Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a wonderful 2018 book by the designer Ingrid Fetell Lee titled Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness. A preview is at Google Books. And there is an excerpt from the introduction. The ten chapters, a JOYFUL TOOLKIT and their starting pages are titled and numbered as follows:

 

Energy                       13

Abundance                42

Freedom                    73

Harmony                  103

Play                          134

Surprise                   164

Transcendence       189

Magic                       217

Celebration             245

Renewal                  271

JOYFUL TOOLKIT  299

 

Chapter 6, Surprise begins:

 

“I sat near the head of a boardroom table in a towering office building in Sydney, my heart fluttering inside my chest. The table seemed to stretch a mile from end to end. All along its edges sat the directors of business units, division heads, and people whose titles start with the letter C. Three weeks earlier, full of bravery and blind optimism of a twenty-four-year-old who had just moved to the opposite side of the world by herself, I had talked my way into a trial run as a brand consultant, a job I had never dine before. I had worked nonstop since then on a brand analysis for the client’s new business, expecting that my boss would be the one presenting it. But a few days before the meeting, my boss told me he believed that the people who did the work should speak for it and that, despite my lack of experience, he wanted me to give the presentation. So there I was, pale faced and shaky, awaiting the calamity that I was certain would follow as soon as I opened my mouth.

 

As the last few attended straggled in, I tried closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, but as I did so, memories of my previous misadventures in public speaking rose to the surface, and I began to feel even more panicked. I snapped my eyes open and looked down at my feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a burst of color. A pair of rainbow-striped socks peeked out from under a charcoal-gray pant leg. They seemed so incongruous I wanted to laugh out loud. I looked up at the wearer. It was the imposing, no-nonsense head of the digital business. His eyes followed my gaze to the socks. Then he looked back up, smiled and winked. A moment later I heard my boss bring the meeting to order and call on me to begin the presentation.

 

Joy has a way of showing up when we least expect it. As we move through the stream of daily life, tiny moments can capture our attention and turn our thoughts in a joyful direction. These moments can be especially powerful in times of stress or sadness. My encounter with the rainbow socks didn’t magically transform me into a brilliant presenter, but it did something else that was helpful in that moment: it interrupted my anxious inner monologue, turning my attention from the highlights reel of my past failures to the incredible opportunity I had before me to share my work with an eager audience. It pulled me back into the room and widened my perspective. Suddenly, I found myself wondering what else might not be as it seemed. Maybe hiding inside all those power suits were other warm or funny people. Maybe my boss wouldn’t have given me such a big client if he didn’t think I was capable of handling it. Maybe I could do this after all. I can’t say I wasn’t nervous as I stood in front of that room. In fact, I clutched a water glass for the entire two-hour presentation so tightly my boss later said he could see my white knuckles. But despite my jitters, there were moments when I had to admit to myself that I was actually having fun. In the end I did well enough to turn my trial run into a full-time job and gained more opportunities to practice speaking my mind in public.”

 

The JOYFUL TOOLKIT has a JOYFINDING WORKSHEET on page 302 that has the following questions to think about:

 

PLACES

Where do I feel most joyful?

What is joyful about these places?

What aesthetics define these places?

 

PEOPLE

Who are the most joyful people I know?

What is joyful about these people?

What aesthetics do these people embody?

 

THINGS

What are the most joyful objects in my house?

What is joyful about these things?

What aesthetics do these things exhibit?

 

ACTIVITIES

What activities bring me the most joy?

What is joyful about these activities?

What aesthetics are present in these activities?

 

And The JOYFUL TOOLKIT has a parallel Killjoys Worksheet on page 304 which has the following questions to think about (but none for PEOPLE):

 

PLACES

Where do I feel least joyful?

What about these places kills my joy?

 

THINGS

What are the least joyful objects in my house?

What about these things kills my joy?

 

ACTIVITIES

What activities bring me the least joy?

What about these activities kills my joy?

 

There is a 2 page pdf Joyspotter’s Guide at The Aesthetics of Joy.

 

Ingrid has a 14-minute TED talk on June 11, 2018 titled Where Joy Hides and How to Find It | Ingrid Fetell Lee | TED. A second 19-minute TED interview by Chris Duffy on September 3, 2025 is titled How to Be More Joyful (W/ Ingrid Fetell Lee) | How to Be a Better Human | TED.

 

A cropped version of Dirck Hals Joyful Gathering painting came from Wikimedia Commons.