
Joyful
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Narrated by:
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Ingrid Fetell Lee
About this listen
Make small changes to your surroundings and create extraordinary happiness in your life with groundbreaking research from designer and TED star Ingrid Fetell Lee.
Next Big Idea Club selection—chosen by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Dan Pink, and Adam Grant as one of the "two most groundbreaking new nonfiction reads of the season!"
"This book has the power to change everything! Writing with depth, wit, and insight, Ingrid Fetell Lee shares all you need to know in order to create external environments that give rise to inner joy."—Susan Cain, author of Quiet and founder of Quiet Revolution
Have you ever wondered why we stop to watch the orange glow that arrives before sunset, or why we flock to see cherry blossoms bloom in spring? Is there a reason that people—regardless of gender, age, culture, or ethnicity—are mesmerized by baby animals, and can't help but smile when they see a burst of confetti or a cluster of colorful balloons?
We are often made to feel that the physical world has little or no impact on our inner joy. Increasingly, experts urge us to find balance and calm by looking inward—through mindfulness or meditation—and muting the outside world. But what if the natural vibrancy of our surroundings is actually our most renewable and easily accessible source of joy?
In Joyful, designer Ingrid Fetell Lee explores how the seemingly mundane spaces and objects we interact with every day have surprising and powerful effects on our mood. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and psychology, she explains why one setting makes us feel anxious or competitive, while another fosters acceptance and delight—and, most importantly, she reveals how we can harness the power of our surroundings to live fuller, healthier, and truly joyful lives.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Ingrid Fetell Lee (P)2018 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Joy is the most basic building block of happiness, and this mesmerizing book reveals where to find it—and how to create it. Ingrid Fetell Lee's blockbuster debut will open your eyes to all the places where joy is hiding in plain sight. And it just might cause you to become more joyful too."—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg
"A completely original treatment of a completely new and original idea: we all have within the power to design joy into our lives. Joyful is an inexhaustible and exciting guide to what makes life good."—Arianna Huffington, New York Times bestselling author of Thrive, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and founder of The Huffington Post
"I've never reached out to an author to request their permission to endorse their book...until now. Ingrid Fetell Lee invites us into a dimension of the human experience that was, ironically, hidden to most of us. She shows us how we can mindfully see joy in the simple aesthetics of our surroundings—and it has already changed my everyday life. If I'm feeling blue, I remember to look at the new leaves on the tree outside my window. It is simple but profound. Joyful is irresistibly compelling. The idea of Joyful fills me with joy."—Amy Cuddy, New York Times bestselling author of Presence
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Overall
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Prepare to be schooled in the art of conversation by dynamic duo Casey Wilson and Jessica St. Clair. Dismissing the notion that small talk is a painful social obligation, these self-proclaimed small talk maestros share their gift of gab in this laugh-out-loud and instructive audiobook. With their help you might find yourself excitedly asking your barista about the weather…and maybe you’ll get a free coffee. Who knows!
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Such a fun vibe!
- By Michael on 06-12-24
By: Casey Wilson, and others
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Big Magic
- Creative Living Beyond Fear
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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People of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear.
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Biggest Inspiration In a Long Time
- By Gillian on 09-23-15
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The Antidote
- Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
- By: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The Antidote is a series of journeys among people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. What they have in common is a hunch about human psychology: that it’s our constant effort to eliminate the negative that causes us to feel so anxious, insecure, and unhappy. And that there is an alternative "negative path" to happiness and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid.
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The Antidote explores the negative path.
- By Bonny on 05-15-14
By: Oliver Burkeman
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Enchantment
- Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
- By: Katherine May
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her wonder what she was missing. Could there be a different way to relate to the world, one that would allow her to feel more rested and at ease, even as seismic changes unfold on the planet?
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But what is she trying to say?
- By Kraig on 06-20-23
By: Katherine May
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Untamed
- By: Glennon Doyle
- Narrated by: Glennon Doyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves.
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Shockingly shallow and self-centered
- By G. Scimeca on 03-11-20
By: Glennon Doyle
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The Art of Gathering
- How We Meet and Why It Matters
- By: Priya Parker
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Every day, we find ourselves in gatherings, Priya Parker says in The Art of Gathering. If we can understand what makes these gatherings effective and memorable, then we can reframe and redirect them to benefit everyone, host and guest alike. Parker defines a gathering as three or more people who come together for a specific purpose. When we understand why we gather, she says - to acknowledge, to learn, to challenge, to change - we learn how to organize gatherings that are relevant and memorable.
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Would have liked a different narrator
- By Marta on 08-26-18
By: Priya Parker
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Essentialism
- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
- By: Greg McKeown
- Narrated by: Greg McKeown
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter.
