Joyful

By Ingrid Fetell Lee

Why You Should Read This  If you have ever felt that you lost your joy because you were pulled between the demands of work, our teams, our family, and volunteer activities, you are not alone.  This book thoughtfully provides the explanation about what the tangible contributors are that create the intangible emotion of joy and how we can obtain and share it to create a richer life.  Here is the link to the Audible version of the book.

“The drive towards joy is the drive towards life” asserts the self-described Nancy Drew of Joy -  Ingrid Fetell Lee in her Tedex speech.  While happiness is created by a long-term pursuit, joy is situational. 
Miriam Webster describes joy as:
1a: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : DELIGHT
b: the expression or exhibition of such emotion : GAIETY
2: a state of happiness or felicity : BLISS
3: a source or cause of delight
 
In “Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness” the author infuses her unending curiosity to define joy through the activities of others and intermixes the science and proof as to what creates joy.  Spoiler:  While it may seem like a simplistic solution, bright colors and circular patterns are neurologically linked to joy generators, which ultimately impacts productivity and a sense of safety.  While the book may reference complex studies that support the notion of how our brains are designed to respond to certain examples, the 10 chapters focus on the simple importance of joy in energy, abundance, freedom, harmony, play, surprise, transcendence, magic, celebration, and renewal.  Finding joy is an individual moment; however, sustaining joy can lead to happiness and greater engagement in our relationships and work.

How You Can Apply This  Joy is foundational to creating psychological safety in relationships and ultimately, it costs virtually nothing to create a moment of joy. This book includes a “Joyful Toolkit” that offers ways to explore finding the joy that speaks specifically to you and how you can consider and reconsider how joy can be created every day and incorporated into your life.  No task is too small, no relationship too fragile, and no place is too small to invoke joy.  And like courage, joy is contagious, so I hope it helps you create engagement with friends, family, and colleagues that is fueled by curiosity. 

Additional Materials For Reinforcing What You Learned  For those of you who want to reinforce what you gained from this book I encourage you to read about the science of joy as found in the research conducted by David Mercier and Kelly Dorfman and published in the Johns Hopkin’s November 17, 2020 newsletter.  Additionally, Fast Company describes why the Dutch mindset of Voorpret is a national treasure that is meant to be shared as a true Dutch treat. I additionally follow @aetheticsofjoy on Instagram to obtain my daily jolt of joy.
You may also want to conduct a deeper dive by reading the Harvard Business Review article on Joy at Work

This book review was written by Shelley A. Svoren, VP – Leader Development for IAWA and who is the CEO + Founder of Infinite Branches.  You can DM her on LinkedIn.