In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest’s groundbreaking work on the subject of joy reveals the hidden influence of our surroundings on our emotions and well-being.
Ingrid Fetell Lee is the author of “Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness” and founder of the blog/website, “The Aesthetics of Joy,” She empowers people to find more joy in life and work through purposeful and emotion-driven design of our environments.
“There’s a whole field that has really been overlooked by mainstream psychology and by the sort of self-help industry that can help us use our environments to get more out of ourselves from an emotional perspective,” she says.
Our discussion explores happiness vs. joy and how to create more joy in your own life. We also look at the 10 elements of joy that resonate with nearly everyone. A fun and surprising finding shows that joy actually has a distinct shape! Ingrid explains how to recognize, feel and incorporate more joy into your everyday life. She takes us through the practice of joy spotting and how it “can be a reservoir for positivity in your life,” she says.
Ingrid’s decade of research into joy has yielded surprising results about how it shapes our internal and external lives. “There are triggers or levers that we can build into our environment in an intentional way to influence our emotions from the outside in,” Ingrid says.
And, while you may be able to fake a smile, you can’t fake joy. Scientists actually look at certain facial muscles to determine joy. There’s one in particular that’s not under your conscious control, so genuine joy shows up when the muscle is activated
We talk about that research and much more in the show today, along with surprising ways that joy can improve your outlook and daily performance.
Enjoy the show!
Follow Along with the Transcript
Hacking Joy by Changing the World Around You – Ingrid Fetell Lee – #618
Links/Resources
Website: aestheticsofjoy.com
Facebook: facebook.com/aestheticsofjoy/
Twitter: @ingridfetell
Instagram: @aestheticsofjoy
Pinterest: pinterest.com/ingridfetell/
TEDtalk: Where Joy Hides and How to Find It
Key Notes
- Joy versus Happiness 00:10:40
- “When I asked the question of where joy comes from” 00:20:10
- The stack-rank order for elements that bring joy 00:21:30
- What studies of children’s drawings can tell us 00:23:00
- We think we should decorate according to taste not how it makes us feel 00:29:50
- We have become detached from our senses 00:34:40
- “Our minds function optimally when we are in nature” 00:42:00
- “It was magical beliefs that lead to big discoveries” 00:54:05
- What is joy spotting? 00:57:45
- Bigger Ideas:
- Harmony in joy 00:06:30
- Good design brings joy 00:08:30
- Can you see Joy on a brain scan? 00:12:45
- The Facial Feedback hypothesis 00:14:40
- How our environment relates to our emotions 00:16:30
- How much of Joy is personal? 00:19:20
- The reason humans respond to bright colour 00:24:50
- The reversible destiny lofts – environments that keep our minds younger 00:39:00
- How to bring surprise into our own homes 00:45:20
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