Ingrid Fetell Lee is a former design director at IDEO and author of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness. Her groundbreaking research uncovers the hidden influence of our surroundings on our emotions and happiness, and her TED Talk, “Where Joy Lies and How to Find It,” has been viewed more than 17 million times.
Ingrid recently joined Rufus Griscom's Next Big Idea podcast to discuss finding joy in times of crisis and how to be most productive while working from home.
Rufus: You're hearing from a lot of people right now who are desperate for joy and hope. What have you been telling them?
Ingrid: I think it's important right now for people to realise that happiness and joy are different things. Happiness is a broad assessment of how you feel about your life over time, so it involves many factors: your health, your work, how you feel about your connections with others, whether your life has meaning and purpose, etc. And all of these things are being tested right now, so it's natural that we're not happy in these challenging times.
But joy is much simpler and more direct. Psychologists define joy as an intense, momentary experience of positive emotion. And even in difficult times, moments of joy are still available to us. We don't have to be happy to find joy. We can find small moments of joy even when we're feeling the depths of sadness or anxiety or frustration.
Rufus: I love this phrase that you coined, “aesthetics of joy,” and I’m sure one of the reactions you’ve struggled with to some extent is that it sounds frivolous. I’m sure you wouldn’t agree that it doesn’t actually matter what you hang on the wall next to your desk.
Ingrid: Absolutely. I think we have a tendency to see the material world, the physical world, as something that is inconsequential to our happiness and wellbeing. But so many moments of joy come from interacting with the material world, like the trees starting to sprout again or the light streaming into our homes. We think of aesthetics like color, light, pattern, texture, etc. as decorative, but they're actually fundamental to our experience of the world. And if we can find joy in those ways, why not take advantage of that? Why not allow it to happen to us?
Rufus: So when we think about how we can tap into the aesthetics of joy in this quarantine environment that we're all in, how would you recommend we do that?
Ingrid: One thing you can do is move things around in your home to bring a bit of freshness in. Move artwork from one place to another, move cushions and blankets around, just to create a bit of movement in your home so things don't feel too static.
And since many of us spend a lot of time glued to the news and stressing out over scrolling, bring play back into your home – like taking a break and playing a game. One of the joys of the unexpected in our home is our giant pink yoga ball (bought at the recommendation of my midwife during birth). It's not tall enough to sit on, so I can't exercise, but I bounce on it when I take a break. It doesn't necessarily fit our décor, but it's so much fun to have this exercise ball in the middle of our living room.
Also, try to bring some greenery into your space. Pick up some flowers or a new houseplant next to your grocery run. Greenery rounds out the space and brings the benefits of nature, which are immeasurable. You can achieve the same effect through scents and sounds. Birds singing is the perfect soundtrack for our times. It subconsciously calms us. It gives us a sense of security that, “If the birds are singing, everything's okay,” which helps to calm us.
Rufus: Why not try creating a sensory landscape?
Ingrid: When I think about working from home, one of the benefits I see is that a lot of offices aren't designed with our wellbeing in mind, meaning there's not a lot of stuff that makes us feel good. And there's some really interesting research on people who work in what's called a “lean” work environment — the kind of minimalist grey cube that a lot of us are familiar with — and they're actually 15% more productive than people who work in environments that have art and plants and a little bit more stimulation.
“We can feel the depths of sadness, anxiety and frustration, yet still find small moments of joy.”
This is quite shocking to me, because offices are designed to minimize environmental factors that distract us from our work. But in reality, there is a monotony that puts us to sleep. We spend so much time just staring at a computer and not stimulating our other senses. Our fingertips are amazingly sensitive and can sense the width of a human hair as a difference in material. Our hearing, our kinesthetic sense, our sense of smell, all of these senses are just off while we work, so it's no wonder we get a little bored.
So if you can create a more sensory environment for yourself when you're working from home, it helps you stay focused, not distracted. And, and this is just my guess, I think it might help you not to always run to the fridge for a snack. Because I think what we crave is not necessarily food, but sensory stimulation. We're not hungry in a physical sense, we crave something that stimulates our other senses that is there. So if you can stimulate yourself a little bit more, you can get your mind and body satisfied while you get your work done.
Rufus: So you create this sensory landscape by incorporating sights, smells, plants, etc?
Ingrid: Yeah, definitely. Think about your distance vision. When you take a break from your screen, try to look further into the distance. Essential oils and scented candles can help. Soothing ambient sounds can also help. Also think about texture. I cover my chair in sheepskin when I work because it's really soft. Think about what your senses want to touch and give yourself a little bit of that.
This excerpt has been edited and condensed. Listen to the full conversation on the Next Big Idea podcast.