Remember the rush you felt when you landed the promotion you wanted for years? The moment you got the keys to your own house? Or when you first met your partner?
These things were once goals. Today, they’re part of your day-to-day reality. And while you’re still grateful for them, chances are, the novelty’s likely worn off.
That euphoric feeling in those early days? That’s happiness. It validates effort and rewards progress. But while it’s an essential human emotion, it’s not quite the same as joy.
“Joy is your natural state,” says renowned yogi and best-selling author Sadhguru on joy vs. happiness. “If you are joyful by your own nature, you will do the right things.”
Each has its place in your life. And knowing the difference between them is what shifts you from chasing emotional highs to pursuing inner steadiness that lasts.
What is happiness?
Happiness, in short, is your emotional response to something going well in your life. It’s like that sudden feeling of unbridled warmth when you see your name on the offer letter after months of interviews. Or when someone you admire says, “I’m proud of you,” and means it.
The brain registers it through dopamine, often called the “reward” molecule. And in the happiness vs. joy debate, the feeling of a “win” is where most people start.
As a study in JAMA Psychiatry investigating the neurochemicals of a “happy” brain reveals, dopamine surges when we anticipate or receive what’s rewarding. This circuitry reinforces behaviors that lead us to seek the perceived reward again.
All of this to say: happiness, although important, is very much temporary.
And it’s what Srikumar Rao, the founder of The Rao Institute, means when he unpacks the transience of this state of mind. “When people say they’re happy,” he explains in a Mindvalley interview, “what they’re really saying is ‘nothing immediately is bothering me,’” debunking any ”happiness” myth you may have.
This isn’t to say that when you’re happy, you’re pretending. There’s nothing elusive about the feeling you get when something goes your way. In fact, it’s a vital indicator that you feel safe in the moment, with no ominous threats looming to worry about.
It’s also a way, according to Srikumar, to indicate that “my needs are taken care of.” However, the thing about needs is that they keep on coming. Once you satisfy one need, it’s only a brief pause from discomfort before another steps forward for your attention.
And ultimately, that transience, he adds, “is not joy.”
What is joy?
Joy is a steady, ongoing sense of well-being that comes from within. Unlike happiness, which rises and falls with external circumstances, joy is rooted in your inner stability and the way you interpret and respond to life.
“Suffering or joy—you choose,” says Sadhguru in his Mindvalley program, A Yogi’s Guide to Joy. Curt? Absolutely, but his statement reveals the freeing, inherently accessible nature of this state. You already have it within you, and it’s not something you have to earn, chase, or wait for.
Joy is something you remember… when you’re not constantly reacting to everything outside of you, from the wrong coffee order to the flood of breaking news.
At large, you can see this truth embodied in Viktor Frankl’s life. A psychiatrist who survived Nazi concentration camps and lost most of his family, Viktor observed that even in extreme suffering, the freedom to choose one’s mindset remains accessible.
“Everything,” he wrote in his iconic book, A Man’s Search for Meaning, “can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
See, despite the horrific pain he’s endured during World War II, Viktor still chose the path of letting go. Doing so freed his mind, body, and spirit to experience joy and has since enabled him to rebuild his life and inspire millions worldwide.
You don’t have to endure extreme hardship to practice the same principle. When you pause instead of snapping at a friend on a bad day, you’re prioritizing joy. When you adjust without resentment after a plan falls apart, you’re choosing it.
And when you can move on without bitterness after a relationship ends? That’s you signing “joy” as your middle name, again.
Embodied joy: A modern story
Srikumar often emphasizes the importance of joy as a sustained state in his work coaching high-achieving executives and entrepreneurs.
“You cannot solve an internal problem with external action,” he says in an exclusive interview with Vishen, the founder and CEO of Mindvalley. Many people, he adds, try to rearrange their circumstances to feel better… only to discover their inner state remains unchanged.
And Vishen? He knows this road well, having left his engineering job to start his own company.
Reflecting on his early entrepreneurial leap to Srikumar, he says, “All of a sudden I lost my visa, and I had to leave New York City because I couldn’t stay in the U.S.” Broken and disoriented, he realized that the experience wasn’t what he expected. “All of a sudden, I was lonely, because I no longer had the benefit of working from an office with friends around me.”
Vishen eventually pushed through his entrepreneurial journey. After all, it’s how Mindvalley became a successful personal transformation company that has helped millions of people bump up their personal growth worldwide.
