What Brings You Joy?
- Melissa Londry, LPC
- Jul 6
- 3 min read
A Research-Informed Reflection on Reclaiming Joy for Mental and Emotional Well-Being
In a world that often prioritizes productivity over presence, many of us lose touch with something essential to our well-being: joy. Not the performative kind we feel pressured to showcase on our social media highlight reel, but the quiet, authentic kind that lives inside ordinary moments. Joy is not a luxury emotion. It is a necessity.
What Is Joy, Really?
Psychologists distinguish joy from fleeting pleasure. While pleasure is often external and short-lived (like eating your favorite dessert), joy is deeper, internal, and connected to meaning, purpose, and connection. Dr. Brené Brown defines joy as "an intense feeling of deep spiritual connection, pleasure, and appreciation." Unlike happiness, which is often dependent on outcomes, joy can exist alongside grief, uncertainty, or imperfection. It doesn't require everything to be okay. Joy only asks that we be present enough to notice it.
The Mental Health Benefits of Joy
Research shows that joy has profound effects on our mental, emotional, and even physical health:
1. Joy Reduces Stress and Inflammation
A study from the American Psychological Association found that positive emotions, including joy, help lower cortisol (the stress hormone), reducing inflammation and supporting immune function.
2. Joy Improves Emotional Resilience
According to Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory, positive emotions like joy expand our ability to think creatively, build relationships, and recover from adversity. In short, joy makes us more resilient.
3. Joy Protects Against Burnout and Depression
Joyful experiences activate the brain’s reward system, increase dopamine levels, and buffer against emotional exhaustion. This is an important consideration for those navigating caregiving, advocacy work, high-stress jobs, or trauma recovery.
4. Joy Enhances Relationship Satisfaction
People who regularly experience joy tend to report stronger social bonds. Sharing moments of joy, even in small doses, creates deeper emotional connections with others.
Why It’s Hard to Feel Joy Sometimes
If you’re finding it hard to access joy, you’re not alone. Emotional numbness, depression, chronic stress, or trauma can block us from noticing or fully experiencing joy. Your nervous system might be in a state of survival, making it difficult to access feelings of ease or delight.
That doesn’t mean joy is out of reach. It just means it might need to be gently reclaimed and sought intentionally.
How to Intentionally Cultivate Joy
You don’t have to wait for the perfect day or the right circumstances to feel joyful. You can practice making space for it, just like building a muscle.
1. Savor Micro-Moments: Joy isn’t always loud. It often lives in small moments, like a warm drink, morning sunlight, a familiar laugh. Slow down enough to notice and savor these experiences. Research shows that mindful attention to positive moments increases joy over time.
2. Create a Joy List: Make a personal list of people, places, memories, or activities that reliably bring you joy, even simple ones like music, baking, or walking barefoot on grass. Keep it where you can revisit it when you’re feeling disconnected.
3. Move Your Body: Joy and movement are deeply connected. Dancing, stretching, running, hiking, chair yoga, or even a short walk can help release tension and shift your emotional state. Studies show that physical activity releases endorphins and boosts mood.
4. Laugh (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It): Laughter, real or even intentional, activates the vagus nerve, calming the nervous system and promoting emotional regulation. Watch something that makes you laugh or call a friend who always brings a smile.
5. Allow Yourself to Feel It: For many of us, especially those healing from trauma, joy can feel unfamiliar or even unsafe. If joy brings up discomfort, pause and notice. You don’t have to push it away. You can feel joy and fear, and grief. Therapy can help explore those emotional layers with compassion.
Reflection Prompt:
“This week, I will create space for joy by…”
Use this as a journal prompt or a quiet moment of reflection. What’s one thing you can do this week that reconnects you with joy, not for anyone else’s approval, but for your own nourishment?
You Deserve Joy, Even Now
Joy doesn’t mean you’re ignoring the hard stuff going on in your life or in the world. Joy means you’re honoring your full humanity. Joy is not just a feel-good moment. It’s a healing strategy.
We’d love to hear from you:
What brings you joy these days?
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