Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Right to Expression....Joy

While joy is sometimes defined as a synonym to happiness,
I believe that feeling joy is larger than feeling happy.
Joy is a state of well-being that exudes itself,
influencing and infecting those in contact
with the joyous soul.

Consider there is also the word rejoice but no rehappy. 
To rejoice is to exult, revel, and
to make another joyful, to gladden another.
This seems to be the key to joy: its ability to be passed on.

Joy is huge.


I declare the Right to Joy.



43 comments:

Anonymous said...

To me, joy is not just a feeling of happiness. Joy is a true and lasting feeling of well-being, delight, glee, and Serenity that one would feel deep down inside the soul. I agree with this right. SJB

Dan said...

Maya Angelou once said: "When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things." To me, this sums up the sentiment of joy nicely, and I agree that it goes far beyond the simplicity of just being happy or content.

Dan M.

Anonymous said...

Joy its something that everyone should have the right to feel. Joy is something amazing that I am sure that everyone has experienced at least once. Is feeling how your body and soul shine and you feel that there is nothing that could ruin that feeling. Joy is a feeling that many people look for, and we must know that joy is not in things, it is in us.

H.D.A

Anonymous said...

I like how you want to point out the difference between happiness and joy. In my personal opinion happiness is an emotion that is related to circumstances that are currently happening, but joy is bigger than that. It goes deeper into our souls, and I think joy can be present even during unhappy times.

JCCD

Anonymous said...

Joy is something that is profound. Joy is not only having the sensation of happiness, but its when the soul it truly content with its direction and purpose in life. I believe that one cannot buy joy, steal it, or conquer it. Joy is a gift that life, nature, and human/animal kind can provide.

Alexis Herrero

Anonymous said...

This right is very true. I think that Joy lives in those, who most people might say, have nothing. It lives in the rich and the poor, in the hungry and the full. I think that Joy in a way is linked to Faith. It may be a faith in anything but with Faith first, I think security and joy surely follows.

-Ma Mo

Anonymous said...

To me the right to joy is a right or feeling that all of us felt when we were children. A child has a better understanding of what joy feels like. In order to feel real joy, you have to feel free from restrains, and the things that make you worry. A child has no worry. Their main objective in live is to be joyful. Remember being a child and all you live for was to be happy playing your favorite game or with your favorite doll. The right to joy sometime is taken away from us when we are restrained from pursuing what makes us joyful. Parents do it to their children by making their children take a career path to please their parents. By: L.J.B.R.

Arturo A. said...

Joy is a form of being and of expressing yourself to the world. No matter how old you are that inner joy you get will make you feel like a kid! Joy helps bring positivisms and strive of moving on forward through life. Making someone Joyful, can mean changing that someone else life at the moment.

Anonymous said...

I agree completly with the statement of joy above in and of itself. Joy is a source from the source. It is something that emminates deep in the granulates of your being and in the quarantined roots of your soul. Joy stands as a house on concrete taht is not buffeted by the winds; joy can never be shaken.
F.H

Anonymous said...

I really do believe joy is bigger than happiness. Happiness is just a feeling of joy. Joy is not a feeling but a complete emotion of oneself. It is like love, it only comes a couple times and when it does it makes you feel like a whole new person. I believe joy is essential to life because without it, happiness would have no purpose. Robert S.

Anonymous said...

Being joyous is different from being happy. Being happy seems as if the person is jut settling with what they have around them. In contrast, being joyous you express satisfaction and great appreciation for whatever is going on in that person's life.


-M.Quintanilla

Anonymous said...

My opinion on the word joy is that its not just to be happy, i believe its to have a sense of accomplishment. Joy is so much more, something we can share with one another. Joy is contagious. G.A

Anonymous said...

I've worked with children for many years. The younger ones, no older than ten, are easy. Any problems they have are easily solved and tend to be fewer and far between. Yet the most interesting aspect of a child is how they find joy in the simplest of things. A hug, a butterfly, playing outside, these are just a few things that will actually brighten up a child’s face. Seeing life through their eyes has given me the opportunity to embrace how ubiquitous joy actually is.

Sheeda M.

Anonymous said...

The right of Joy is an excellent right. With out Joy life would not exsist!
Sarah M

Anonymous said...

Joy is happiness within. Joy is lasting happiness. ---Lauren Franco

Anonymous said...

I think that one must appreciate the small things, because ultimately the simpler things in life make life worth living. It is very comforting to know that when people are asked what brings them joy, most of time it involves things that have little or no economic value, yet have emotional value.

LC

Adrian del Pino said...

To me joy is when you have the feeling of well-being, success, good fortune, or the prospect of possessing what you desire. You might say joy is the same as happiness, but the way I see it, joy is a continuing emotion as to happiness is at the moment. With that said, I agree.

Anonymous said...

I believe that joy is an internal feeling of light that shines through a person. Joy could be an intense form of happiness.

N.Av

Anonymous said...

Joy takes happiness to the next level.

Carlos G.

Anonymous said...

To have joy in life is a beautiful thing, but it also takes a lot of hard work and dedication. True joy comes from a true feeling of satisfaction and success, at least in my opinion, and something like that doesn't come easy.

Javier H.

Anonymous said...

Being joyful can be great, but one cannot be joyful all the time. Life has hardships, and it isn't always going to be a smooth ride. This being said, the The Right to Sadness, I think makes a person stronger to exude negative feelings. Life should be lived with moderation.

