When’s the last time you felt a true, unfettered moment of joy? That’s what Joyful, by Ingrid Fetell Lee, asks first. Perhaps it was a few minutes ago, or yesterday, or a week ago, or a month, or a year. Perhaps you can’t remember the last time you felt joyful. No matter how dominant joy is in your life, this book will open your eyes to the little pools of joy which have been sitting all around you this whole time.
Joyful is a book that guides the reader through stories, questions, and scientific researches, to discover joy through an appreciation of aesthetics. In today’s society, with the prioritizing of efficiency over emotions, it is easy to forget to seek joy for ourselves. Joyful shows the reader that joy can be won easily, every day, in the places and things we’ve always unthinkingly interacted with. Lee introduces to us the ten aesthetics of joy which we can easily incorporate into our own lives—gifting ourselves joyful moments every single day.
The first aesthetic, energy, is defined in this book as “vibrant color and light”. Today, limited use of bright colors signify restraint against childishness and our emphasis on rational, adult design. Despite this modern theory of “good” taste, scientific research has shown that brighter hues stimulate, inspire, and motivate us fundamentally as human beings. The ability to see and identify color can be traced back to our evolution millions of years ago, as an essential trait for survival in the wilderness. Even now, seeing color enlivens us. There have been numerous experiments where schools, retirement homes, shelters, even a whole city (specifically, Tirana, Albania) were painted in bright hues and given improved lighting—with the surprising result of significant reductions in crime, filth, and harassment. What could be less invasive and more inspiring than the thought of reducing crime with a little color? Vivid colors and bright light have the power to influence thousands of people for the better. It’s in our nature to associate brightness and vibrancy with joy.
Abundance, the second aesthetic, is defined in this book as “lushness, multiplicity, and variety”. It’s the reason why people feel a surge of joy when they are surrounded by a plethora of things, more than they could possibly need: it’s the electric allure of candy stores, carnivals, festivals, grocery stores, lush forests, malls, swimming pools, amusement parks, and for all the bookworms out there, the library. Even in the privileged societies of today, we all still unconsciously recall times of famine, when the necessities of life were scarce. Abundance inspires in us waves of gratitude and bliss.
The third aesthetic, freedom, is defined as “nature, wildness, and open space”. Whether it’s that feeling of finishing studying and realizing you have hours of freedom ahead, or the open wildness of running to your heart’s content in a field of grass, or the unfettered pleasure of stretching luxuriously in bed, a sense of freedom arouses joy in us. So does nature, our interaction with which has scientifically been proven to reduce stress and encourage inner peace. So give up your rigid, meticulous control of your life for an hour, and go running and dancing in the woods. The joy we felt as children when we were allowed to go explore on our own in the “great outdoors” is still within us.
Harmony is the fourth aesthetic, defined as “balance, symmetry, and flow”. As much as freedom and wildness is essential for joy, so is a certain amount of harmony among surroundings—that is, a sort of loose organization. Overly cluttered areas tend to arouse negative emotions in us, perhaps unconsciously. Many of us put up every day with messy and cluttered rooms, and so we may assume we’ve simply gotten used to it. However, disorder might subtly be sapping your concentration and inducing waves of helplessness, because it arouses feelings that you have little control over our surroundings. Meanwhile, orderliness, even in a casual, loose fashion, may very well play a huge role in improving our cognitive and emotional state. There’s a reason why we find symmetrical faces so attractive, and why we prefer balance to insecurity. Harmony resonates deep inside us.
Play, the fifth aesthetic, is defined as “circles, spheres, and bubbly forms”. As we grow older, we teenagers are often told, “Who has time to play anymore?” or “Stop playing around,” or simply, “Grow up!” Closely associated with childhood, play is something teens and adults are expected to distance themselves from. However, Joyful points out that play is the only activity known that humans engage in purely for pleasure, not for a larger and practical purpose. This may be why it is pushed aside as immature and unnecessary, but it is also why it is one of the things most likely to inspire the true, clear joy of a young child—an emotion that, when untapped, may drain zest and clarity from our lives.