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Paring Down...
- By Molly Helm on 06-08-14
By: Greg McKeown
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The Secret Lives of Color
- By: Kassia St. Clair
- Narrated by: Kassia St. Clair
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of 75 fascinating shades, dyes, and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso’s blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history. In this book, Kassia St. Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colors and where they come from into a unique study of human civilization.
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More about pigments than social history
- By Jason Toon on 12-13-20
By: Kassia St. Clair
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The Book of Joy
- Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
- By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams
- Narrated by: Douglas Carlton Abrams, full cast, Francois Chau, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet.
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This book may have saved my life
- By R. Chandra on 02-08-17
By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and others
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Caste
- The Origins of Our Discontents
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.
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Brilliant, articulate, highly listenable.
- By GM on 08-05-20
By: Isabel Wilkerson
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Wherever You Go, There You Are
- Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
- By: Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD
- Narrated by: Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When Wherever You Go, There You Are was first published in 1994, no one could have predicted that the book would launch itself onto bestseller lists nationwide and sell over 1 million copies to date. Thirty years later, Wherever You Go, There You Are remains a foundational guide to mindfulness and meditation, introducing readers to the practice and guiding them through the process. The author of over half a dozen books on mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn combines his research and medical background with his spiritual knowledge to help readers find peace and change their lives.
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Unnerving
- By Andrea on 01-16-24
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Wintering
- The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
- By: Katherine May
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a breakup, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered. Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times.
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I look forward to my next time of Wintering!
- By bgilmore on 01-12-21
By: Katherine May
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The ONE Thing
- The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
- By: Gary Keller, Jay Papasan
- Narrated by: Timothy Miller, Claire Hamilton
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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This is an audiobook for busy people. If you want less on your plate and more for your life and career, tune in to the #1 Wall Street Journal best seller, The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. The ONE Thing will bring your life and your work into focus. Authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan teach you the tricks to cut through the clutter, achieve better results in less time, dial down stress, and master what matters to you.
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Really Helpful Book!
- By Marisela Gutierrez on 04-01-17
By: Gary Keller, and others
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The Push
- A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
- By: Ashley Audrain
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter - she doesn't behave like most children do. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
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Disturbing, Jaw Dropping, Unforgettable
- By Wendi on 01-16-21
By: Ashley Audrain
What listeners say about Joyful
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- Lorie Harrison
- 05-24-19
fascinating
loved this. so many times I wanted to write things down to dive into later...may need to buy paper version too!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Pamela’s Wish List
- 09-20-23
An unexpected surprise.
This book was an unexpected surprise, filled with information to assist you in finding joy in all of the simple things around you. The history and knowledge of random things was a bonus. I loved this feel good book!
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- D. Strong
- 09-20-18
FantAstic!
I bought this book because it was about design, and my collegiate daughter is studying technology, art and design. Little did I know what a broad range of subjects this lovely tome would address. It has cheered me greatly, from its cover to its contents, and I have been using it in my classes and support groups for people dealing with severe depression (inpatients and outpatients!).
Backed by an array of research, from neuroscience to the history of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan, the author has created a real treasure trove of how to find and create joy in the world around us. Designer or not, you will love this book if you are searching for more joy in your life.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rebel Jess
- 10-04-21
Loved it!
This amazing book will help you realize that joy is not optional, but essential.
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- A. Sisk
- 07-16-19
much richer and more complex than expected.
p
Plan to listen again to absorb it.I find all the studies and experimentation with joy and aesrhetic to be exciting.
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- Jan
- 11-30-21
Rereadable! So enjoyable!
I very much enjoy hearing an author read their own work. There is much to glean from this most excellent introduction to finding JOY wherever you are.
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- Cassandra
- 04-19-21
Enjoyable
I enjoyed the premise at the beginning of each chapter followed by examples and facts from various studies. My only suggestion would be to have additional readers or more enthusiasm in some parts. Loved the book, very insightful.
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- MarthaP
- 10-28-22
Loved it!
I absolutely loved all the feels in this book and how she broke everything down in bite sized pieces to help us understand her thought process.
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- Ainslee1777
- 02-15-19
The depth and width of joy.
Ingrid, you have created something so incredible, so beautiful, so colorful, so bright, so inspiring, so joyful. Thank you for this brilliant journey into the heart of aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual joy.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Scrapey
- 11-27-18
Sooo much stuffed in this goldmine!
Who knew there were so many little things we find joy in, and use to promote joy in our environments! I started to recognize why people congregate in certain areas of my house, and how to bring more joy to my visitors, my family, and me! I'll definitely be downloading the PDF so I can look into a variety of artists and designers the author mentions.
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3 people found this helpful