Joy is a mandala like everything else. Joy has sub-qualities, a variety of subtle emotions, factors of perception involved, and all of these specific to the person and the circumstance that is being named as one of joy.

In human languages, joy is collectively understood as a type of happiness. Many people would identify joy as a higher vibrational register or more refined than common happiness. Sometimes a reference to the heart or essence is included also. Yet, if one said the term “joy” in the language shared by others nearby, the term would be universally understood, generically so.

Today, we investigate the specificity of joy to you individually. We contemplate what joy is to us uniquely, the qualities within it, and the situations or circumstances that bring it forward for each of us.

Language is assumes a universality to words. One’s experience of anything, however, is specific and individuated.