What Defines True Happiness for You?

[Gale]

Raise your hands!

Not just merely content, but really, truly, genuinely happy. How'd you get there? What makes you happy? I don't want anything about chemical recations or blah blah, just good old fashioned 'this and this makes me happy because of that and that'

 

[drag]

Originally posted by Gale17
Raise your hands!

Not just merely content, but really, truly, genuinely happy. How'd you get there? What makes you happy? I don't want anything about chemical recations or blah blah, just good old fashioned 'this and this makes me happy because of that and that'

Well, 10 million US dollars would make me EXTREMELY happy !
You can't even imagine how much !

 

[Dal]

Originally posted by Gale17
Raise your hands!

Not just merely content, but really, truly, genuinely happy. How'd you get there? What makes you happy? I don't want anything about chemical recations or blah blah, just good old fashioned 'this and this makes me happy because of that and that'

Even winning a jackpot or having a jaguar, happiness cannot last.
note: You’ll find who you’re looking for in lunatic asylum.

Unless of course you turn religious.

 

[Zantra]

Originally posted by drag
Well, 10 million US dollars would make me EXTREMELY happy !
You can't even imagine how much !

Oh I can most definitely imagine- one of my vices is spending a buck or two each week on the lottery- but since I don't gamble much, I consider it my compensation.

Money can't buy happiness- but it sure can rent it

 

[Zantra]

Originally posted by Gale17
Raise your hands!

Not just merely content, but really, truly, genuinely happy. How'd you get there? What makes you happy? I don't want anything about chemical recations or blah blah, just good old fashioned 'this and this makes me happy because of that and that'

Nothing at all based in logic or biochemistry? You know not what you ask! Go read the philosophy of love post and you'll see what I mean

Anyhow, many things make me truly happy, and none of them is money. Money isn't the object of happiness, but it can be a means to it indirectly. If you're "financially secure" you don't worry about things like bills, commitments, and debt, so those problems aren't an issue, and you can focus on more important things. But since I don't have 10 mill..

I recently moved to california- tht makes me extremely happy- I've taken up surfing- again happy. I've finally decided what I want to "do with the rest of my life" and that makes me happy. Those are some of the big things- I'll spare you the small ones...

 

[Another God]

I am happy. Well and truley happy. And this scares me.

I mean, I am so contentedly, perfectly happy...that I have no where to go but down. And this has scared me for about 2 years now.

At the end of 2000 my dog died, my first love left me for another guy, I joined the army, my cat died, my sisters first child died (minutes after birth), and then my grandmother died. I guess that period could be considered my low. But even then, I was able to just consider all of that "just a temporary set back", and from that, I knew that I had nowhere to go but up. And I was right.

Since then I have lived the life I wanted to live. I took up sky diving, I took up white water kayaking, I canyoned, I caved, I hiked, I wakeboarded, I snowboarded, I did Gymnastics, I rock climbed, I relaxed, i got active, I learnt, I did what I wanted how I wanted. I had everything...except one thing. Someone special to love.

Of course, as you do, I looked. I had a couple fo girlfriends, but it became apparent that they weren't right over time. And now you find me here... 5 weeks and 5 days into the relationship which will almost certainly last the rest of my life. I found her, and I fell in love with her.

So now what do I do? I have everything. I'm screwed.
(Oh, I don't have much money, but end of this year and I will be out of uni and I will get a job quick smart, so that will solve that problem.)

 

[Dal]

Originally posted by Another God
I am happy. Well and truley happy. And this scares me.

I mean, I am so contentedly, perfectly happy...that I have no where to go but down. And this has scared me for about 2 years now.

At the end of 2000 my dog died, my first love left me for another guy, I joined the army, my cat died, my sisters first child died (minutes after birth), and then my grandmother died. I guess that period could be considered my low. But even then, I was able to just consider all of that "just a temporary set back", and from that, I knew that I had nowhere to go but up. And I was right.

Since then I have lived the life I wanted to live. I took up sky diving, I took up white water kayaking, I canyoned, I caved, I hiked, I wakeboarded, I snowboarded, I did Gymnastics, I rock climbed, I relaxed, i got active, I learnt, I did what I wanted how I wanted. I had everything...except one thing. Someone special to love.

Of course, as you do, I looked. I had a couple fo girlfriends, but it became apparent that they weren't right over time. And now you find me here... 5 weeks and 5 days into the relationship which will almost certainly last the rest of my life. I found her, and I fell in love with her.

So now what do I do? I have everything. I'm screwed.
(Oh, I don't have much money, but end of this year and I will be out of uni and I will get a job quick smart, so that will solve that problem.)

Don’t be scared of what will come. Happiness and sadness are all balanced in life. It's natural. One cannot find happiness without knowing sadness first. Only by experiencing through tough situations will you learn to cherish your success and happiness.

