The Abridged version:
- Joy is a skill that, like other skills, can increase with practice.
- Four neurochemicals play a key role in our joyful experiences.
- Upcoming columns will focus on science-based practices to help us experience joy.
Andru Defeye served as Sacramento’s poet laureate from 2020-2024 and is the driving force behind Sacramento Poetry Week. In this new regular feature, “The Great Joy Hunt,” he explores the science behind joy and shares strategies for adding more to our lives.
When’s the last time you felt joy? Many people answer that question with a life event like a wedding or vacation, maybe a big win at work. A friend recently came to me wanting more joy in his life. When I asked him the last time he’d felt it, he stared at the ceiling for one of the longest minutes of my life before answering, “I don’t know.” Maybe in order to answer that question we need a clearer definition of what joy is.
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a senior research scholar in psychology at Clark University, had the same issue, and after rigorous study defined joy as “an elation of right relation,” meaning when we find ourselves in alignment with the moment we are experiencing. Arnett referred to joy as “the sweet spot of positive emotion” placed perfectly in between contentment on one side and ecstasy on the other.
Simply put, happiness is rooted in pleasure from things we experience and joy comes from the meaning we apply to those experiences. Happiness is triggered and joy is cultivated. This means joy is more of a skill than an emotion, and like all skills it can increase with practice. This is because joy lives in the brain, and our brains can be changed, a phenomenon scientists call neuroplasticity.
According to a 2009 study by Phillippa Lally at University College London, it takes an average of 66 days to change or create a habit. After a little over two months of consistent practice, new neural pathways can form that make joy easier to access. In each column I’m going to give you new science-backed habits and exercises to train those joy muscles.
Why do so many of us have such a hard time finding and holding on to joy in our lives? Partially because of what I like to call “The Great Joy Heist.” Many systems are designed to capitalize and profit off our insecurities, anxiety, and stress. From the beauty and fashion industries to social media and fast food, your neurochemicals are being manipulated every day, so let’s even the playing field with some scientific understanding of our own.
Four key neurochemicals help shape our joyful experiences. These are dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. To remember them, I use the acronym DOSE. Each one plays a different role, like instruments in the same emotional orchestra.
Dopamine is the motivation and anticipation neurochemical. It is triggered when you set a goal and work to achieve it. It is important to clarify dopamine is activated by anticipation, and not necessarily by accomplishment. It’s the wanting and the feeling of making progress. This can be activated by a task as small as doing your dishes or making your bed.
Oxytocin is the connection neurochemical. Often talked about in the context of romantic love, oxytocin is activated through any kind of relationship, whether friendship, family bonds, or community when we feel safe, build trust, and feel belonging.
Serotonin is the confidence neurochemical. Serotonin says “you are enough.” It supports feelings of inner peace and stabilizes our mood. Much of the body’s serotonin is found in our gut and helps regulate our digestion and sleep.
Endorphins are the release neurochemical. Often associated with runner’s high, a good laugh or cry, even spicy food, endorphins are the reward your body gives for enduring something taxing. It is our body’s way of congratulating us for doing something hard.
On the other side of our DOSE chemicals are the neurochemicals responsible for stealing your joy. Cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. These aren’t negative chemicals by nature and serve a purpose, evolutionarily speaking. These chemicals are hard-wired to help us survive. They are the chemicals that alert us of danger, keep us vigilant, and trigger our fight-or-flight responses. While these have helped us since the dawn of time, they can also keep us in survival mode instead of joy hunting mode.
Cortisol is a primary stress hormone. It alerts us to danger and can diminish our ability to feel reward. Chronic cortisol shrinks dopamine sensitivity, interferes with serotonin, and lowers oxytocin making bonding harder. Excessive cortisol can also throw off our sleep schedules.
Adrenaline can be responsible for indirect endorphin release, but it can also work against joy when it is too constant. Adrenaline sends us into high alert dampening our dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin as our bodies enter a state of hypervigilance seeking out threats.
Norepinephrine is the focus neurotransmitter. When balanced it helps us to pay attention, but when unbalanced it creates anxiety, restlessness, rumination, and hypervigilance. It replaces awe with caution and keeps us scanning for threats instead of scanning for joy.
Joy is not the absence of hardship. We don’t do toxic positivity here. Joy is an operating system that helps us counterbalance life’s inevitable stress, uncertainty and pain. The poet Kahlil Gibran called joy and sorrow “inseparable.” Our bodies are big enough to hold the top of joy and the bottom of grief at the same time.
A life without joy doesn’t usually collapse, it just dulls. Days blur, purpose fades, and we confuse survival for living. The practice of joy requires safety, presence, connection, curiosity, and openness. When we are unable to experience these things, we will experience less joy and fulfillment in our lives.
So what can we do about it today? We’re going to start with a simple step. Notice and name your joy. By intentionally recognizing moments of joy throughout your day you are training your brain to look for more. This is how we begin to rewire our brains and neural pathways to seek joy. Naming today’s joy makes tomorrow’s joy easier to find.
Over the coming months, we’ll explore how to strengthen each of the four joy chemicals with simple, science-based practices you can use in real time. I am so excited to bring you all the research I’ve been doing, interviews with neuroscientists and community members, and practices that will help you live a more joyful life. If you have questions, feedback or suggested topics, you can share them in the box below, or you can always reach out to me at TheGreatJoyHunt@gmail.com.
Welcome to The Great Joy Hunt!
Andru Defeye is the former poet laureate of Sacramento and a regular contributor, writing The Great Joy Hunt for Abridged.