an encouraging word or a little conviction, and I want you to know that you have already been that for me,” Smith said.

Reading from Mark 8:34-36, he spoke about the large role that sacrifice and “taking up the cross” plays in following God. He said sacrifice alone is not the means of one’s salvation, but instead the result of the work that God has already done.

“When Jesus said, ‘Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me,’ in one sense He’s identifying a certain kind of person that can do that … not a person that has earned it, but a person that has died and then been reborn.”

In a similar vein, Smith noted that although the imagery of picking up a cross, an ancient form of execution, may not sound easy or enjoyable, following Christ is worth it.

Smith said he grew up in a Christian family but never learned to truly deny himself. He spent this time living in what he called “cultural Christianity,” in which he lived a comfortable life and eventually emerged on the country music scene. He found major success and attributed it to his own efforts instead of the grace of God.

Former country music artist Granger Smith spoke on living a life of sacrifice at Convocation. (Photo by Brooke McDuffee)

“Who gets the credit in your life?” Smith asked the audience. “I’m not asking for your culturally Christian influence to answer; I’m asking your heart. Why are you seeking the degree that you’re studying for right now? And for whose glory will you use it?”

Smith’s life drastically changed in 2019 with the death of his 3-year-old son, River, a point at which he “hit rock bottom.”

“When you hold a lifeless child in your arms, one that you love more than most things in this world, it will change you. You will question how much control you really have in your life,” he said.

Following the tragedy, Smith began searching for comfort many different places, including self-help books, devotionals, medication, therapy, and meditation. He finally found the answer while listening to a sermon on John 14 in his truck, and he was filled with a desire to pursue Christ and obey His commandments.

“It doesn’t take a lot of complex theology to say it this way: I like denying myself for His sake. That’s the difference between the old me and the new me,” Smith said. “Denying yourself as a Christian doesn’t mean forcing yourself to do things that you hate. It’s the opposite.”

In 2021, he put began acting on this conviction by leaving his successful record label, and he later decided to leave country music completely with one last tour over the summer. Addressing the question of why he could not just use his music as a means to share the Gospel, Smith said that playing music had become too much about his own glory.

“If I walked on stage playing music and nobody sings and nobody shows up, I would take that personally,” he said. “It’s about exalting myself then, and I need to deny that. Exalting myself doesn’t reconcile with the Gospel.”

(Photo by Chase Gyles)

“Many times, as Christians we have to give up things that aren’t inherently bad themselves. Music touring is not a sin in itself,” he added. “Neither is social media, caffeine, alcohol, or college football, but anything can become sin when it starts to hinder our walk with Jesus. So, we have to surrender that. That’s part of what it means to ‘deny yourself.’”

As Smith prepared to walk on stage for the last time as a country singer in August, he said he found comfort in the phrase, “Sept. 6, Liberty University,” because it signified the start of a new chapter in his life.

“(Liberty is) the first stage of the new stages in my life. This stage, this day, the phrase represented a sunrise of a new day and a new beginning,” he said. “(It was) something that gave me so much rest. Denying yourself for Christ is not a burden. It’s peace.”

Smith concluded his message by harkening back to the joy that he has found in sacrificing for Christ and comparing his life to that of the man in Matthew 13:44 who sold everything to attain hidden treasure.

“Following Jesus requires sacrifice,” Smith said. “It requires suffering. You will have sorrow, pain, temptation, and grief. In this world you’ll have tribulation, but take heart, Christian, because Jesus has overcome the world so that you could have joy through all of it, even after the unimaginable pain of losing a child.”

“Denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Jesus is not at odds with your joy but in fact is the source of it,” he added. “Nothing in this world can satisfy you with the fullness of joy like Christ alone.”

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“Joy gives us wings! In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness,” said Abdu’l-Baha, one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith, at a talk in Paris in 1911.

RELATED: Overcoming 4 Psychological Barriers to Happiness

“But when sadness visits us we become weak, our strength leaves us, our comprehension is dim and our intelligence veiled. The actualities of life seem to elude our grasp, the eyes of our spirits fail to discover the sacred mysteries, and we become even as dead beings.”

RELATED: How to Feel Happy: 9 Habits for a Happy Life

So, when Abdu’l-Baha would greet people, he would often ask them: “Are you happy?” Those who were unhappy would start crying, and Abdu’l-Baha would wipe away their tears, sometimes with his own hands, and they would leave transformed. Abdu’l-Baha wrote:

Never is it the wish of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá to see any being hurt, nor will He make anyone to grieve; for man can receive no greater gift than this, that he rejoice another’s heart. I beg of God that ye will be bringers of joy, even as are the angels in Heaven.

I hope the following stories about Abdu’l-Baha bringing joy to the hearts of those around him uplift and inspire you all.

