Joy! Everywhere we turn, joy is part of this holiday season and its greetings. Joy. It’s a tiny word encompassing great emotions. Webster’s Dictionary defines joy as “feeling great pleasure or happiness coming from success, good fortune, or a sense of well-being,” but Anna Hall disagrees. Joy, she says, is a source of power and light, and it’s within each of us. Here’s why that matters.
From Poli Sci to Joy
Anna Hall is the chief culture and community officer for the Glendale, California-based Front Porch Communities and Services. She’s also the founder of JoyFuel, the natural extension of her The Purpose Equation®. She created this evidence-informed framework to guide people to “define and activate their unique, innate purpose in life.” But Hall’s path to becoming a joyful leader in senior living has been anything but typical.
Growing up, Hall experienced life as an outsider as the only Black family in her New Hampshire town. Her choice of college was fueled, in part, by a desire to experience diversity. And while that promise was fulfilled, she found it stressful feeling she didn’t fit in among her fellow Black students. Poli Sci was a natural choice of major to support her desire to learn about human power dynamics on the way to becoming a diplomat. But that goal was derailed in the best way when she first volunteered and then worked with older adults in assisted living while still a student.
“It was eye opening and fun as I got to know them,” Hall says, “because I saw in them a wisdom born of experience and knowledge.” The curiosity, self-awareness, and perspective she witnessed made being around older adults invigorating and inspiring. And her career was born. Twenty-five years later, her passion for serving older adults, and the team members who serve them, continues to burn bright.
Joyful Power
Aside from angels bringing tidings of great joy, many of us are wary of this emotion. It feels too big. Too inaccessible. And too often like a Hallmark moment. But, Hall says, we don’t need to fear joy. She sees joy as internal and innate, always accessible to us, even (and especially) through grief and suffering. She believes everyone can feel joy deeply, throughout our entire mental, physical, chemical, and emotional being. And when we notice it, name it, feel it, and plan it with intention, joy can power us through life by igniting and sustaining our ability to live with purpose. Purpose is vital. Purpose, she says, means living happier, healthier, with more motivation, focus, and meaning in life. When joy fuels that “purpose” light glowing within us, then we can share with others.
Anna Hall also says we shouldn’t underestimate joy’s potency. Joy sparks our ability:
- To be our best self.
- To constantly grow.
- To do hard things.
- To become more resilient.
Joy amplifies and gives us the energy to share meaning and purpose in life with others.
Joy Fuels Purpose
Hall explains joy is our core life-force fuel, and humans are built to experience it. As with joy, our purpose is found by looking within, not outward. Our purpose is innate and unique to each of us. We’re born with it. Hall believes our purpose is the structure that holds us up, like an internal scaffold, so we can grow and evolve through the ups and down that life brings. Her step-by-step purpose activation experience, The Purpose Equation®, is evidence-informed. JoyFuel’s framework is designed to help people ignite their purpose to intensify its glow.
When we are defined by job titles or social media images, it’s too easy to feel less than, to feel we’re not enough. Hall points out our purpose is neither a goal nor a role. Goals and roles are usually temporary and can be taken away from us. When purpose is innate, then it can’t be given or taken away by someone or some thing. While we can’t lose our innate purpose, our connection to it is determined by the energy it has. Our sense of purpose can be strengthened or diminished; joy is the element feeding and nourishing it.
Joyful Community
Humans are intrinsically social beings, born with a need to be in community in order to flourish. We need to share our purpose to make the world a better place for everyone. Joy fuels that purpose. That’s one reason why Hall brought the concept of ‘sparking joy’ to Front Porch Communities and Services One avenue for this spark is a service excellence program currently in development.
Front Porch’s mission or purpose is “to inspire and build community, cultivating meaningful relationships and experiences that respond creatively to changing needs.” But community is not just about the work taking place within the walls of its 16 Life Plan communities. It’s about looking for opportunities to create pathways and connections out in the world, knowing that purpose serves not only the individual, but the greater community.
Hall notes, joy literally lights us up on physical and psychological levels. It gives us the energy to fuel our purpose and our wellbeing, which can lower the risks for dementia, stroke, and depression. To achieve wellbeing, we need to learn what lights up each person, strive to foster constant learning, and create an environment where people feel they belong.
Sparking Joy
Opening herself to what’s possible, and believing in limitless possibilities available for everyone, Hall strives to live a life fueled by joy and directed by purpose. To ensure she experiences joy consistently, she schedules in joy time every day, something we can all do. Just five minutes spent appreciating the sunset or your child’s laughter can spark joy. In her role at Front Porch Communities and Services, Hall collaborates with an incredible community to build a culture that supports everyone’s ability to flourish.
December 21, 2025 was the Winter Solstice, and the year’s darkest and longest night. Four days later, we celebrated Christmas, with its brilliant star shining brightly. Now, after seasonal celebrations wishing one another joy, we’ll continue to ask ourselves, “What brings me joy?” And we’ll be looking inside ourselves for the answer, because as Hall reminds us, the search for meaning in our lives IS the meaning of life. And that search is a journey, the most meaningful journey of our lives.
Discover More Joy
Intrigued and want to learn more? Listen to The Front Porch podcast, hosted by Anna Hall, which explores the impact of extraordinary people, what it means to live with intention, and how purpose and community shape us. And don’t miss this episode of the What Do You Know to be True podcast, where she speaks about the four steps to igniting joy.
