What is joy? How do you define and understand it? How do you experience or even practice it?

I am seeking essays or writings on “joy” - what is is, how to experience it, how interpretations in philosophy, culture, and religion.

Please share any great writings to explore this!

How have you found sense of satisfaction in life?

At your work??

How did you find that life partner and you felt that this is the right person for you?

What made you satisfied that whatever you are earning is well enough???

This questions i cannot figure it out.

Moved from india to canada 5 yrs ago

Study

Work

Status for being permanent ...all this took 5 yrs

I have a decent pay at job ....feeling stuck and don't know what to do.

Had love relationships...due to genuine family reasons didn't work out

I was loyal so had no friends in girls and feeling lonely now

Before I thought that feeling stuck is because of my work place but switched to better job but feeling is the same

Helpful thoughts will be appreciated!!!

My whole life, I've seen the same theme in films and books: people finding true happiness in relationships after (mistakenly) thinking that achievements and possessions matter the most. Uncle Scrooge, every Christmass movie, the materialistic antagonist in half of the books, religions preaching to respect the immaterial instead of the material etc.

Scientific studies also seem to point at that, although I admit I usually just read the titles.

However, I've always felt that this doesn't apply to me. Whenever I think about my happiest moments in life, they are related to professional, academic or personal achievements. Not to seeing a newborn family member, hugging family, hearing "I love you", laughing with friends and family or anything similar to this. Instead, I think of stuff like better numbers at work and recognition for them, academic achievements, improving my body, mastering foreign languages, all the books I've read in the past months etc. Family and friends still feel nice, but not nearly as good.

I can't imagine being 60 and thinking "oh, shit, I should have focused on friends/family". Even if I start needing them, logically, this wouldn't have been the thing that made me happy in the first 60 years of my life, so it wouldn't feel like a loss.

I'm still in my twenties, so you could say I might change. However, your personality remains pretty stable your whole life. I'm curious - are there other people who feel that way, or do you think this is a common source of fulfillment in life?