A Story About Finding Joy and Happiness Through Spirituality

Mrs. C, a wealthy American from New York, had become melancholy and dissatisfied with her life. While she was traveling outside the country, she heard about Abdu’l-Baha and eagerly grasped the Baha’i teachings.

She headed to the prison-city of ‘Akká where Abdu’l-Baha, his family, and his companions were imprisoned in 1868 because his father, Baha’u’llah, announced that he was the latest messenger sent from God and shared the revolutionary principles of the Baha’i Faith, such as the agreement of science and religion, the independent investigation of truth, the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, the abolition of all forms of prejudice, the importance of a universal language and education, and the equality of women and men.

After Mrs. C arrived, she noticed that Abdu’l-Baha always greeted her with the words “Be happy!” However, he didn’t address the other members of her party in the same way. When she asked someone to ask him why this was the case, with his “peculiarly illuminating smile,” Abdu’l-Baha replied, “I tell you to be happy because we can not know the spiritual life unless we are happy!” Mrs. C cried, “But tell me, what is the spiritual life? I have heard ever since I was born about the spiritual life, and no one could ever explain to me what it is!”

As recorded in the book, “Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Baha,” by Annamarie Honnold:  

‘Abdu’l-Bahá looked at His questioner again with that wonderful smile of His, and said gently: ‘Characterize thyself with the characteristics of God, and thou shalt know the spiritual life!’ — few words, but they were sufficient. Mrs. C began to wonder what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá meant. The characteristics of God? They must be such attributes as love and beauty, justice and generosity. 

All day long her mind was flooded with the divine puzzle, and all day long she was happy. She did not give a thought to her duties, and yet when she arrived at the moment of her evening’s reckoning, she could not remember that she had left them undone. At last she began to understand. 

If she was absorbed in Heavenly ideals, they would translate themselves into deeds necessarily, and her days and nights would be full of light. From that moment she never quite forgot the divine admonition that had been granted her: ‘Characterize thyself with the characteristics of God!’ And she learned to know the spiritual life.’

A Short Story About Finding Joy and Happiness Through Trusting in God

One day, a despondent young Jewish girl cried to Abdu’l-Baha about the suffering her family endured. Annamarie Honnold wrote:

Her brother had been unjustly imprisoned three years before — he had four more years to serve; her parents were constantly depressed; her brother-in-law, who was their support, had just died. She claimed the most she trusted in God the worse matters became. She complained, ‘…my mother reads the Psalms all the time; she doesn’t deserve that God should desert her so. I read the Psalms myself, — the ninety-first Psalm and the twenty-third Psalm every night before I go to bed. I pray too.’

Comforting and advising her, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied, ‘To pray is not to read Psalms. To pray is to trust in God, and to be submissive in all things to Him. Be submissive, then things will change for you. Put your family in God’s hands. Love God’s will. Strong ships are not conquered by the sea, — they ride the waves. Now be a strong ship, not a battered one.’

A Story About Remaining Joyful and Happy Through Suffering

Abdu’l-Baha didn’t preach what he didn’t practice. He endured immense suffering as a prisoner of conscience for 40 years, and yet, he was always happy. He said: 

We had no communication whatever with the out-side world. Each loaf of bread was cut open by the guard to see that it contained no message. All who believed in the Bahá’í manifestation, children, men and women, were imprisoned with us. There were one-hundred and fifty of us together in two rooms and no one was allowed to leave the place with the exceptions of four persons, who went to the bazaar to market each morning, under guard. The first summer was dreadful.

‘Akká is a fever-ridden town. It was said that a bird attempting to fly over it would drop dead. The food was poor and insufficient, the water was drawn from a fever-infected well and the climate and conditions were such, that even the natives of the town fell ill. Many soldiers succumbed and eight out of ten of our guard died. During the intense heat, malaria, typhoid and dysentery attacked the prisoners, so that all, men, women and children, were sick at one time. There were no doctors, no medicines, no proper food, and no treatment of any kind.

But while they were in prison, “each of them at the close of the day would relate the most ludicrous event which had happened. Sometimes it was difficult to find one but always they would laugh until the tears would run down their cheeks. Happiness, He said, is never dependent upon material surroundings, otherwise, how sad those years would have been. As it was they were always in the utmost state of joy and happiness…”

After the Young Turks freed all the religious and political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire in 1908, a Baha’i later asked Abdu’l-Baha: “Will you tell us how you felt while in prison and how you regard your freedom?” Abdu’l-Baha replied:

Freedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition. I was thankful for the prison, and the lack of liberty was very pleasing to me, for those days were passed in the path of service, under the utmost difficulties and trials, bearing fruits and results.

Unless one accepts dire vicissitudes, he will not attain. To me prison is freedom, troubles rest me, death is life, and to be despised is honour. Therefore, I was happy all that time in prison. When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed release, for that is the greater prison.

