I want to start by saying thank you so much to everyone who left meaningful comments on my post about losing my best friend. The pain comes in waves, but each morning I awake feeling more optimistic about life, and now I feel prepared to dive back in.

This TED lecture about Where Joy Hides and How to Find It was forwarded to me by a friend last week. It struck a chord with me as I was listening to it, so I wanted to share it with you. Author Ingrid Fetell Lee discusses the aesthetics of joy in relation to interior design in this session.

We frequently ignore joy in a culture where happiness is the object of our obsession. Describe delight. Joy is a sensation of contentment that, when experienced, causes us to grin.

The discussion serves as a reminder that joy can have observable, material characteristics. We experience happiness in the moment, but we can also experience happiness in the hues of a special work of art or the softness or pattern of a beloved cloth.

Happiness can come from a variety of places, but it can also be found in the aesthetically beautiful spaces that those of us in the design industry build using our understanding of color, scale, lighting, and materials. As decorators and designers, whether for our own families, a company, or a client, we create warm environments that are not only useful but also a source of delight.

I adored this TED talk for its in-depth analysis of the relationship between material possessions and ethereal bliss. Be upbeat because each of us contributes to the process of developing and disseminating the aesthetics of joy when we share our projects, home tours, and design work.

* The writers’ most recent book, here on discovering joy, can be found if you want to learn more.
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