Joyful: The surprising power of ordinary things to create extraordinary happiness

With few exceptions, magic in modern culture appears as either juvenile and primitive or dark and occultist. A bright, benevolent, mature aesthetic of magic is missing from our adult lives.

Under the right conditions, even ordinary experiences can be infused with a sense of the supernatural. The milky rays of sunlight that beam through a storm cloud, an early morning encounter with a wild animal, or a spiral of dry leaves blown into the air by a gust of autumn wind: such fleeting glimpses of beauty are often interpreted as signs of de

take note of any time you feel a sense of joy.

Though we don’t often think consciously about the connection, it is nearly impossible to separate color and feeling. Our language confuses the two with regularity. Our moods brighten and darken. On a sad day, we might have a black cloud over us or merely feel a bit blue. And when things are going well, we say life is golden.

surprising choices can often be acts of bravery. When we pursue a path in life that contradicts others’ expectations, whether it’s our choice of career or partner or even just how we wear our hair, we find ourselves outside the comfortable norm.

neuroscientists monitored guitarists playing a short melody together,13 they found that patterns in the guitarists’ brain activity became synchronized. Similarly, studies of choir singers have shown that singing aligns performers’ heart rates.14 Music seems to create a sense of unity on a physiological level.

All children live in a world rich with surprises. Each new thing, no matter how ordinary, inspires a sense of wonder and delight. But novelty naturally declines with age, and our surroundings begin to dull with familiarity.

On Google, searching the word “askew” will tilt the page’s results, and searching the peculiar phrase “zerg rush” will create an apparently unwinnable game where the o’s fall out of the Google logo and begin attacking the search

by day he’s a product designer at IDEO, working to bring wonder into everyday experiences like driving, shopping for groceries, and riding the bus to school.

Everywhere, it seems, rainbows are joyful. I began to make a list of things like this, ones that I heard over and over again: beach balls and fireworks, swimming pools and treehouses, hot-air balloons and googly eyes and ice-cream sundaes with colorful sprinkles.