Ingrid Fetell on the distinct joy of images that feature people, well, jumping. As I was just featured in mid jump, somewhat unaware (with the fabulous John Ford), I was struck by these smart words: “Two big ideas here. The first is the notion that the images can make us smile over and over again. This is the essence of joy — its repeatability — which is it what makes this emotion so powerful, and so sustainable. This renewable quality tells us that we’re dealing with a joyful phenomenon, not a novelty or a one-liner or a joke, that there’s something here that is likely to be universal and timeless. The second big idea is joy’s inexorability — that there are some circumstances, actions, or gestures that bring joy out of us, voluntarily or not. When ‘you have to let go,’ something has circumvented your conscious emotional control and tapped directly into your unconscious. And that too is a powerful thing.”

(And please hurry off, if you’re still here, to read a few other posts by Ingrid, as she is writing some of my favorite posts these days.)