Joyful, Joyful: Stories Celebrating Black Voices

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Reading this is like getting a new set of eyes, forcing readers to see everything with the kind of wonder they left behind in childhood. Lee drives home the point that humans need joy for life to feel fully meaningful. She encourages readers to esteem joyful objects (expensive or inexpensive), moments (eventful or quiet), and environments (all kinds) for their sheer pleasure. Her appropriately sunny personality comes across strongly to make for an engaging read, and she chose unusual, truly intriguing things to highlight. Ingrid Fetell Lee shares how to bring more joy into your life through the appreciation of ordinary things. Using tools like color selection, feng shui, gardening and room design, you can utilize your environment to foster an inner sense of joy and well being. I'm standing next to my table, everything neatly lined up, and I'm just hoping that my professors can see how much effort I've put into making my designs practical and ergonomic and sustainable. And I'm starting to get really nervous, because for a long time, no one says anything. It's just completely silent. And then one of the professors starts to speak, and he says, "Your work gives me a feeling of joy."…I asked the professors, "How do things make us feel joy? How do tangible things make us feel intangible joy?” They hemmed and hawed and gestured a lot with their hands. "They just do," they said… So this got me thinking: Where does joy come from? I started asking everyone I knew, and even people I just met on the street, about the things that brought them joy. On the subway, in a café, on an airplane, it was, "Hi, nice to meet you. What brings you joy?" I felt like a detective. I was like, "When did you last see it? Who were you with? What color was it? Did anyone else see it?" I was the Nancy Drew of joy. - from the author’s TED talk Joyful is what she found out. Ingrid holds a Master’s in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and a Bachelor’s in English and Creative Writing from Princeton University. Her first book, Joyful, will be published in North America by Little, Brown in September, 2018. She loves pancakes, polka dots, and rainbow sprinkles, and has an extensive repertoire of happy dances for any occasion. I think two excellent companion reads to Joyful might be The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living and The Happiness Project.

Otoh, I do think she's mostly right. I mean, yes, of course most people are healthier, in body & mind & spirit, if they spend time out-of-doors. For example. A hugely entertaining, fully colour-illustrated collection celebrating joy, perfect for children age 8 to 12 (and beyond!). Curated by Laugh Out Loud Awards winner Dapo Adeola, with a foreword by the acclaimed Patrice Lawrence. Joyful, Joyful is a book to sing about!

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Ingrid Fetell Lee is a Brooklyn-based designer and writer whose work focuses on the way that design affects our health and happiness. As founder of The Aesthetics of Joy and in her role as IDEO fellow, she empowers people to find more joy in daily life through design. Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, Russian emigres, devised a test to determine a universally favored painting. Turns out their “Most Wanted” project found its way into Darwinian Aesthetics And ah sakura. I have an LED tree, sold as yard art but used as floor lamp, that I've had long enough it might be not giving me quite as much joy as it did... maybe I can make lots of little pink fabric or paper flower shapes and wire them to it.

Today I’m reviewing a book that’s been on my (virtual) bookshelf for some time. I’m linking up with Deb @ Deb’s World and Sue, Donna, and Jo for the October installment of #WhatsOnYourBookShelfChallenge . With stories featuring a mythical whale, a message from the future, a Halloween dance competition, a talking book, a miraculous discovery in a moment of lost hope, the joy of jollof rice and so much more. The creators hail from around the world, from the UK and US, to Uganda, the Netherlands, Nigeria and more. Mae’r awduron a’r darlunwyr yn gymysgedd o enwau sydd wedi hen sefydlu ynghyd â rhai lleisiau newydd a chyffrous. Canlyniad hyn ydy bod yma amrywiaeth gwych o leisiau, arddulliau ac awyrgylch. The quotes that Ingrid compiles alone from philosophers and artists on joy are enough of a reason to recommend this book. Ruth Lande Shuman - founder of the non-profit Publicolor, which offers a group of design-based programs aimed at helping high-risk students in their education.

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Ok done. Not a bad book, and there is a 'joyful toolkit' at the end to make it more practically useful. But still, the idea is pretty self-evident. A gray boxy office needs a plant, preferably a flowering one. Farmer's markets will help us stay in touch with the cycle of seasons. Duh.

Oh! And this book ends with a joy workbook! I can’t wait to start my joy journal. If it sounds like I’ve been drinking the Kool-aid, it’s because I have. Lee has categorised the ways we feel joy and the power that each has that transforms our day, and influences our lives. Her examples of school classrooms made me reflect on my experience in school and maybe if we had a quirky orange and neon yellow in the walls, I could've passed maths! Boost your self-confidence and realiSe that you're worthy of all the joy you've been dreaming aboutVan Dyke’s text is a multi-layered poem of praise. Albert Bailey describes it as an “intricate interweaving of fact and metaphor” ( The Gospel in Hymns, 554). Some argue that the text is too universalist, but it is simply a beautiful hymn of praise from all of Creation. The all-encompassing text is meant to show the interplay between the joy given to God by His creation, and the joy we receive through this creation. The third verse is especially poignant in that it directs our attention from creation to Christ, and reminds us that our joy means nothing if we do not live out of that joy in love of one another. Tune: Even aprons designed for professional use can make restaurant workers feel a bit better - Image from Hedley and Bennett It’s my favorite “self help” book simply because it was a delight to read and left me happy & hopeful. This book should be a help to those of us who are always interested in adding more joy to our lives.

Henry Van Dyke wrote this poem in 1907 while visitingthe home of Williams College president Harry Augustus Garfield. He was serving as a guest preacher at Williams at the time. He told his host that the local Berkshire Mountains had been his inspiration for writing "Joyful, Joyful, We Ador Thee". The image for this article is a sunrise photo of the Berkshire Mountains!

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We all feel joy, but do we know why, exactly, certain things bring joy? Ingrid Fetell Lee makes this intangible feeling tangible in Joyful. Joy is everywhere, and in many things we take for granted. It’s in physical view and arrangement, shape and color, places and experiences. Identifying these is fascinating enough, but then Lee presents the science (often rooted in primal, evolutionary preferences), to round out and deepen what on the surface can seem like a pseudo-psychological, lightweight topic. Here is a list of some notions from the book that provide food for thought, or, you know, brain candy. They are legion here I am intrigued by the author’s comprehensive and thoughtful explanation and application of each aesthetic: This book had me daydreaming of things that brought me joy. Even on the coldest, dreariest day, there is a way to squeeze out some joy. I was most doubtful about the aesthetic of “magic” and was prepared to skip over the power or magic of stones and gems; however, I was surprised by how she pivoted to a discussion of “enchantment” and “charm” as other concepts for magic.