But his early chapter shows that external upgrades don’t automatically bring internal stability. Joy does—through your commitment to it, in a long-term vision for a meaningful life, no matter what obstacles come your way.
Watch Vishen’s interview with Srikumar:
What’s the difference between happiness and joy?
You may not Google “what is joy vs. happiness?” until the moment a win stops feeling as powerful as you thought it would.
Maybe you hit a career milestone you’ve chased for years. You celebrate it, post about it. Then, a week later, you’re already thinking about the next target.
Or you finally move into the place you once dreamed of. It’s beautiful. It’s yours. And yet, in the quiet of a random Tuesday night, you realize the excitement has softened into blasé neutrality.
That’s usually when the question emerges… Because if happiness was supposed to be the finish line, why does it keep resetting?
The table below will help you get a hold of the “joy vs. happiness” definitions and decide what their differences mean to you in your life.
| Aspect | Happiness | Joy |
| Meaning | A transient sense of contentmentGratificationSatisfaction in life | A strong, enduring feeling of enjoymentBliss and exuberance EuphoriaDelight |
| Spiritual connotation | 1. Depends on personal ideas and ideals 2. It may or may not be an experience of spiritual transcendence | 1. Often seen as an essential aspect of one’s spiritual journey 2. A perceived connection to a higher power or sense of oneness |
| Objectivity | Subjective and personal | Less dependent on external conditions |
| Causes | 1. Achieving a goal 2. Accumulating material possessions 3. Receiving validation from others | 1. Deep connection to others 2. Consistent gratitude 3. A sense of purpose greater than oneself |
| Duration | 1. Short-lived 2. Fluctuates with changing circumstances | 1. Enduring 2. An intense underlying state |
| Intensity | Usually less intense than joy, but can still be positive and uplifting | Typically more intense than happiness, as it’s often described as a “burst” or “surge” of positive emotions |
Think of it like this:
- Happiness is your response to what’s happening around you.
- Joy, meanwhile, shapes how you experience what’s happening.
See the distinction between the two? It’s what Srikumar’s really hinting at in the interview. “You don’t want to run a billion-dollar company,” he tells Vishen. “You want to have the feeling you think you will have if you ran a billion-dollar company.”
His point is simple: we often chase circumstances for the emotional state we assume they will give us.
But with joy at the forefront, the equation is reversed. You prioritize the state of mind you want in life, then attract the right circumstances to support it.
Are peace and happiness the same?
Not exactly. They can coexist, but they don’t operate the same way. Again, happiness is a feeling. Peace, on the other hand, is the absence of inner friction, and far greater than a surge of feelings.
Say you’ve just watched your child achieve something they worked hard for. You smile, you celebrate—that’s happiness, in a nutshell. But that same night, your mind might still be racing with thoughts like, “Am I doing enough for them?” or “What if something goes wrong?”
Your pride about their achievement? It’s all real. But so is the quiet pressure that comes with the responsibility of making sure another human being taps into their potential. This situation underscores how you can be happy yet still restless.
Now, peace in that same situation wouldn’t make parenting easier. Instead, it would show up as self-trust as you navigate your child’s tantrums, milestones, doubts, and growth spurts. It’s recognizing that you’re learning as you go, without constantly second-guessing yourself.
Where joy “gels” them all together
Joy goes one step further in this whole experience. It hits when you’re deeply engaged in the growth you’re experiencing on your lifelong learning curve as a parent.
“Being joyful,” says Sadhguru, “is the most responsible thing you can do.”
In your case? It’s the shine in your eyes as you take ownership of every win and mistake in this permanent role and improve where you should without resentment. No matter what happens in your parent-child journey.
And above all, believing that you’re right where you’re meant to be.
How can you be happy and joyful at the same time?
The truth is, you don’t have to choose one state over the other. Happiness will rise and fall as you pursue your goals. But what determines whether the journey feels joyful is how you relate to those highs and lows overall.
This is where Martin Seligman’s work helps make sense of it. As the founder of positive psychology, he unpacks well-being through a five-pillar framework he calls the PERMA model.
In his book, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, he explains that positive emotion—the “P” in PERMA—is only one part of the equation. Engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment, a.k.a. the “E,” “R,” “M,” and “A”, matter just as much.
See what that implies?
Happiness is part of a well-lived life, but it’s not the whole thing.
You can feel amazing on a Friday night and still wake up Sunday questioning everything. That gap between pleasure and purpose is where joy comes into place.
If happiness is the emotional high of a good moment, joy looks a lot like what Martin calls “flourishing.” It’s the deeper alignment with growth, purpose, and engagement that carries you through more than just each win in life.
Interestingly, when you put joy first—through activities like mentoring someone, practicing a skill, or volunteering at the nearest shelter—you quietly activate engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment all at once. And happiness? It often follows more naturally as a result.
No longer are you chasing a dopamine spike. In fact, you’re building a fulfilling life where those spikes happen on their own.
Not sure where to start? Follow Martin’s advice. “Find one wholly unexpected kind thing to do tomorrow and just do it,” he wrote in his book. “Notice what happens to your mood.”
What we can learn from the joy vs. happiness debate
“Most people suffer because they are half-alive,” explains Sadhguru. Sure, they’re physically and mentally happy people, living perpetually on achievement and entertainment. Anything for those bursts of happiness.
But that’s not enough without a deeper sense of purpose.
It’s why so many, he adds, “desperately try to enliven themselves through external means: money, relationships, sex, power, and even spirituality.”
With joy in the picture, though, you stop outsourcing your aliveness to these temporary sources of dopamine. Happiness has its place for extrinsic motivation, yes. But ultimately, joy determines whether that progress feels meaningful.
And once you see this clearly, you can’t unsee the following truths:
1. Joy is a choice
“Joy,” Sadhguru elaborates, “is an inside job.”
This means you always have the power to choose it, in every moment of your life, regardless of your circumstances. Just like Viktor did in the face of suffering, and Vishen, who persisted on his path of entrepreneurship even when things were falling apart.
Happiness may come and go with outcomes. But joy influences who you decide to be while those outcomes unfold.
By taking responsibility for your life and choices, you can respond to any situation from a place of inner peace. Because you’re simply thankful you’re alive to do it all.
2. Joy is contagious
When you’re joyful, you radiate that energy outward and become a beacon of light and positivity for others. It’s called emotional contagion.
A landmark study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found feelings of joy can spread through social networks. So, if you meet an old friend who’s palpably upbeat, the chances of you feeling the same increase.
The effect doesn’t stop there. It can, in fact, ripple outward through families, communities, and workplaces, subtly shaping the emotional tone of entire groups.
A single tense person is all it takes to shift the room into gloom and doom. Another grounded person can steady it back just as quickly.
3. Joy is self-generated
This is the part that catches people off guard.
It’s easier to believe joy arrives only when a life circumstance improves. That you only get to feel good when you’re on vacation or when that promotion finally lands on your lap. That’s happiness emerging again… until you’re back home or working late nights in your new role.
But here’s the kicker: joy doesn’t wait for ideal conditions. In fact, it’s built in ordinary moments:
- The way you speak to yourself after you mess up,
- The decision to improve yourself instead of staying defensive after a disagreement, or
- Simply choosing to listen intently to a friend instead of mentally checking out.
Because these things are contingent on your self-awareness, no one can do those things for you. The solution, Srikumar says, is in “recognizing that this is the dilemma that we’re stuck in. And then act.”
Being joyful is the most responsible thing you can do.
— Sadhguru, yogi and trainer of A Yogi’s Guide to Joy program
Frequently asked questions
Can you feel joy and sadness at the same time?
Yes. But it’s a gray area many people are often unsure about… and that’s where Stephanie Harrison, the author of New Happy, comes in for the rescue.
In her book, she explains that the cultural obsession with constant happiness—through fixations on appearance and achievement—leads people to believe that negative emotions signal failure.
“All of these unwritten instructions that are provided by our society,” she says in an interview with Mindvalley Book Club, “ultimately end up making us sick, lonely, disconnected, frustrated, you name it.”
But real fulfillment, she argues, includes the full emotional spectrum. This means you can:
- Grieve the loss of a loved one and still feel grateful for those who are still alive.
- Feel exhausted deep in your bones and still feel purposeful.
- Cry after a fight and still know you’re in the right relationship.
Notice what all of these scenarios have in common: each is anchored in timeless values rather than transient moods.
In short? Sadness can move through you with joy, a.k.a. your commitment to meaning and true fulfillment, grounding you through it all.
Is joy better than happiness?
Not better—just broader.
If happiness is a response to a single external outcome, then joy is about how you’re positioned within your life to meet whatever situation comes your way.
Seligman’s “flourishing” theory explains this best. Your overall well-being, he argues, isn’t limited to the “feel good” domain. Ultimately, it’s about consciously experiencing a meaningful, connected, and ultimately purposeful life—from start to end.
And each aspect has its unique place in life.
If happiness is how you measure how well you’re doing in a given situation, then joy is ultimately the lasting result you’d want out of doing it again and again.
Say you’re serving others hours on end every day, like raising a kid or teaching a community. Clearly, you won’t be happy every single day. Some days will be extra tiring, and there will be others when you want to give up.
But when you’re anchored in purpose? It’s easier to remember the “why” of it all and let the big picture steady you back into momentum. And it’s the reason Stephanie, through New Happy, encourages people to move toward servitude rather than fixating on personal happiness alone.
“The more we focus on ourselves, the worse we tend to feel,” she shares with the Mindvalley Book Club. But the reality is, “fulfillment comes from contributing to something bigger than yourself.”
How can I cultivate joy during a difficult time?
The truth is, it’s far easier to remain joyful during tough times when you focus on things bigger than yourself.
And the point of the zoom-out, Srikumar says, is that you can then reflect on your self-talk. Like, what stories do you tell yourself in the face of a setback? Do you believe you’re a failure? Or do you see the challenge as a checkpoint to grow through?
If it’s the former, then here’s where he’ll give you this reality check: “You have been living under an illusion your entire life, and quite possibly you’ll die never knowing that you were in an illusion.”
That zoom-out move earlier? It’s not just spiritual fodder; heck, it changes how the brain and nervous system handle stress.
A 2025 study published in Social Sciences found that many social workers can still have room for small, meaningful moments, even when navigating their high-stress environments. Remarkably, when they do that, they handle pressure better and are less prone to burnout.
Now, here’s where Stephanie’s wisdom fits well. When things get tough, she says, make a point to focus outward. As she sums it up, “When you shift from ‘How do I feel?’ to ‘How can I help?’ everything changes.”
Why does happiness feel so fleeting compared to joy?
Simply put, it’s because happiness is tied to events.
You get the job; you feel great. You finish that workout, and you feel proud. That compliment you received today from a stranger? Made you feel seen.
All of the dopamine hits… and then you reset.
It all comes down to hedonic adaptation, or psychologists’ term for our natural tendency to return to emotional neutrality after positive or negative events. Research published in Stability of Happiness explains it like this: your brain rapidly adjusts to new circumstances, then stops flagging them as special once they’re familiar.
It’s why you stop feeling the same emotional charge after you’ve gotten that promotion, punched in that gym session, or enjoyed that compliment.
In simple terms? Happiness is elusive because the nervous system normalizes all emotions, even the good ones, after they happen.
Now, joy is the complete opposite. Since it’s independent of your wins and failures, there’s no need to justify its existence. If you love what you see in the mirror every morning…
Whether or not your boss notices you…
No matter if you’ve hit a personal record at the gym or not today…
Or whether you’re noticed on the go…
You’re already joyful.
Spark your joy
It’s time to take that understanding to the next level… with Mindvalley’s free resources for mental expansion, like:
- The Intelligence Type quiz that helps you understand your unique mental edge,
- Quick meditations for focus, confidence, and magnetism, and
- Free classes to cultivate mental and emotional resilience, led by renowned “mind power” experts like Vishen, Jim Kwik, and Marisa Peer.
These bite-sized tools offer a glimpse into the full extent of personal growth that a Mindvalley membership can unlock. Millions of members around the world have retrained their thinking and, as a result, expanded what they believe is possible for their lives.
Like Kirsty Horn, a business owner and mother of three from Cape Town. After years of pouring herself into everyone else—through financial setbacks, lockdown uncertainty, and eventually a breast cancer diagnosis, no less—she finally realized something had to shift.
So when she found Mindvalley, she could finally rebuild herself. As she shares:
Mindvalley gave me the keys to small, simple steps to start the journey to finding myself and becoming fit, healthy, and mentally charged to be the best version I can be.
Keyword: “mentally charged.”
That’s what it means to spark your joy again. Not waiting for life to calm down or postponing your growth until circumstances improve, but strengthening your mind. So you can meet whatever comes your way—success, setback, diagnosis, disruption—with your inherent power.
Kirsty did. You can, too.
Welcome in.
