Are you happy or a happy person? What do you think is the key to happiness?

I believe discussion about happiness is always an important one, strangely.. people don't talk much about whether they are happy or not (they usually talk or quarrel about something else), so let me start.

Am I happy? Right now.. no, current situation bothers me too much.
Am I a happy person? Yes definitely!
What do I think is the key to happiness? I'm not sure, but in my case you definitely should know who you are and know where you're going. Also.. know how to balance things from time to time in this world would surely help.

my key to happiness is knowing i am being watched and protected by the almighty. i wasn't always this way. i became lost afer my mother passed. about 10 years later i began, with the assistance of the creator to become a person in charge of his own life. to have that power is awesome. i pray but for one thing and that is for the almighty to assist any decisions i make. i try every day to make someone feel good or better about themselves. there is only one reason we were given life at this time, in this place and that was to improve the situation. what good is anyone to the human experience if they live only for themselves?

As the old proverbial goes "ignorance is bliss"

and being that we are in a place where we "deny ignorance"

... leads one to contemplate the conundrum of
Denying Ignorance when Ignorance is Bliss

Am I happy? No. I wouldnt say Im sad, but in my present situation I am not satisfied.

Am I a happy person? I would say I am optimistic and outgoing, but generally I am not a happy person. I have not been content with my life.

What do I think is the key to happiness? The key to happiness is probably to seek and focus on happiness and not to worry. Also to know yourself and to know life.

[edit on 25-1-2009 by Wisen Heimer]

No, not happy. I thought I was, working for a pharmacy as a tech, made lots of money. I quit that job recently because I might have been well financially but I was broke in karma. What makes me happy is this forum, no I'm not trying to kiss ass or anything. It makes me happy that there are people with the same ideals and thoughts as me, who believe in the same things as I do and are not afraid to express it. What do I think happyness is? I think happyness is when you can give love without expecting it in return or having to expect it.

I think the title of the thread should be "Are you a happy or an unhappy person."

I would certainly fall into the unhappy category. I try to remind myself just how good I have it but it is hard to keep that in perspective at times. The world is a terrible place built on corruption and exploitation and it really does get me down.

I'm ordinarily a happy person. I always appear happy to others, whether I truly am or not. As far as the search for happiness, I believe that the more you do for others the more joyful you are. There's no better feeling than the joy I get from a selfless act!!

Originally posted by Wisen Heimer
The key to happiness is probably to seek and focus on happiness and not to worry.

Yeah, I like that.
Actually, I had to think about this, and look up a definition, "enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure". I've known people who seem happy causing misery to themself or to others.
Personally, I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life, because I finally learned a personal lesson. I have joy, but not by harming others or myself. I smile a lot. I choose to react to situations positively, not worrying or getting upset. Learned that.

The more happy I became, the more happiness there was to give out to people who needed it. You know, come to think of it, I was going to say that Americans seem to be the least happy people on Earth, because when I watched a lot of Christmas church services on tv this past season, Americans seemed so gloomy. Jeez, a time of joy, and here they sat with frowns on. But then I think to the inauguration,and the joy of people either in attendance or not.

Happiness, contentment, satisfaction - what it takes to attain those states varies from day to day. Overall, I'm reasonably happy.

A wise man once told me that happiness is not in having what you want, it's wanting what you have

I spent the first 20 years of my life being unhappy.

Now I am VERY happy. This is because I no longer care what others think, do, or say.

I am now self governing and my 'country' prospers..

I generally agree with the believe that other people play an extremely important role in determining your happiness, but I think it's only half of the equation. That's what I'm trying to figure out here, what's the other half? What are the ingredients to happiness? This subject always intrigues me.

Although I consider myself a spiritual person, I don't cling on to any religious dogma. Sometimes I wonder whether very religious persons are very happy or just very good at pretending to be happy.

i'm not really happy or sad, i'm pretty moody. i like it that way i don't want to be the ssame way all the time. seems too boring.

happiness for me is learning how to play fernando sor op9 on guitar.

here's how it goes. (no i can't play it that good)

I'm happy with myself. I'm not happy with the state of the world right now.

My own personal happiness is completely in my control. I don't require the approval from others to be happy. I like who I am, and if there's something about my personality that I don't like, I'll fix it. If others don't like me, that's their problem.

As for my discontent with the world around me, there's only so much one person can do, but I'm working towards ways of making it better.

[edit on 1/25/2009 by Kruel]

I consider myself a person who thinks life (at least mine) is completely crud, but perhaps that's just because the thing I value most in life at the moment is love, which I totally lack. (I'm talking about relationship love, not family love or whatever.)

There is a good thing to this however, as this big gaping ''hole'' that lacked any type of love during puberty is slowly turning me into a bitter/neutral man, so in the future I might not give a damn about it anymore lol.