-Alli Brecht

Anonymous said...

A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue. I agree with the right to joy so long as you're not taking another's joy in the process.

Stefan H.

Anonymous said...

Joy is more than being happy; it is being happy to the fullest extent. Without joy, there is no love. Etel

Anonymous said...

I think that we should be allowed to express joy over the small things in life. All too often, people look down on those who are innocently happy and say that they are naive or childish. I declare the right to bright, innocent, childlike joy.
-A.B.

D.Zabala said...

Joy is all in the state of your mind. It is also very contagious and easily rubs off from one person to another. That’s why it’s extremely important to surround yourself with positive and joyful people.

N.Cruz said...

Mother Teresa once said, “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.” Joy is an emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune. When a person is filled with joy, it is obvious as they share it with the world. When a joyful person shares that emotion with you, it fills your soul with love.

Anonymous said...

Joy is a feeling that is difficult to describe; it means happiness, well-being, rejoicing, accomplishment, delight, pleasure and many other good feelings all together. Feeling joy may be linked to mysticism; humans can reach this feeling stage by imagination or by real situations. Joy could be an emotional stage. It is wonderful to declare the right of joy. Every human has the right of feeling joy. Let us enjoy it every time we feel it. A.L

Anonymous said...

Joy is a psychologically given state of mind which like laughter can be contagious. According to Merriam-Websters definition for joy, it is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. For example, a child receiving what he or she wants for Christmas is simply a joyful occasion for them. -D.C.

Anonymous said...

Joy is often equated with happiness, but the two are quite distinct. Happiness depends largely on happenings: good health, congenial company, pleasant surroundings, etc., while joy and rejoicing is not dependant on our circumstances.
I believe one of the benefits of joy over happiness is that it cannot be taken from you since it is not circumstantial.I love how Sheeda explains joy through the simplicity of a child's eyes. We should all, periodically, take out from our childhood drawers, the pair of glasses that allows us to see and feel this joy!
-Ana DM

Anonymous said...

Joy is a beautiful feeling. Each day is a new day that the creator has given us, we must beware that every new day is non-renewable, once it is gone, it is gone forever. Each of us should enjoy each second of our life and be joyful and encourage others to do the same thing. (LCL)

Anonymous said...

Joy the emotion caused by living well, success, good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. Joy is such an amazing feeling to have and to give thanks to! Be Joyful, Be happy.

-Krystal Garcia

Anonymous said...

Joy is a state of happiness which everyone has once felt. People take being joyful and happy for granted, it’s good for the soul to just stop what you’re doing every once in awhile and feel joyous that you’re alive and healthy. C.M.A

Anonymous said...

I agree strongly just what kind of human civilization would this be if we could never enjoy any type of joy or joyous moments in this life. We must live and we must do it in our own way. There is not one person who could tell you otherwise, joy is unspeakable it is your own definitive way of being who you are today. Without joy you are a senseless soul who wanders this world day by day feeding on anger and hatred. -J.J.V.

Anonymous said...

In order to be able to spread joy onto others and accept it into your own life I believe you need to reach a point where you have experienced the worst moments of life. Ignorance is bliss, But when you go through some hardships in your life it is then that you can truly appreciate what REAL overwhelming joy is. - K.A.S

COL said...

Indeed joy is much bigger. Joy is not given and joy cannot be taken away. However, happiness is all about how someone makes you feel and vice versa. That's why I choose the right to joy. I get joy from the small things in life like eating great food. I get joy from driving and being able to appreciate my surroundings. My joy is exclusive to me!
~COL

LML said...

Nobody should be denied the right to feel joyful. It is an incredibly feeling and being able to express it is even more rewarding.

Anonymous said...

Joy, It's a great feeling,especially since it can be passed on. Having joy makes your surroundings joyful because your spreading it all around.
A. Lazo

Anonymous said...

Happiness is a temporal feeling that shows up when we find something to be gratifying. Instead, joy is the lasting feeling that comes into play when everything in our life is going in the right direction, when we feel fulfill. If we all respected and helped each other, we would have a better chance to be a joyful society, since it would be easier for everybody to accomplish their dreams. D.C.R.

Anonymous said...

Joy is not a feeling but a characteristic one is born with. A joyful person is well noticed and will always attract others, happiness,peace, and tranqulity.

-G.R.

Anonymous said...

Joy is an extraordinary feeling because is not just being happy, it has to do with a state of mind where we see everything from a different prospective, and that even the stuff we can define as terrible we can see them as an opportunity to improve or to move on. O.V.

Anonymous said...

Joy is a state of mind deeper than happiness. You can achieve happiness very easily. For example, if my mother brought me a new phone, I would be happy. But I feel that to achieve joy, it is harder. You have to be at least content with your life, and the people around you. The opposite of happiness is sadness and every day can be ether one. Joy can only be associated with your life as a whole.

Angel M.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the right to joy. To be joyful is like being twice the amount of what happiness is. Not only that joy can also bring hope to others and help others who are sad or lonely and someone who just needs a friend to help them out. Joy can be used in many way but we must not overdo it, because then people might take advantage of us or the situation.
Chelsea M.

Anonymous said...

Joy defeats happiness. Feeling joy makes you whole and gives everything around you a positive perspective. - ABL