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

I’ve since learned that I’m not the only one who secrets away mementos in hidden places.

By the time we are adults, we are expected to keep both feet firmly planted in the rational world and to leave magic behind entirely.

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.

While good taste wants things to be simple and normal, joy thrives out on the edges of the bell curve.

I noticed many moments when people seemed to find real joy in the material world. Gazing at a favorite painting in an art museum or making a sandcastle at the beach, people smiled and laughed, lost in the moment. They smiled, too, at the peachy light of the sunset and at the shaggy dog with the yellow galoshes.

it confers not just style but goodness.

Where you are. Whom you are with. What you are doing. What sights, sounds, aromas, textures, or flavors are associated with your joy.

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.