Ingrid Fetell Lee

They just do, they said.

I packed up my things for the summer, but I couldn't stop thinking about this question

And this launched a journey, one that I didn't know at the time would take me 10 years, to understand the relationship between the physical world and the mysterious, quixotic emotion we call joy.

And what I discovered is that not only are they linked, but that the physical world can be a powerful resource to us in creating happier, healthier lives.

After my review, I thought, I know what joy feels like, but what is it exactly?

And I found that even scientists don't always agree, and they sometimes use the words joy and happiness and positivity more or less interchangeably.

But broadly speaking, when psychologists use the word joy, what they mean is an intense, momentary experience of positive emotion, one that makes us smile and laugh and feel like we want to jump up and down.

And this is actually a technical thing.

That feeling of wanting to jump up and down is one of the ways that scientists measure joy.

It's different than happiness, which measures how good we feel over time.

Joy is about feeling good in the moment, right now.

And this was interesting to me because as a culture, we are obsessed with the pursuit of happiness, and yet in the process, we kind of overlook joy.

So this got me thinking, where does joy come from?

I started asking everyone I knew and even people I just met on the street about the things that brought them joy.

On the subway, in a cafe, on an airplane, it was, Hi, nice to meet you.

What brings you joy?

I felt like a detective.

I was like, when did you last see it?

Who were you with?

What color was it?