Joy is somewhere between happiness and elation, somewhat lower than either mania or its lesser cousin, hypomania.
I place it above simple pleasure and below love because joy is a more simplistic form of positive emotion.
We can be joyous or be in a state of joy for an almost indefinite amount of time if the right disposition towards the events of reality has been found.
Buddhist monks (or any monk or monk-like person), given their attainment of a form of detachment from worldly events, can be said to be in a state of joy.
Although not on the emotion chart, bliss would be a close synonym for my understanding and definition of joy.
An occasion can be joyous.
A song or a painting or a movie can bring about joy in a viewer.
Joy can last or be fleeting.
Being in the presence of children, should that be what brings joy to an individual adult, can be joyous.
Most humans find joy less frequently than most children or Buddhist monks, however, and the interruption of lesser emotions typically ends a state of joy with some abrupt force.
Joy is calm and steady.
Joy is not too high nor is it so high that it can not be sustained or attained with some ease by the rightly disposed mind.
Odes have been written to joy and many a piece of art in many a form has been created to express it.
Joy is a name given to females in modern western culture and appreciation for joy is nearly universal in that it never denotes an excess but rather a state that is perfectly sane and level to attain.
I place jow higher than pleasure because joy is a more mental form of pleasure; a deeper and more robust emotion or feeling that the thing(s) being observed or taken in are truly joyous.
The emotion of joy can never be negative as some forms of mere pleasure can and I do not see joy as something that must result in a mental crash.
Joy is uplifiting and enlightening in a way that is lesser than, in my opinion, the emotion of love.
Love can be lost and let one down whereas joy requires much less commitment or focus.
Bright sunlight filtering through rain clouds, a rainbow, a friendly animal companion, a child, a flower, a joke, a series of compositions on canvas or on instruments, all can bring about a state of joy.
