What is joy?

joy is an inner peace that is unlike thrill or amusement. it is a spiritual level that allows you to be peaceful in times of adversity or complications. no matter what comes your way, you are able to rise above it.

people who have “joy” have experienced many things in their life. to deal with certain things others can’t means you are at the level of “joy.”

For me it was being able to walk after stumbling around for months :)
It’s not always so dramatic or difficult though.I can get that feeling by walking the beach or by working on a painting,listening to music,being out in the woods or having a good laugh with a friend :)

It is like bliss, only not quite as sweet.

Wow; what a question. I have very high standards for what I think joy feels like. It isn’t the feeling I get when I hear a beautiful song or see a red and yellow sunset or even when I see snowfall. For me, true joy is probably gone forever. I had it as a child when I didn’t know what worry meant. Worry and fear didn’t exist. And with this mindset, on the first week of summer vacation in elementary school, I’d go outside and get on my bike. My new blue Schwinn. Next of my joy experiences was, strangely, the weekly jr high school dance—not in the school. In another school’s gymnasium and they played the latest “records” on a great speaker system and most of my friends were there. They turned down the lights.
Now it’s just , “this is kind of fun.” (boo hoo?)

Joy is the pleasure derived form happiness. As opposed to pleasure derived from something like a stimulant or a thrill.

I think the joy I’ve felt has always been accompanied by the extreme pain of understanding that the joy brings. I think I’ve been emotionally burnt out by my pathetic life. I’m just now beginning to realize how sad I’ve been. Maybe I don’t know what joy is…

Ideally, joy is the absence of pain and even when dealt a pain sandwich…getting a chance to live another day is pure joy to me. My kids, my music, wild sex are some obvious examples of what makes my life joyful.

I can think of possible reasons why it might be difficult to experience joy, but they may not apply to you.

- One may think they’re undeserving (“I don’t deserve to feel joy”).
– One may not have a perspective that allows joy (“Nothing good ever happens to me/Everything right now is bad”).
– One may fear the experience of joy (“If I let myself experience joy with this, then everything else will be dreadful by comparison”).
– One may have unrealistic expectations about joy (“I never have those ‘magic moments’ you see in the movies”).

Joy means different things to different people (as you can see). What do YOU think joy is, @ronrv1946?

Oh, and welcome to Fluther. :)

Joy is owning lots of guns. Joy is also hitting the bullseye when shooting my guns.

@Lampustic You’d get along with my dad, probably. That’s his life. There’s a new firearm on his kitchen table ever time I look. could probably have funded my college tuition with half of his collection. . . But he loves shooting.