Happiness?

[dysert]

(I was going to post this in Philosophy and Ethics, but of course that's closed. I hope this topic belongs here.)

I'd like to have a discussion on happiness: how it's defined, what it is to you, how to achieve it, how to sustain it, etc. Personally, I don't know much about happiness because I've been clinically depressed for almost 20 years. However, after considerable thought I would like to hazard a position about happiness and see what others think.

I don't think happiness is a state of being. (Like, "He's a happy guy", or "She's always unhappy".) Rather, I think that happiness is just a series of individual happy moments. Naturally, if you string a long series of happy moments together, you may feel like you're in a state of happiness, but nevertheless I think happiness occurs in discrete points of time. Even I have felt happy (I think) for very short bursts (I'm talking seconds in duration). And it seems to me that someone I'd say was happy is really just exhibiting "happiness bursts" that either last longer or consist of many happiness bursts strung out over a long period of time.

What say you about happiness?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I agree. Happiness is a temporary state of mind. Contentment however is a state of being.

 

[Rebecca12]

I am rarely happy. But I am contented. I understand better my nature and don't try to be what I am not, but instead I try to do the best I can. If you live according to your values you can find contentment.

 

[DaisyDay]

I take Voltaire's philosophy "Cultivez votre jardin" - find your happiness in the ordinary things of life. Take note of what delights you and do that a lot. Also take anti-depressants.

 

[Khalliqa]

I'm happy when I get my way

 

[bhsmte]

Happiness is fleeting. And for people with certain types of psychological makeup, it is more fleeting than others.

 

[dysert]

Happiness is fleeting. And for people with certain types of psychological makeup, it is more fleeting than others.

Assuming you even experience it in the first place.