cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
What Is Sympathetic Joy and How Can You Feel More of It? - Greater Good
Science is discovering how we can be happy with other people and why that's good for us.
Our cats love my partner. When presented with two laps, the cats will choose hers, almost every time. In the morning, our kitten Leif nurses on her shoulder, his little paws making biscuits.Am I jealous? Nope. I feel really happy seeing a woman I love being adored by cats I love.
Scientists have a name for this feeling, which they borrowed from the Buddhist ethic of Muditā: sympathetic joy, which is sometimes called appreciative joy, empathic joy, vicarious reward, or (more broadly) positive empathy. By whatever name, it’s the unadulterated goodness we feel when something good happens for someone else.
That sounds great, but there are times when it can be hard to feel sympathetic joy, yes? Especially if we’re feeling personally threatened or unhappy with our own lives. There are many unpleasant emotions that can diminish the opportunity to share in other people’s joy: fear, jealousy, envy, stress, and resentment, among others.