Joy
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Joy is the state of being that allows one to experience feelings of intense, long-lasting happiness and contentment of life. It is closely related to, and often evoked by, well-being, success, or good fortune.[1] Happiness, pleasure, and gratitude are closely related to joy but are not identical to it.[2]
Distinction vs similar emotions
[edit]C. S. Lewis saw a clear distinction between joy, pleasure, and happiness: "I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy",[3] and "I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again... I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is."[4]
Michela Summa says that the distinction between joy and happiness is that joy "accompanies the process through and through, whereas happiness seems to be more strictly tied to the moment of achievement of the process... joy is not only a direct emotional response to an event that is embedded in our life-concerns but is also tightly bound to the present moment, whereas happiness presupposes an evaluative stance concerning one period of one's life or one's own life as a whole."[5]
Psychology
[edit]Sources and types
[edit]The causes of joy have been ascribed to various sources.
Ingrid Fetell Lee has studied the sources of joy. She wrote the book Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness,[6] and gave a TED talk on the subject, titled "Where joy hides and how to find it."[7]
Joy is most commonly found through engagement, self-connection, and living in the moment.[8][2][9]
Health effects
[edit]Joy improves health and well-being and brings psychological changes that improve a person's mood and well-being.[2][9] Some people have a natural capacity for joy, meaning they experience joy more easily compared to others. While there is no conclusive evidence for the genetics of happiness, joy is known to be hereditary.[10] Experience of joy is increased through healthy habits such as sharing food, physical activity, writing, and self-connection.[11]
Queer Joy
[edit]Queer joy is a concept that acknowledges the importance of joy and pleasure in the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals. It challenges the dominant narrative that being queer is exclusively rooted in pain or trauma and instead recognizes the resilience, resistance, and creativity of LGBTQ+ people. Examples of queer joy can be seen in shows like Queer Eye, Ru Paul’s Drag Race or films like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Film director Baz Luhrmann often references queer joy in his films with the use of maximalist, glittery, ostentatious costumes and set designs. The Rainbow Flag is a good example of a visual representation of queer joy. Jean Paul Gaultier’s designs – Frequently celebrate queer and camp aesthetics, blending androgyny and high fashion. Andrew Logan is a British sculptor, performance artist, and founder of the Alternative Miss World, a surrealist pageant celebrating creativity, transformation, and gender fluidity since 1972. His work, infused with vibrant colors, mirrored mosaics, and camp aesthetics, embodies queer joy, rejecting conventional beauty standards in favor of playful self-expression. His events have featured legendary queer artists, including Leigh Bowery, whose extravagant performances blurred the lines between fashion, drag, and art, and Grayson Perry, the Turner Prize-winning ceramicist and transvestite artist known for his irreverent explorations of identity and British culture. Logan’s legacy is one of unapologetic celebration, creating spaces where queerness, eccentricity, and artistic freedom flourish.[12] Queer artist, Fritha Lewin, has created 3D bead graphics that look like giant glitter or confetti (Tassays) with the purpose of spreading queer joy using decoration, art and murals. It is being used in offices, homes, commercial spaces and public spaces. The bead graphics are customisable so are bringing queer joy into spaces not typically associated with queerness, such as luxury hotel spaces and corporate offices because the brand colours can be used. She has created an alternative to the Scottish Register for Tartans called the Queer Tartan Register. Queer communities often create joyful, sometimes silly, versions of heteronormative cultural traditions (eg NYC’s ballroom culture, or drag culture) which are also a form of queer joy.[13]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ "Joy". The Emotion Compass. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ a b c Sima, Richard (17 November 2022). "Want to feel happier? Try snacking on joy". The Washington Post.
- ^ Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. (p. 169) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
- ^ Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. (p. 18) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
- ^ Summa, Michela (2020). Joy and Happiness. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781315180786.
- ^ Lee, Ingrid Fetell. Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness.
- ^ Lee, Ingrid Fetell (21 May 2018), Where joy hides and how to find it, retrieved 2 October 2020
- ^ Bruce Wilson (23 October 2023). "Experiencing Your Multiple Domains of Joy". Psychology Today.
- ^ a b Lowry, Ca; Lightman, Sl; Nutt, Dj (June 2009). "That warm fuzzy feeling: brain serotonergic neurons and the regulation of emotion". Journal of Psychopharmacology. 23 (4): 392–400. doi:10.1177/0269881108099956. PMID 19074539. S2CID 1128746.
- ^ "Biological Connection to the Feeling of Happiness". Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 1 October 2020.
- ^ Jolanta Burk, Padraic Dunne (1 March 2023). "Joy is good for your body and your mind – three ways to feel it more often". Psychology Today.
- ^ "Queer Joy as a Digital Good".
- ^ "Queer Tartan Register".
