How do you express joy?

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When something happens what I really desired for I can feel an extrem amount of joy and jump (literally) all over the room, because my body just does so.
When I hear a joke I like I can laugh about it, and even a few months later when I remember it I start laughing (can be awkward when there are people around not knowing why I start laughing, but it just happens).
I learned myself to smile talking to people, because I used to get comments that I looked "arrogant" and "frigide", but I also smile telling unpleasant things in therapy, because I made the association "talking=I need to smile or people get angry at me".
I also smile being nervous and when I need to talk to someone, often after a sentence this little laughing is coming from being nervous, I cannot control it, though I dislike it from myself.

The other night my husband got into conversation with a psychologist in a bar, and talking about autism she said, if you are on the spectrum you never smile and you never express joy.
Now I am confused.

I do not express joy outwardly very often, but it does happen. I used to think the happiness I was feeling at any particular moment was showing on the outside, but as I have learned, that is not the case. Friends and family have pointed out on numerous occasions that I had a blank look on my face, even though I was happy, and I thought I had a smile on my face. I also do the nervous smile thing.

That psychologist is stupid.

When I get reallly happy, I tickle people who let me and sometimes I rock, jump, or bounce. The rocking is confusing because I also sometimes do that when I'm upset. I feel the urge to ram my head into people who make me happy, but usually I don't do that because people don't like me to do that to them. I also express affection by touching people (touching their heads, hands, and arms usually), but I can only touch people on my own terms. My brother gets annoyed with me sometimes because I touch him too much because I'm too happy and I trust him most. I also say things like "Yay!" or "I'm really happy!" when I'm happy.

Agreed. That psychologist hasn't studied enough about Autism.

On the other hand, I probably fit that description to a certain extent. I don't experience "joy" as I understand it. Makes it kind of hard to express it if you don't even feel it. My natural state when I'm what most people refer to as "happy," is contentment. I feel a sense of satisfaction when things are right in my life, when I've accomplished something I've worked hard on, or when things happen around me that I like. I don't "jump for joy." It's a deeper feeling than that that I tend to express in rather reserved fashion. If I'm content, I'll say, "I'm happy," and that's about as far as it goes.

I'm not a very excitable guy. I do have a very cutting sense of humor though, which takes most people off guard because I don't show it very often, and it seems to most people to be out of character from what they usually see of me. It's not though. It's very much a part of my character, but I have to be very comfortable with people before I'll show it, which takes a while longer than they are used to. Which is why when it does come out, and because I always "spring" it on people without warning, it's pretty funny. I've never met anyone that didn't take it well, probably because I do wait until I know them pretty well myself, so I know they are the kind of people that won't be offended by or uncomfortable with it.

When I get joyful, it's not uncommon for me to give a little bounce with a loud laugh and a clap of my hands.
I will also think about a joke I'd heard long ago and laugh, even when I'm in public. When people look at me funny, I just explain, "I just thought of a funny joke someone told me." That usually works, and that destroys the awkwardness.
I do the smiling thing a lot, unless I'm unhappy. Then, I can't summon up the energy for anything other than a blank-stare. But yes, people react a lot better to smiling. I think it puts them more at ease or something, and so they don't feel like they have to be defensive. I'm not too sure. That's what I'm thinking.

Sounds like that doctor doesn't know a lot about autism because of course they can express joy. That can be with hand flapping and whatever you do to express it. They also smile too.


I express joy by getting a childish grin on my face and I can jump around. That is my natural way of reacting to joy. I can control it of course by holding in my feelings and not express it. I sometimes also rock when I feel excited or happy.

I sometimes laugh about things I find funny and I hate it when people ask me what's so funny so I always say "nothing."

I also seem to smile all the time.

When I eat well and have enough surfing, I'm a smiley happy person.

Smiling is my main facial expression people tell me i smile all the time , i don't know i am doing it and i smile more if i am nervous or shy seems to mean people like me though when i am genuinely happy and in the presence of people i know well i run round , jump and make stupid noises ... basically go crazy

I don't. I don't express much at all because much of the time I don't know what I'm feeling, or even if I'm actually feeling anything at all.

I smile often, when I'm happy. I just can't force myself to smile when I'm not feeling happy. When I am overjoyed or excited I'll smile as well as jump all around and flap my hands like a little kid. xD

This is similar to me.

The closest I come to being "happy" is when I'm occupied with something that interests me.

I "feel" joy in my heart and eyes, if that makes sense. I just get a swelling feeling in my heart and my eyes feel like they're open wider. I also tend to jut my chin out and kind of purse my bottom lip. I smile more when I find something funny/accompanying laughter than out of happiness.

Thank you for your replies.

I got diagnosed almost a year ago (6th of December 2010 I got the results).
Before that I didn't really knew a lot about autism or was myself more thinking about Kanner-autism.
Still I wondered sometimes if I might be autistic in a "way", but couldn't really tell how. I guess, because I felt so different and I am "delayed" in many ways compared to others I met. I couldn't cope with "real life", since I can remember I was in my own world (and still am), already as a kid I was scared of the other children and couldn't really understand them. People told me, I act and think a kind of "weird". My own mother said often, that I was "unworldly".
Finally I got an anorexia (already more than half of my life), anxiety disorder (dito) and depression.
So after getting diagnosed I started to learn about autism and I also did get a little obsessed with it. It explains a lot to me, I have no further questions. But as it is still quite "new" to me, I do fall into my former program, that I just have to "try harder" to be like "other people". But I really did try hard.
So when I hear these things the psychologist said, I get really confused, as if they made a mistake with my diagnosis.
The diagnosis doesn't make me happy, but it provides the explanation for the way I was and am.

So I am really glad to be on this forum and read what all of you have to say and experienced.

I rub my wings together

I smile often and in the wrong places. It has absolutely no correlation to my state of happiness. I am however very happy when I hold my daughter. She can sit in my arms for a long time where we say nothing. We just enjoy ourselves.
She is 2 years and 2 months now. She loves me and I Iove her. We enjoy each others company very much, and how we express our togetherness seems to be beyond other people. She can come up to me and, pointing at herself, say her name and then point at me and say "and daddy". Then she goes off to do her own stuff. Often smiling. Probably because I totally melt inside when she does this.

My daughter makes me happy, and I make the world safe for her to enjoy without worry. It's a symbiosis, and it's the most beautiful I have ever had the privilege to be a part of.

This is the sole thing that makes me really happy.

I smile and laugh when I feel joy.