Annie Dillard writes that as a child she used to love to hide pennies along the sidewalk for strangers to find,

It’s also something we can make, for ourselves and for those around us.

You can use this book as a field guide to spotting and savoring more joy in your surroundings, to help you gain a better understanding of why certain things and places light you up inside. And you can also use it as a palette, to design and craft more joy into your world.

Just as we turn to doctors and psychotherapists today, medieval people regularly consulted diviners,10 astrologers, and spiritual healers. But beginning in the sixteenth century, the scientific revolution brought a cascade of discoveries that filled in once-mysterious spaces with knowledge.

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.

it confers not just style but goodness.

At the end of the week, look for patterns.

While traditional spiritual teachings aim to remedy this state through inward-looking activities such as prayer and meditation, I find the research on awe powerful because it suggests that we can find a way to access the sacred side of life by looking around us.

Another idea comes from filmmaker and writer Nora Ephron, who considered a round table essential for a dinner party because it brings a group together in a single conversation. It also allows guests to see one another’s facial expressions, much the way the amphitheater-style seating did at the Oscars.