Homeostasis of Joy.

From Google: Homeostasis is the process by which living organisms maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in external conditions. It's a dynamic equilibrium where the body regulates various factors like temperature, pH, and glucose levels to ensure optimal functioning. This regulation is achieved through feedback mechanisms, which detect changes and trigger responses to counteract them.

So, that's the way the term homeostasis is used in the physical world, but I have a secondary use for homeo (same) stasis (staying still) and that is about the homeostasis of joy. 

I think I am, for the most part, a happy person. In the realm of Maslow's Hierarchy of Basic Needs I am fortunate. Physically, I live well and am privileged to live in a time of great affluence and "relative" peace. Even though the world seems to argue that relative measure. 

However,  the different but equal need, based not on physiology but on psychology and happiness, is to maintain an overall homeostasis of joy as well. Not every day or week or month will be perfect and filled with things that reinforce our feelings of wellbeing and satisfaction but taking life as a "long game" I find that there is very much, in people disposed to happiness, a stasis or baseline of joy to which they seem to return to as surely as the body regulates temperature or blood pressure. 

The last couple of weeks were bumpy for me. But that's so relative. My overall health is good and I'm secure in that all my physical and fiscal needs are well met, but things pop up. The air conditioner died and needed replaced. I needed to scrounge up nearly $20K to pay the bill. The installation took longer than I wanted. My dermatologist called with news of a biopsy. A malignant and somewhat aggressive skin cancer diagnosis. I sat through a four hour procedure and dozens of pokes with pain numbing injections. I wore a bandage the size of a Maxi-Pad to coffee out later with an old friend. I've been temporarily banned from the pool by my surgeon. My face looks icky under the bandage. I'm not allowed to exercise until the end of next week. I have to take antibiotics for seven days.... etc. etc. Oh, and America is stumbling into a  dictatorship...

But surprisingly, after being glum for a few days I woke this morning feeling a renewed surge of my usual, basic joy and satisfaction with life. When I experienced this I thought about it and realized that, to a certain extent, my resilient feelings of joy come from a life time of things and people that have made me happy and continue to make me happy.

It was then that I thought about there being a thing such as the "homeostasis of Joy." That our cumulative life experiences create a buffer that protects us from going too long with negative feelings --- if everything is working as it should. Meaning: If I keep interpreting my feelings about my life in a way that benefits me that's stasis. A mindset that fills me with a sense of gratitude. A sense that I can do anything. 

I have so much to be thankful for that sometimes I take the good stuff for granted. Sure, I was in a chair having my face carved up with scalpels for half the day on Tuesday. But what I really took away from it was that a beautiful and high energy Mohs Surgeon named Megan was chatting with me as though I was an old friend --- while she worked. That she was doing something that would, in the long run, extend my life and extend my enjoyment of life. And there were all the little things I always appreciate, like walking in for an 8:15 a.m. appointment and being greeted warmly and offered coffee. That my nurse, Bree, came out to find me in the waiting area exactly at 8:15 a.m., and with a big, welcoming smile. That Bree is a magician with numbing injections which dissolved any anxiety I might have had about that part of the procedure. That my surgeon never seemed rushed or in a hurry to move on with some schedule. The kindness both showed me at every step of the way.

The Haagen-Daz rum raisin ice cream my wonderful spouse left for me in the freezer. The DVDs of my favorite sitcom she gifted me so I could chill and not get too bored. The endless stream of texts from my swimmer friends and photographer friends either wishing me well or demanding to be brought up to speed. And all questioning how soon I could be back in the pool. 

I constantly hear about how bad medicine is as practiced in the USA but when I told my team of medical experts that I was squeamish about taking off the big, pressure bandage today and cleaning and redressing the site myself they instantly invited me back to the practice at 9:00 a.m. today so they could do it for me. The surgeon was waiting for me when I arrived and removed the huge and dramatic looking bandage and spent time examining her handiwork. Asking me about my antibiotic compliance, telling me how great I looked. Her nurse, Bree, redressed the wound and put on a smaller, less imposing bandage and then spent time showing me how to do it myself going forward. But, as I was checking out, she said that any time I didn't feel up to it I should come by and they would continue redressing it.

My out of pocket expenses so far? For everything? A $40 copay. 

Since every appointment was warmly and professionally conducted, started right on time and ended with sincere fist bumps and satisfaction, I couldn't imagine in the moment getting better care anywhere. Which, of course, adds to my store of good feelings, which keeps my homeostasis of Joy clicking right along. 

On my way home I dropped by my locally owned and wonderfully managed coffee shop where I ordered a large coffee and a piece of banana bread. The owner noticed (how could he not?) the bandage and wanted to know what the deal was and, more importantly, how I was doing. The coffee and banana bread were on the house.... Amazingly, people do care. 

There was the gift bag from my long time friend, Debbie, (our former CFO) at my front door when I got back home. It had a plush, stuffed puppy that you can stick in the microwave for a minute and warm up. Or stick in the freezer and provide a chilly compress for swollen tissues. And a note that was so dear it made me tear up just a bit...

At 69 I've never felt more loved by more people than ever before in my life. That bolsters my homeostasis of Joy. And these are feelings you can bank against the rough spots in life. 

When I got home I had this phrase, "The Homeostasis of Joy" in my head. Don't know where it came from but when I sat down to write this I looked through a gallery of images to pull out some examples that exemplify for me just basic happiness. I'm blessed to have an archive just brimming with happy, alive and wonderful images. It's like having your own Louvre Museum of Personalized Happiness right there on one's screen. 

Damn. That banana bread and coffee is a wonderful combination!!! It's 79° outside and raining again. Joy! A break in the Summer heat. 

Listening to "Happiness" by Pharrell Williams. Waiting for the next great thing.

Here's some happy photos: