Ten Thousand Joys, Ten Thousand Sorrows: Reflections from a Writing and Meditation Retreat

At the beginning of 2026, I set myself a year-long intention to cultivate joy across all areas of my life.

I am now nine months into my joy project, and I have been astounded by how challenging I continue to find it.

To guide me, I have drawn on Buddhist philosophy, and have been particularly interested in the teaching that life contains both “ten thousand sorrows and ten thousand joys.”

What I have found so difficult is that the ten thousand sorrows of the world seem so much more present, so much more like the truth, than the joys.

I can very readily access the sorrows: both the inevitable sorrows of sickness, old age and death that are part of being a human being, and the vast and entirely avoidable suffering that results from life under capitalism: poverty and war, violence and injustice, indignity and exclusion, and a deep sense of separation from ourselves, one another and planet Earth.

And yet, the teaching that the ten thousand joys are equally present feels to me to be both supportive and wise.

So on my September writing and meditation retreat, I shared my enquiry with the fifteen writers who attended: what would it look like to cultivate an intimacy with both sorrow and joy in our creative lives?

And oh my, did this group take the invitation to heart!

Perhaps because of the questions that animate my own creative work, it is unsurprising that the writers who attended were grappling with many of the same themes.

And the extraordinary thing was that, alongside all of the grief, anger, confusion and fear we experienced together last week, it is no exaggeration to say that this group laughed from morning until night.

We made up nonsense stories, cracked boiled eggs on our foreheads, made friends with sheep and horses, and told lewd jokes. We shared stories over delicious, nourishing food. We sweated in the sauna and swam in the sea. We meditated and took silent sunrise walks. We sat around the fire and yapped and yapped. We hugged and sang songs. And we wrote, a lot.

What struck me was that none of this joy required us to turn away from what was painful. If anything, our willingness to turn towards sorrow together seemed to make more room for joy.

Nine months into my joy project, I think I am beginning to understand that cultivating joy might be less about trying to feel joyful, and more about becoming intimate with the full range of what it means to be alive.

It is an ongoing enquiry for me, and if it is one that resonates with your own creative life, I would love to welcome you on my first writing and meditation retreat of 2027, taking place from 10–15 January on the stunning Pembrokeshire coast.

Across five nights, we will write, meditate, eat together, walk the coast, swim in the sea, spend our mornings in silence and completely switch off from our devices.

There will, I am sure, be room for both the ten thousand sorrows and the ten thousand joys.

Booking is now open, and you can secure your place with a deposit of just £150.

I would love to welcome you there.

Hello, I’m Holly.

I offer creative writing retreats in Pembrokeshire, online writing groups, book mentoring and editorial support.

I’d love to hear from you. If you have any questions about my retreats or how we might work together, please get in touch using the form below.