What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?

6/23/2009 5:47:39 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
claudius5 Petaluma, CA age: 61	Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian, who was best known for his books The Gulag Archipelago and A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich which exposed the Soviet Gulag or forced labor camp system to the world. For his efforts he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1970 and later was exiled from Russia in 1974. The following is a quote from him about happiness. "One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to." I think that sometimes we focus too much on how someone can make us happy; instead of looking within to find our own happiness. How much of yourself can you give to a relationship if you are not happy? How many relationships fail because one partner felt the other person was not making them happy. Being happy involves a mindset, an attitude over which a person has complete control. When I am happy with myself, I find that I am able to be more giving, more compassionate, and more affectionate. Happiness to me is liking the person I am and not letting my internal critics tell me I am unlikable or unlovable. The question of the day is what does happiness mean to you? Meet singles at DateHookup.dating, we're 100% free! Join now!
6/23/2009 6:10:36 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
rrrsmile York, PA age: 46	Happiness for me is always simple.... A baby laughing. An old lady dancing. The smile on someones face while being surprised. My favorite song playing on the radio while I driving around. Right now it is Boom Boom Pow..... It must be summer! Giving to someone I think is special. Always things the envoke positive "emotions". I hope a man in my life would be as simple in his likes.
6/23/2009 6:18:15 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
sandgirl51 Lacey, WA age: 52	Quote from claudius5: .... The question of the day is what does happiness mean to you? Reading your posts of course! Thanks again for providing something worth reading..your awesome!
6/23/2009 6:18:49 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
teck6959 Prospect, KY age: 47	Happiness is a state of mind of. Wanting what you have not what you do not have. Being at peace with yourself. It comes with your attitude, is the glass half full or half empty. Is it a problem, or an Opportunity and a Chalange to learn something new. Is it a car wreck or an accident with no injuries and a new free paint job? [Edited 6/23/2009 6:20:44 PM ]
6/23/2009 6:34:16 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
i_am_bill Astatula, FL age: 51	I have spent the greater part of my adult life exploring the whys and hows of what makes people do things. During this time I have searched for happiness and it has eluded me. All I want before I die is to experience happiness for a 24 hour period. Bill
6/23/2009 6:44:20 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
sandra49ok Shelton, WA age: 51	happiness to me is many things to begin with my life needs to be peaceful which it is i also need to have current goals that im trying to achieve and prior goals that have already been met my family also makes me happy and last but certainly not least my relationship with Jesus makes me smile every time i think about it
6/23/2009 6:54:15 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
john346 Riverdale, GA age: 38	Quote from claudius5: Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian, who was best known for his books The Gulag Archipelago and A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich which exposed the Soviet Gulag or forced labor camp system to the world. For his efforts he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1970 and later was exiled from Russia in 1974. The following is a quote from him about happiness. "One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to." I think that sometimes we focus too much on how someone can make us happy; instead of looking within to find our own happiness. How much of yourself can you give to a relationship if you are not happy? How many relationships fail because one partner felt the other person was not making them happy. Being happy involves a mindset, an attitude over which a person has complete control. When I am happy with myself, I find that I am able to be more giving, more compassionate, and more affectionate. Happiness to me is liking the person I am and not letting my internal critics tell me I am unlikable or unlovable. The question of the day is what does happiness mean to you? As always, your eloquence and timely comments/questons always adds immense value to our efforts at understanding relationships. Certainly, happiness as a state of being, is an essential component of existence, and an ingredient for a positive interactive experience (affection) with other beings in our environment. The importance of happiness in free societies such as the United States, cannot be over- emphasized since the pursuit of it, is solidly a foundation of the existence of the United States as outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Notice that the founding fathers recognized the impractical nature and illogical expectation of a fixed/permanent state of happiness, as they suggest, ".....the pursuit of happiness". In essence, they understood that happiness as a fixed and permanant state was impossible, but could be sought, thus, requiring some level of effort, directed either internally and/or externally, relative to the individual seeking such an end. While contemporary society focuses on happiness as product of several interacting external stimuli, the middle age or dark age focused on happines as a product of several interacting internal stimuli, all relative to the individual seeking happiness. Thus, it appears that there is an intrinsic and/or extrinsic quality to happiness. Thus, in both cases, happiness requires effort. However, effort with the intent of producing results--any sort of result to include happiness, requires discipline, integrity, focus, conscientousness, and patience, as key attributes of the individual. And so, for those who seek happiness on the basis of several interacting external stimuli, their effort at happiness would require the discipline, focus, conscientousness, and integrity directed at external stimuli such as great clothes, great shoes, great cars, great homes, lots of money, etc. To these individuals, the idea that happiness is a cumulative product of ends and not means--Teleological theory, is all that matters. And so, for those who seek happiness on the basis of several interacting internal stimuli, their effort at happiness would require the discipline, focus, conscientousness, and integrity directed at internal stimuli such as honesty, trustworthiness, contentment, purpose of existence, service to others, etc. To these individuals, the idea that happiness is a cumulative product of the means, and not necessary the ends---Deontological theories, is all that matters. So, who is right and who is wrong, based on the typologies provided?? And who is more happier and who isn't? The answer depends on the individual seeking the state of happiness, based on their ever changing state of values/beleifs, maturity, experience, exposure/enlightenment, environment, etc. Thus, demographic variables to include, age, sex, race, has little bearing on the state of an individual's happiness. And because it had earlier been stated that happiness requires effort, that fixed and permananet state of happiness can never be reached, and even if at all, it could only occur as a temporal condition, based on how either the internal or external stimuli are interacting or have interacted in that particular scenario, condition, environment, etc. Else, the need for effort becomes immaterial. Thus, effort as a condition for happiness, is a reason why the pursuit of happiness creates many temporal states of happiness, and with more effort and work, a constant set of temporal states of happiness is achieved, thus, making happiness appear as though it were a permanent state when in fact several temporal states of happiness, occuring all the time, create the illusion of a permanent state of happiness. And so for those who are unwilling to put forth the effort as a condition of happiness, they may never experience happiness. And for those who seek happiness as a permanent state of being, they will forever be disappointed because once that temporal state of hapiness vanishes, they my not realize that some effort at internal or external stimuli may be required to bring the happiness level back to a temporal state. [Edited 6/23/2009 7:17:30 PM ]
6/23/2009 7:08:32 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
cinthianna01 Goshen, IN age: 91	A temporary state of mind that comes in spurts along with every other emotion that we are capable of feeling.
6/23/2009 9:36:07 PM	What Is This Thing We Call Happiness?
goddess56 Tulsa, OK age: 60	I think that happiness is an inside job. You alone are responsible for whether or not you're happy. It, like most other emotions, is a choice you make. When you wake up each morning, you can choose for yourself whether to be happy or unhappy, and barring unforeseen circumstances or situations, you can walk through that day with a song in your heart and a smile on your face. Rather than pursuing happiness, I embrace joy...joy in living, joy in life, joy in the songs of the mockingbirds around my home, joy in the phone ringing because someone special has called me, joy in embracing my little granddaughter, joy that the house is cool even when the weather is 100 degrees outside. Happiness is a cold glass of iced tea; joy is knowing that I can drink it. [Edited 6/23/2009 9:37:40 PM ]

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