Candace Payne is the epitome of a viral joy. If you've been living under a rock, you probably recognized her as 'Chewbacca Mom', due to the video she posted about expressing her pure joy on purchasing a Chewbacca mask for herself instead of for her children. What made this video go viral? Simple, it was joy. The heart warming video made many share this video on all social media platforms. The majority laughed with her and probably even smiled at the video which has over 100 million views.

The power of joy reveals how humans are instantly attracted to a positive state of mind such as Payne. Her video got recognition across the Internet due to her expression of joy and her contagious laughter, making Payne's video a perfect example of a viral joy. So what makes us attracted to joy? A positive state of mind or emotion makes us feel good, it contributes to our judgment of life satisfaction. Positive emotions help regulate the negative and helps us in the pursuit of happiness, hence, the reason why we gravitate to those emotions.

Joy makes us feel good not only in our state of mind but in our state of body as well. It's a great benefit for our health. Joyous laughter, for example, is a universal instrument that almost every human being has experienced. According to research, this type of laughter "calms stress, producing a state of calm after the convulsive movements accompanying the laugh" such as Payne's video in the end. It suggests that "certain personal attributes—whether inborn or shaped by positive life circumstances—help some people avoid or healthfully manage diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and depression."

Despite the health benefits, joy is contagious, it's an emotion that helps us calm down and into a state of happiness and peace. It's the main reason why we crave that emotion everyday and it inspires us to share this emotion with everyone, such as Payne's video. It helps us forget all the negative emotions and happenings in each other's lives and create this bubble of self-happiness we don't want to let go. Candice's video has made me smile and laugh unconsciously, I'm assuming it truly wasn't her intention to impact millions with her positive emotions, but I must say I'm compelled to try out a Chewbacca mask to feel her joy.