The Joy of the moment | Why it’s important and how we can cultivate it.
At CWL Studio, we are driven by creating moments of joy, wether thats through our colourful light responsive artworks, or collaborative studio sessions. We aim to celebrate the joy that our work brings. However, in the whirlwind of our busy and often stressful lives, it’s easy for us all to overlook the importance of experiencing joy in the present moment.
Experiencing moments of joy is vital for our overall well-being and can significantly enhance our quality of life. Let’s explore why joy matters and how we can infuse more of it into our daily lives.
It feels good to feel good.
Beyond the immediate happiness we feel, joy has remarkable benefits that go unnoticed. In fact, research shows that joy has profound effects on our mental and physical health. When we experience joy, our bodies release endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine—neurochemicals associated with happiness and relaxation. This can, not only, reduce stress but even improve immune function, and contribute to our bodies overall resilience.
It seems that we not only want to feel joy but we may very well need to…
It’s widely understood that negative emotions like fear and anger stem from our innate survival instincts, but what is the function of positive emotions?
Professor Barbara Fredrickson’s explores how rather than an immediate action based response, positive emotions broaden our minds and encourage creativity, an essential ingredient to our evolution as human beings.
“Positive emotions broaden peoples’ momentary thought–action repertoires, widening the array of the thoughts and actions that come to mind. Joy, for instance, creates the urge to play, push the limits and be creative; urges evident not only in social and physical behaviour, but also in intellectual and artistic behaviour.” Barbara Fredrickson
Another benefit of joy is that it can connect us with people around us. Joy motivates us to play and be sociable. When we radiate joy, we uplift those around us and strengthen our connections with others. Shared moments of joy can deepen relationships, foster empathy, and create a sense of community.
“We all are connected; to each other, biologically. To the Earth, chemically. And to the rest of the universe, atomically.” Neil deGrasse Tyson
The benefits of experiencing joy can create a beautiful cycle of positivity. Joy not only connects us with others but also amplifies our sense of connection. Consider the act of dancing together in harmony, or tribal dances that embody celebration in solidarity. When we engage in such activities, we not only feel part of a collective but also experience heightened strength and joy.
A Mesmerizing Dance Performance for the Paralympics Hand Off Ceremony Choreographed by Sadeck Waff
Joy is a Virtue
Pamela Ebstyne King, executive director of the Thrive Center for Human Development see’s joy not as an emotion as such, but as a virtue.
“Emotions tend to be feelings we assign meaning to that can come and go. Virtue is a habit one can cultivate.”
If this is the case, how can we cultivate more joy into our daily lives?
Take a moment to take in your surroundings. Notice the details you might have overlooked.
Often, we operate on autopilot, allowing negative thoughts to dominate our minds. Gratitude involves consciously recognising the goodness and beauty that surrounds us, whether it's as simple as a beautiful cloud formation or as profound as the gift of life on earth.
When we intentionally notice and appreciate these blessings, we begin to acknowledge and attract more of them into our lives.
“In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude.” Brene Brown
Brown emphasises the conscious act of practicing gratitude as not just a feeling, but a daily habit. Articulating your gratitude through journaling or conversation establishes a rhythm of thinking that carries on into the rest of our daily lives.
It should come as no surprise that the entire team at CWL will be forever grateful for light and the magical and joyful qualities it brings!
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” Thich Nhat Hanh
We can even go one step further in cultivating joy by the simple act of a smile. As Dr. Isha Gupta a neurologist from IGEA Brain and Spine explains, a smile spurs a chemical reaction in the brain, releasing certain hormones including dopamine and serotonin.
This underscores the symbiotic relationship between actions and emotions. Engaging in joyful activities elicits joy, and feeling joy motivates us to engage in more joyful pursuits.
For many, when we think of joy we envisage, perhaps, a carefree child playing without inhibition. Scientific research indicates that incorporating play into our routines significantly contributes to overall well-being. Play actively allows us to use our imagination and flex those creativity muscles that, as I have previously highlighted, are essential to our growth.
Play comes in all shapes and sizes, it can be an action as small as balancing a spoon on your nose, doodling, or even doing a silly walk..! Think about something you do on auto pilot everyday.. and take it on a playful journey, you’ll be surprised at how joyful you might feel as a result.
So if both attitude and action can cultivate Joy.. what about things outside ourselves. Where can joy be found in our physical world?
Designer and Joy advocate Ingrid Fetell-Lee is devoted to a simple, powerful idea: that our greatest source of joy is the world around us. Her extensive body of research centres around ‘The Aesthetics of Joy’. In this sense she explains Aesthetics to exist as a way in which we emotionally consume our physical world. The word originates from the greek word ‘aisthētikos,’ meaning ‘I feel’, ‘I sense’, or ‘I perceive’. Through her incredible Ted Talk she highlights the universal ways in which design can create a joyful society.
“The sharply divided, politically polarised world we live in sometimes has the effect of making our differences feel so vast as to be insurmountable, yet underneath it all there is a part of us that finds joy in the same things” she goes on to explain how these small fleeting visual pleasures such as bold colourful patterns, flowers and rainbows are crucial in ‘reminding us of the shared humanity in our common experience of the physical world.’
Listening to and reading Ingrid’s ideas on joy fills us with pride in our work. By emphasising the importance of joy, we recognise it as an integral component of the art we produce. The colourful vision of CWL wonderfully reflects the joy of play, nature, science, and magic. Creating work that tells a story is one thing, but creating art that brings people joy is a truly special privilege that we are grateful to be a part of. This inspires us to further explore how the joyful experiences we create can surprise, enlighten, and inspire us all to see the magic in the everyday.