Do You Know the Difference Between Happiness and Joy?

To me joy is a choice. It is my sense of peace and contentment in the middle of whatever turmoil is going on in this world. It is the safety of being a child of God. A trusting of my heavenly Father.

you can make arguments either way happiness and joy are synonyms, whereas in one sense happy is internal but joy can be internal or external, like a joyful noise. but really they are synonyms meaning the same.

I see it exactly the opposite. I think that happiness is a peaceful positive ongoing (hopefully!) way of being, while joy is euphoric and shorter term. I think truly it's all good, though! I think that how we classify things in terms of names is not as important as having those wonderful feelings, whatever we call them! But this is just my opinion. Cheers!

Happiness is easier to misspell... :-D Actually, I hadn't really considered them to be different. I think that the words are used fairly interchangeably. You make a good point, though. Happiness can easily be spoiled by bad news or hardship, while joy is the thing that can get us through those trials. I could be unhappy that the weather is bad and I really wanted to spend the day outside, but that does not make me less joyful.

hey girl, I would like to coment on your discussion in this way. I think that when you experience happiness in your everyday life, that you are learning a way to accept things as they come,and it's like you said joy is eternal.it's a type of happiness that is built in.When my 4 daughters each became a mother I gave each one a new private name.Darla is love (a fruit of the spirit.) Rebecca is Peace another (fruit of the spirit). Samantha I named Joy (another fruit of the spirit), and Pamela I named kindness another (fruit of the spirit). I gave each one a book with that name on it so they could learn about that subject. They are good examples of their name.thanks for the discussion.

I totally agree with you. Happiness is for a short / shorter while. Like if someone makes you laugh or you having a good time. Joy is a state of might. If you are truly happy with you life, family, ect...

Never thought about it but I think you got it right. and I will go for that!

I never looked at it like this but I think you are right. It takes alot to have and keep happiness but joy can come from within.

I like to look at the different nuances of words too - especially those which through the passage of time begin to be used synomonously. Happy orriginally meant "lucky" and/or "wise" I tend to use it to express contentment Joy comes to us from the latin word gaudere (rejoice) and it makes me think of exubriant pleasure - butterflies in the stomach and beyond.... Joy also makes me think of being radient even during times of trial and persecutions.

Oh my that is a difficult question. Yes, I see your point. joy=Freude happiness=Gluck happy=satisfied/zufrieden Just looked up my German ,English dictionary. (Don't remember where I put my English , Dutch one) Conclusion: "To jump for joy." Joy would mean spontaneous. Joy would be the feeling you get from happiness. Happiness is being lucky and satisfied. With that you feel joy. How's that? Aha, I think I got it.hahaha! Groetjes

What more can I say as you have already aptly described them both - joy is what's within that lights up the environment outside & around us no matters what happen while happiness is most of the times dependent upon the good things that has happened outside to make us feel good inside.

As English is not my native language, I do have some difficulty telling these two words apart. So I look up the dictionary, and it says joy the emotion of great happiness. Haha, So I guess you're right.Wish your life is full of happiness and with real eternal joy. I dont if I use the words correctly. lol

Joy is the real thing that we need. It is given by god. But happiness is what we always search for. It is shortliving and doesn't satisfy us.