 

[radagast]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3047291.stm

I think the above report would apply to any who meditate
regularly, not just Buddhists.

 

[Another God]

I have often wondered how similar the states that the brain enters when under meditation are to the states the brain enters when you sky dive/rock climb/White water kayak/snowboard etc...

I mean, when u meditate, your brain attains a type of focus, all things superfluous fall away... And so too when you are concentrating on Climbing, or on keeping your head above water, or on not cutting an edge... etc. Flow is the term for when you senses all keen in on one activity, your brain activity concentrates everything on that one activity and it seems to slow down.

I think this is my sort of meditation.

I would meditate properly if I had the time/patience/ability to sit still that long.

 

[radagast]

IMO, the states of consciousness can be very similar, though it would only be close to the same when, in doing the kayaking, etc. your minds voice had quieted completely and your state of relaxation was extremely high. As a practitioner of both mediation and a highly physical practice (aikido) I've noticed times that I described as being in a meditative state doing aikido, but also others where I was acting with some tension (decidedly non-meditative).

 

[Zantra]

people always talk about meditation in esoteric terms- "calming your mind, focusing, deep relaxation" But what studies have been done on the physiological effects of meditation. I mean sure, a lot of us have probably hooked ourselves up to a biofeedback monitor and tried to control that, but what about brain wave patterns?. Do they enter an alpha state?.

 

[radagast]

Both alpha and some theta. Primarily alpha, which correlate well with the PET and MRI brain scan data. A few studies are referenced in the most recent Time article on meditation, and I've seen them referenced in New Scientist, though I can't quote them.

 

[megashawn]

I like the saying from After Rangoon, the guy says "We were raised believing that suffering is the only promise life keeps. When happiness comes, we treasure it because we know it won't last."

But, all in all, I'm pretty happy, just being able to do what I do. What do I do? To much stuff to type it all out.

Probably my single most favorite thing is riding my dirt bike, hitting a bike jump, the adrenalin, etc.

 

[Another God]

Originally posted by megashawn
I like the saying from After Rangoon, the guy says "We were raised believing that suffering is the only promise life keeps. When happiness comes, we treasure it because we know it won't last."

See, I believe that this quote is true, and that this is also why there are so many depressed people around. Everyone has convinced themselves to think from the point of view of the negative, with moments of pleasure. For some reason (I don't know why) I view things from the positive, with acceptance of occasional negative.

As I said above, when all of the worst things that could have happened in my life did happen, I simply thought of them as a sad event that happened in my otherwise perfect life. It happened, but it couldn't keep happening, o it was sure to pass, and I would be able to continue on with my happy life.

And as for the studies on Meditation: Yeah, there are BILLIONS of studies on meditation. Heaps. I know because I work in a library and I do Photocopying for students off campus, and one student is researching the effects of meditation, and I swear I photocopy around 50+ articles every month for this person, and this has been happening for about 6 months so far.

 

[jammieg]

The happiest I've ever been were a few intense moments after meditation in which I got a high that I've never found an equivalent to but would compare it to a long distance run and then falling in love while being satiated in every need and puffing on a cigarette with a cup of coffee in the other hand sitting in one's favorite chair, it can be very addictive like that, if it were illegal to practice meditation and were sold on the streets at $20 a hit it would probably be the best selling drug but it takes effort and like jogging few want to pay. Mental exercise for me is very satisfying but then that probably goes for everyone on physics forums, maybe it is taking control of one's life or dreams in various ways that is a large part of happiness.

 

[hypnagogue]

good old fashioned love. I've had some incredible highs, but when it comes to reliable, long term happiness, nothing beats a significant other who you can pour yourself into (and who reciprocates, of course). There is nothing quite like the feeling that you are ontologically melting into another human being.

 

[Kerrie]

i think true happiness is gained when an individual is living their life the best they can, with the best intentions...as far as events that happen such as AG described that happened to him, one can acquire a great amount of strength from painful situations, and gain an incredible amount of perspective...

i would say that I am too very happy with my own life currently...

 

[DrChinese]

I am pretty much jumping-for-joy happy every day. I think I am the exception. My wife tells me to shut up every time I say "ah, this is the life".

I have so much to enjoy in my life, it is pretty much impossible not to enjoy it. I don't have an excess of wealth, I make good money but I spend all of it. I am healthy, my family is healthy. I love my wife, I like our kids. I like my work, enjoy going into the office every day. Love coming home from the office every day. I have hobbies, interests, etc. I have a few good friends that I see regularly. I listen to music and enjoy a glass of wine every night.

I know I am lucky, hope the best for everyone else too.

 

[Mattius_]

There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.
-Jack London


That defines it for me.