The Difference Between Joy and Happiness

The answer is simple, Joy is something we feel internally, a blissful emotion. Now happiness is what we feel when we accomplish, achieve, and progress in the external and internal aspects of life, but it's just that happiness is based upon some result.

Recently I came across an incredible book. The Second Mountain by David Brooks, where he goes into the details of the levels of joy and how joy aligns with everyday life. In total, he highlighted six. Let's begin with the joy of flow. That comes from movement exercise activities in an individual experience. The joy someone feels when exercising, playing an individual sport or activity, or feeling the progress in any place in life that's just above their capabilities and capacity in a moment.

Next, let's go with the joy of collective flow. This joy is where flow evolves into a group activity event or life situation where people come together in progress. Great examples are a football team, community service, corporate team, or any other function involving a group of people where the results grow through the process of interdependence and synchronicity of the group. 

Now up is collective enthusiasm, which is rapid growth and development. The best way to describe this is the seeds we plant in ourselves and others. The ones we plant into ourselves passions and vocations that eventually turn to purpose. Then we have the ones that we plant into others, which is a continuation of purpose by feeding who they are and their potential so that they develop to the full extent of that potential. Then we celebrate individual and collective accomplishments through dance dinners and social or personal gatherings.

Now we are going to touch upon emotional joy. These are the moments where our joy is ruled through the high emotion of having a Child, finding a life partner, graduating college, those one-in-a-lifetime moments that mark who we are and our identities of how we see ourselves and how the world sees us.

The fourth is spiritual joy. Spiritual joy is one of the hardest to attain because it involves doing the inner work of who you are. At this point, life becomes different. You no longer strive for achievements, success, trophy recognition, or fame. Spiritual joy is when we discover the beauty of creation and the passion for all we do in life. It allows us To see the beauty in all of life, nature, and people's conscientiousness. This stage of joy becomes fueled by the character we have built by facing the things we fear that weaken us and, through trial and endurance, forge our spirits. Once reached, all the strength collected is discarded, and you become one with all and the greater good from the disposition of your heart for others. This stage of joy  is when you begin to put into use empathy and compassion into practice and can understand where others are at in their stages of life, and you give to them. We must remember when we were once in these early stages of life. Many have references to heaven on earth, nirvana, bliss, etc.

Last and the highest is moral joy. Moral joy takes a lifetime to forge, for these are your personal and highest moral ideals of values and principles that take a lifetime to create and develop. The ones who have attained this level are our Mahatma, Gandhi, Mother Teresa and others who live their life based on these principles and values not only do they embody but also contribute to the world. People of altruism, integrity, faith, belief in the humanities goodness and potential for the world!

Now we have a better understanding of the joy which you’ve experienced and which you will attain in your near and far future.