This may or may not include some personal stories, I don't plan ahead, but also a thought that I've been having for awhile. For those who don't know me, which I assume is 99.999% of Steemit and even the communities I belong to, I enjoy trying to put abstract things into graphs as a method of comprehension.

What I want to explore in this post and get across, is my interpretation of Happiness and Joy and how Love may influence it. I'm an engineer by nature and a table & graph nerd so I will attempt to explain my thoughts on this topic in graphical format.

What is Happiness?

Happiness Chart
Note: If you're hiring a graphic designer, I drew that chart on my own using paint. Impressive, I know.

Happiness is described in the chart above. Let's explore some of the parameters:

• x-axis: Time - This depicts how your emotion may change over time
• y-axis: Happiness - It is positive when you are happy, and negative when you are sad
• Neutral line: This describes your natural state of being. How you are when you are alone with no external stimulation. Your internal satisfaction and happiness with life. It also has a gravitational force that pulls your Happiness state towards it over time.

In other words, Happiness is a state of being. If we look at a similar temperature graph of water, a temperature of 50°C (or 122°F for our special friends) is the water's current state.

What is Joy?

Joy on the Happiness Chart

Joy is the relative change in your happiness. Joy is what takes you from one state of happiness to the next. Joy is the word I've chosen to use, but you can easily replace it with words such as Excitement, Delight, Pleasure, Triumph. To the ignorant, these words all mean more or less the same. But to me, and I'm sure most readers, each word carries a different deeper context and meaning in your lives. So, I think it is important to use the right word for different scenarios.

Sorrow on the Happiness Chart

On the opposite end of Joy is Sorrow, Sorrow takes you from a state of happiness to a lower state of happiness. Not necessarily to the point of sadness, just to a lower level.

Differences between Happiness and Joy

Just a quick recap from before,

• Happiness is a State of Being
• Joy is a Change of State

For anyone that has taken physics (or was it chemistry?), this is very similar to electrons and their energy level. Electrons stay in the same energy level in their natural state but can be moved to a higher energy level by blasting it with energy or to a lower energy level by absorbing energy from it.

Similarly, Happiness is your natural state that controls your outlook on life, and - some may say- controls your internal stress level and health. Joy is, just like energy that moves the electrons from one energy level to another, also a form of energy.

Scenario

*Random Scenario on the Happiness Chart

The Chart above describes a generic, maybe relatable scenario, to show how my depiction of the Happiness Chart may play out in your life.

At Point A, you're feeling a bit down for whatever reason. You're sad, and at a lower energy state so you life sucks, you suck, everything around you sucks. What's the point of living. That kind of sad. Your friends notice you are sad and they try to cheer you up. "Let's go party! (play boardgames, read a book, watch a movie, whatever makes you happy)"

Your friends are providing you with energy. You feel that joy of having friends, having something to look toward to, that anticipation of going to that club you've always wanted to but never had the opportunity to. That energy from your friends and your anticipation brings you to Point B. You're feeling better, a bit happier, life has meaning again.

Once you reach the club, the music is amazing, that cute girl in the corner winked at you, you continue looking at her, and she turns back and wink at you again, the bartender decides to give you guys an extra free drink. Over the night, you go from Point B to Point C then the night is over. All this excitement and energy is just so empowering and you feel on top of the world!!!

The next morning you wake up, there's just a smile on your face. You may not remember what happened half of last night, but you just wake up with a giant smile on your face. It's such an amazing feeling. Overtime, slowly, you go back to your neutral state of being.

But! Don't forget the first law of thermodynamics:

"Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; Energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another" - First Law of Thermodynamics

As you move from Point C back down to Point D, you're releasing this joyous energy back into the environment. There's a skip in your step, a happy song in your head, a giant smile on your face that is contagious to those around you, you laugh and joke with your friends. You're spreading that joyous energy and lifting the Happiness energy level of your friends and those around you.

Don't waste that energy! Try to use it effectively and give it to those who really need it.

---

I don't know if this is useful or means anything to any of you, but I hope you enjoy it. We've explored the basic concepts of happiness and joy thus far. But what does it all mean? What is it for? Tune in for Part 2!

Check out my other posts in my Table of Content or follow me (@chuazm) to look forward to my future posts!