These stories about joy remind us to not let “the prison of self” prevent us from making people happy, radiantly enduring through our struggles, and living the spiritual life.

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In our fast-paced and busy lives, it can be easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, leaving little time for relaxation and self-reflection. However, incorporating mindfulness exercises into our daily routines can bring about a sense of joy and gratitude, enhancing our overall well-being. Here are 20 mindfulness exercises that can help you experience joy and gratitude in your everyday life.

1. Start the day with gratitude: Before getting out of bed, take a moment to express gratitude for the new day and the opportunities it brings.

2. Mindful breathing: Take a few minutes each day to focus on your breath. Inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a moment, and exhale slowly through your mouth, releasing any tension.

3. Mindful eating: Pay attention to the taste, texture, and smell of your food. Chew slowly and savor each bite.

4. Gratitude journal: Write down three things you are grateful for each day. This practice helps shift your focus to the positive aspects of your life.

5. Mindful walking: Go for a walk and pay attention to the sensations in your body, the sounds around you, and the beauty of your surroundings.

6. Loving-kindness meditation: Sit quietly and send loving thoughts to yourself, loved ones, and even strangers. Cultivating kindness can bring about a sense of joy and connectedness.

7. Mindful listening: Engage in active listening when talking to someone. Focus on their words, tone, and body language without interrupting or judging.

8. Gratitude jar: Fill a jar with notes of gratitude. Whenever you experience something positive, write it down and add it to the jar. Read the notes whenever you need a boost of joy.

9. Mindful technology use: Set aside specific times to disconnect from your devices and be fully present in the moment.

10. Mindful showering: Pay attention to the sensations of the water, the scent of the soap, and the feeling of cleansing your body.

11. Gratitude meditation: Close your eyes and reflect on the things you are grateful for. Allow the feeling of gratitude to fill your entire being.

12. Mindful gardening: Engage in gardening activities with full attention. Feel the soil, observe the plants’ growth, and appreciate nature’s beauty.

13. Joyful movement: Engage in physical activities that bring you joy, such as dancing, jogging, or yoga. Focus on the sensations in your body and the pleasure of movement.

14. Mindful decluttering: Take some time to declutter a small space in your home. Pay attention to the process, letting go of items that no longer serve you.

15. Gratitude walk: While walking, notice the beauty around you and express gratitude for the wonders of nature.

16. Mindful art: Engage in a creative activity like drawing, painting, or coloring. Focus on the process rather than the outcome.

17. Gratitude letter: Write a heartfelt letter expressing gratitude to someone who has positively impacted your life. Consider sending or reading it to them.

18. Mindful bedtime routine: Before going to sleep, reflect on the positive moments of your day and express gratitude for them.

19. Joyful music: Listen to your favorite music mindfully. Pay attention to the lyrics, melodies, and how it affects your mood.

20. Mindful self-compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and compassion. Practice self-care, forgive yourself for mistakes, and appreciate your strengths.

Incorporating mindfulness exercises into your daily routine can help you experience joy and gratitude. By being fully present in the moment and appreciating the wonders of life, you can cultivate a sense of contentment and fulfillment. Start small, gradually incorporating these exercises into your life, and watch as joy and gratitude become a natural part of your daily experience.

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One of the most effective ways to combat sadness and embrace joy is to practice gratitude. By focusing on the things we are thankful for in our lives, we can shift our mindset from one of negativity to one of positivity. Keeping a gratitude journal can be a helpful tool in this process, as it allows us to reflect on the positive aspects of our lives and appreciate the good things that we often take for granted.

Another way to embrace positivity is to surround ourselves with positive people and environments. Negative people and situations can drain our energy and contribute to feelings of sadness and anxiety. By spending time with positive, uplifting individuals and engaging in activities that bring us joy, we can cultivate a more positive mindset and improve our overall well-being.

Engaging in regular exercise and physical activity is also a powerful way to combat sadness and increase positivity. Exercise has been shown to release endorphins, which are natural mood-boosters that can improve our mental health and help us feel more energized and joyful. Additionally, regular exercise can improve our physical health, which can lead to increased confidence and overall happiness.

Finally, incorporating mindfulness and meditation practices into our daily routine can be a powerful tool for combating sadness and embracing positivity. By taking the time to quiet our minds and focus on the present moment, we can reduce stress and anxiety, increase our sense of calm and well-being, and improve our overall happiness.

Overall, the power of positivity is a potent tool for combatting sadness and embracing joy. By practicing gratitude, surrounding ourselves with positivity, engaging in regular exercise, and incorporating mindfulness and meditation practices into our daily routine, we can cultivate a more positive mindset and improve our overall well-being. With dedication and commitment, anyone can harness the power of positivity and experience the transformative effects it can have on their lives.

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