Joy

Joy is an emotion comprising feelings of happiness, contentment and harmony. It differs from general happiness in that it is not caused by a particular event but comes from within the individual. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) found that the most joyful people are the ones who have achieved self-actualisation, which is defined as realising personal potential, seeking personal growth and peak experiences and achieving self-fulfilment - a desire ‘to become everything one is capable of’. Maslow went on to say that you cannot achieve self-actualisation until four basic human needs are met: physiological needs (food and shelter), safety needs (stability and finance), social needs (friendship and intimacy) and esteem needs (achievement and respect). People who have obtained self-actualisation typically have some common qualities, including putting others’ needs before their own, the ability to see life more clearly and high levels of acceptance of both themselves and others.