Joy

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. Happiness, pleasure, and gratitude are closely related to joy but are not identical to it.
C. S. Lewis saw a clear distinction between joy, pleasure, and happiness: "I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy", 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."
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."
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, and gave a TED talk on the subject, titled "Where joy hides and how to find it." In it, she discusses the importance of finding joy and understanding what it means. Fetell poses the question of “What is joy?”, and answers it by presenting the idea that the emotion of joy is found in many places, it's true importance is in how it is “elusive” and “mysterious”. She states that joy comes from within, and it can be found everywhere. She goes on to sum up this feeling as “Joy is connected to our fundamental instinct of survival”. According to her, “Each moment of joy is small. But over time they add up to the sum of their parts.”
Joy is most commonly found through engagement, self-connection, and living in the moment.
Joy is one of the less-studied emotions in the wider field of affect theory. Theorist Susanna Paasonen discusses this in her work "Ambiguous Affect", and presents the theory that excitement and joy are what shape a personality, building in past joys. She posits that joy and excitement build connections to things that grow into a larger web of interests, and studies this in relation to social media and how the fleeting and occasionally random nature of this excitement is difficult for companies to quantify in ways that are algorithmic, especially for social media.
Another theorist that discusses joy is Sara Ahmed, a British Australian scholar who focus on affect theory, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and postcolonialism. In her article, "Happy Objects", she explores how objects can spark joy and happiness. Ahmed coined the term stickiness, stating emotions like happiness and joy being emotions that are doing. Ahmed states, "Happiness thus puts us into intimate contact with things. We can be happily affected in the present of an encounter; you are affected positively by something, even if that something does not present itself as an object of consciousness." When a person sees something that brings them happiness no matter the situation, the person can't help but feel happy.
Joy improves health and well-being and brings psychological changes that improve a person's mood and well-being. 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. Experience of joy is increased through healthy habits such as sharing food, physical activity, writing, and self-connection.
Queer joy is a concept that acknowledges the importance of joy and pleasure in the lives of LGBTQIA+ 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 LGBTQIA+ 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. 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 customizable so are bringing queer joy into spaces not typically associated with queerness, such as luxury hotel spaces and corporate offices because the brand colors 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.