The Joyous Gard Program ™

Arthur Benson’s book Joyous Gard contains twenty-eight short essays (chapters) on subjects ranging from Poetry and Hope to Education. These chapters provide the backbone for the Joyous Gard Program ™.

The mission of the program is to help you develop and sustain a personal habit of seeking beauty and enjoying life more deeply and more often. The trials of life have a way of holding you captive to stress and worry. But I believe there is great comfort and peace in your apprehending the purpose and beauty of life itself. 

We live in a difficult world. And regardless of your age, you probably feel that life gets even more complicated every day. While we live in the world’s most prosperous nation, in many ways you may feel emotionally bankrupt and empty. I want to help you.

I want to help turn your mind toward the most real things in life  -- the beauty and the wonder of the world around you, your friends and family, nature, God, and design. I want you to find the meaningful connections and claim them as your understanding of a life worth living.

I subscribe to the philosophy that happiness is an end in itself and that it should be your individual aim to be happy. An important part of my program is my daily thought and daily guide that you'll find on the homepage of Thinking in Ink (www.ThinkingInInk.com).

The daily thoughts that I publish will closely align with the twenty-eight chapters (days) presented in the book Joyous Gard. And it is my hope that by your considering these ideas throughout the day you will, in time, develop the habit of often returning to the reality of happiness and that you will understand the pattern of finding your way home when you are lost.

The struggles that Sir Lancelot faced in the field of battle were made no less difficult by the castle of Joyous Gard, but his return home certainly made the struggles more meaningful. Even so is my promise: that while the trials of daily life may grow no easier, the habit of returning home will make your fight worthwhile.

      --- Levi Hill