But I notice that a lot of the times ''being happy'' depends on the moment.
Eg.: If I'm at school talking to people, I'm busy talking so there's no time to feel sad, so in general there's a ''normal pleasant feeling''.

However when a girl I really really like thinks it's necessary to send me a text message saying she wasn't responding because she was having sex with her boyfriend, hell there's no way I can be ''happy'' about that, heh.

So I am currently working on an experiment, and if that succeeds, I will probably become the happiest man alive, though I doubt it will work.

If it doesn't, I guess I'll have to find something to keep my mind occupied for some 50 more years, as I think that's the key to happiness. Find out what you desire most, and either achieve it or get so pissed over it that you start disliking it, so you can move on to the next desire.

Regardless of this big ''self-pity'' speech, I do consider myself a happy person, one of the reasons being that I can put up a happy face at any time and pretend to be truly happy really well, and have been able to do that for at least 19 years. That and when someone asks how it's going I'll almost never say ''no'', so I must have some kind of ''resource pool'' filled with happiness somewhere.

[edit on 25/1/09 by -0mega-]

reply to post by Kruel


Yes, yes, I rather like that summation.
There certainly are reasons to not be happy with things going on in the world around us. There is a lot of good, but unfortunately bad things happen, too. But, one can still be happy with oneself.
Reminds me...my ex hated me for being happy. He thought I should be miserable, too. He was miserable, I wasn't. He had his life, I had mine. haha I guess living well (happily) IS the best revenge.

Oh, and Omega, trust me, you gotta find love in you first, so you can have some to share in a relationship. In fact, that ought to be the number one rule of relationships: Love yourself first, then you can love others the way you want to be loved. Another thing, don't mistake lust for love. Both can make you happy, but only one really lasts.

interesting question~!

I would consider myself a happy person - or rather more appropriately 'content'.

Sure there are plenty of things wrong in 'my world' and i carry certain burdens and stresses but - I am Happy for what I have. I am happy to be given an opportunity to be alive, happy to have all functions and faculties so i can enjoy what the universe has to offer, happy that i have it much nicer than a whole lot of other people and above all, happy that i have the potential to create a positive change in certain people's lives.

One can focus all their energy on the negatives but generally that's futile and you turn into a miserable sod. so why not focus on the good and embrace what one can look forward to. So essentially i agree with everything that Desert and Kruel said in their post.


[edit on 25/1/09 by 04326]

I think self fulfilment, whatever guise that comes in, is the key to happiness. If you're doing what you truly love...you'll be happy. Anything you do and find that the time has just flown by is probably something you love...that's self fulfillment...that's happiness!

I am happy, for lots of different reasons. Mainly though it's because I'm living the best I can, I do no harm to anyone or thing itentionally. I am more than happy to admit when Im wrong, and to work on making things right. Just because I can't do much doesn't mean I don't do anything. And I realised that whatever people think of me is none of my business, so I don't lose sleep over things I can't change. And lastly heard a saying years ago that I carry with me everyday and thats, Happiness is a way of travel not a destination. Peace

I have a flu at the moment so that makes me a bit less happy.

But on a level of personal progress I am happy.

On a global level of progress I am not.

Good question and one that everybody asks themselves all the time.

In a sense the pursuit of happiness is a pursuit for mental illness. Our biology provides us with complex range of hormones that dictate the moods that we can feel. Trying to always feel happy is like a junkie trying to stay high, it's impossible. Let happiness happen on it's own terms, in it's own time and avoid the triggers that create depression, sadness and discontentment. The emotional middle ground is the most natural place to be.

One thing that nobody's mentioned yet is that nature/nurture question. Psychologists cheerfully point out that much of our emotional life is dictated by our genetics. They've done plenty of studies that demonstrate a correlation with gene markers and major depression. Quote below.

Scientists have also found evidence of a genetic predisposition to major depression. There is an increased risk for developing depression when there is a family history of the illness. Not everyone with a genetic predisposition develops depression, but some people probably have a biological make-up that leaves them particularly vulnerable to developing depression.

They don't seem to have done much research on the genetic predisposition of happier people. The pharmacorps would make billions if they invented a 'happy pill' yet such things seem to be frowned on in society. Recreational drugs were banned long before any research indicated negative effects. The ban served (and still does) a social function. It's a sad fact that some people seem to be reliant on SSRI/antidepressants to combat the way their genetics are wired.

Happiness seems to be a product of self-fulfillment and self-awareness. Some people express unhappiness and take no steps to identify why and make changes. Identify the things that make us sad and avoid them. I avoid politics and the prejudices found in the mainstream press, they depress me and I can't change them. If you can't change it, move away!

It's elusive, yet I feel strongly that by being pro-active in our lives we can increase our happy moments. Helping others, passing compliments, smile at a stranger. These things give an immediate return in happiness tokens.