The sixth aesthetic, surprise, is worded simply: “contrast and whimsy”. Most of us have likely experienced the sudden burst of joy of receiving a hot chocolate on a cold day, the relief of an unfamiliar face smiling warmly at us in a tense environment, the unannounced joys of gleeful faces, balloons, confetti, rainbows. Unexpected little surprises heighten and stimulate our positive emotions even more than the gifts we expect from life because they’re completely unplanned and uncontrolled—joyous disruptions which haven’t had the chance to stale from anticipation. Surprise gives us encouragement, sweetness, friendliness in the midst of a seemingly cold, stark life. It “destabilizes” our routine and gives us a fresh perspective, a warm flame of precious joy.
Transcendence, the seventh aesthetic, is defined as “elevation and lightness”. Not one often mentioned, it is that much more powerful. A feeling of elevation is commonly associated with joy: the corners of our mouths turn up, we sit up straight. Uplifted, on Cloud Nine, we float in high spirits. When we are heightened, whether physically in a hot-air balloon or in a tree, or mentally through feelings of intense clarity, we experience a delightful isolation from the rest of the world. For some time, we are granted the spare, fleeting beauty of being lifted above the competition, noise, and pressure of our society—and in that quiet bliss, we are given yet another burst of joy, given to us by the simple transcendence. Remember to bring these feelings into your life. Instead of looking down at your phone, look up to the sky. Gaze at the clouds or stars. Dream and turn towards the light.
Magic—the “invisible forces and illusions” of earth—is something most of us have long since brushed away from our lives: magic belongs to old animated Disney movies; magic is for little children who believe in fairies and elves. As difficult as it is to treat magic as anything other than a sign of immaturity, embracing magic, fantasy, and little pieces of supernaturality in our lives can have amazing effects on our joy. Recall the rush of delight as a child in the movie theatre, watching magic transform people, bring sad stories to happy endings. We still have little moments in life where we feel that there’s something enchanting and beyond human shining beside us. Perhaps it’s just imagination, perhaps it’s not. Either way, you’ll smile when you embrace that elusive glitter.
Celebration, the ninth aesthetic, is defined as “synchrony, sparkle, and bursting shapes”. Work and business, not being “in the mood”, and stress are common excuses to avoid celebrations, because we commonly view celebrations as frivolous and low-priority. However, whether you celebrate with friends with chips over a completed exam, or attend a large party in someone’s backyard, celebration arouses joy. In fact, celebration is a common aspect of joy. It’s an instinct to share in the happiness of a satisfactory achievement in life. If celebrations are continually skipped and overlooked, life soon settles into dullness without occasional colored bursts to lift spirits. Even if there’s no reason at all to celebrate, be generous and reward yourself by doing so. Maybe joy will stream out of the party balloons, or it’ll be living in the music.
Renewal, finally, is summarized as “blossoming, expansion, and curves”. It’s easy to feel like life is flat, dismal, and dark. Maybe you feel like some things aren’t worth it. But renewals, little and huge, soft and pompous, are all around you. That refreshed, acute feeling after a hot shower or a good house cleaning, when you peek out your window with sleepy eyes into a transformed white world, when a new opportunity comes your way after countless discouragements, when you find a new passion… Renewal gives us a second chance, a new outlook, a fresh mindset to live life. Find renewal in the colors, lights, music, words, smiles, kindnesses, and nature around you. Find joy in it as well.
To conclude, joy isn’t always formed purely within our own emotions and the depths of our unconscious thoughts. Lee states, “Joy isn’t hard to find at all. In fact, it’s all around us.” Skepticism is natural, but let’s give it a shot—let’s embrace the aesthetics of joy and bring them into our lives. Let’s give ourselves energy, abundance, freedom, harmony, play, surprise, transcendence, magic, celebration, and renewal. Let’s go find our own joy—and perhaps we’ll find that the ten aesthetics of joy are only the beginning of its effervescent beauty.
(Published in The Sequitur, October 2018, Westdale Secondary School, Hamilton, ON)
