Is true happiness attainable?

[Avocado]

Is it possible to be truly satisfied, free from the endless gnawing inside that tells you things are not as they should be? Is it possible to achieve true harmony with your sense of ethics and those in your innermost circle?

 

[Hitoshi-San]

I think that when the things in life that make us struggle the hardest are overcome, we can be the happiest with ourselves, and that gives the rest of our life a sort of new light.

So, I'm pretty on the fence, but think about it. If you've felt nothing but pain for a long time, it's easy to recognize pure happiness once it comes to you.

 

[Avocado]

I think that when the things in life that make us struggle the hardest are overcome, we can be the happiest with ourselves, and that gives the rest of our life a sort of new light.

So, I'm pretty on the fence, but think about it. If you've felt nothing but pain for a long time, it's easy to recognize pure happiness once it comes to you.

The thorn in the prince's heel hurts worse than the thorn in the farmer's.

 

[Tellenbach]

This article might help:

There's More to Life Than Being Happy

In a new study, which will be published this year in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Positive Psychology, psychological scientists asked nearly 400 Americans aged 18 to 78 whether they thought their lives were meaningful and/or happy. Examining their self-reported attitudes toward meaning, happiness, and many other variables -- like stress levels, spending patterns, and having children -- over a month-long period, the researchers found that a meaningful life and happy life overlap in certain ways, but are ultimately very different. Leading a happy life, the psychologists found, is associated with being a "taker" while leading a meaningful life corresponds with being a "giver."

"Happy people get a lot of joy from receiving benefits from others while people leading meaningful lives get a lot of joy from giving to others," explained Kathleen Vohs, one of the authors of the study, in a recent presentation at the University of Pennsylvania. In other words, meaning transcends the self while happiness is all about giving the self what it wants. People who have high meaning in their lives are more likely to help others in need. "If anything, pure happiness is linked to not helping others in need," the researchers, which include Stanford University's Jennifer Aaker and Emily Garbinsky, write.

 

[miss fortune]

for how long are we speaking?

I can say that I spent a few beautiful and perfect hours reading in a park on a lovely summer afternoon a few months ago with a good book I hadn't yet had time to read, a shady park bench all to myself, food and beverage I liked and the knowledge that there was absolutely nothing else I needed to do at that moment other than to enjoy myself... that was a perfectly happy afternoon

however, to go through one's entire life happy? what's the point? you wouldn't know happy without knowing unhappy...

 

[gromit]

I think part of true happiness, for me at least, is working toward something meaningful.

But also, like [MENTION=1180]whatever[/MENTION] wrote, it can be found in those blissfully simple moments where you just pause from all the hustle and bustle.

 

[Stanton Moore]

For short bursts, yes.
But you will get sick, old, and die, because everyone does.

 

[Cellmold]

What is true happiness? Is it something different from the every day sort that happens as a consequence rather than a goal?

Happiness is like a drug which once experienced becomes a condition desired again and again. It comes from feeling completely content with your existence for a brief moment. But we cannot be happy all our lives, that's just greed and like greed an overindulgence creates only more want as opposed to satisfaction.

It's easy to say this and harder to remember, especially when times are shit and our emotions are at their most negative..... but happiness is all part of a larger experience that involves the worst as well as the best.

Happiness is best when unlooked for and the sudden surprise of its appearance is one of the more beautiful aspects of our lives.

I know you're hurting [MENTION=18694]Magic Qwan[/MENTION] and I'm crap at advice, but I hope your tough times pass.

 

[Avocado]

What is true happiness? Is it something different from the every day sort that happens as a consequence rather than a goal?

Happiness is like a drug which once experienced becomes a condition desired again and again. It comes from feeling completely content with your existence for a brief moment. But we cannot be happy all our lives, that's just greed and like greed an overindulgence creates only more want as opposed to satisfaction.

It's easy to say this and harder to remember, especially when times are shit and our emotions are at their most negative..... but happiness is all part of a larger experience that involves the worst as well as the best.

Happiness is best when unlooked for and the sudden surprise of its appearance is one of the more beautiful aspects of our lives.

I know you're hurting [MENTION=18694]Magic Qwan[/MENTION] and I'm crap at advice, but I hope your tough times pass.

Thank you.

 

[Pionart]

Happiness is just a mechanism used for the reinforcement of behaviours, it's not good in and of itself.

 

[Evee]

Happiness is like a bird with twenty wings
try to catch him as he flies
Happiness is like a bird that only sings
when his head is in the skies

You can try to make him walk beside you
You can say the door is open wide
If you grab at him, woe betide you,
I know because I've tried.

 

[HongDou]

Happiness is just a mechanism used for the reinforcement of behaviours, it's not good in and of itself.

you're a mean one, mr. grinch...

 

[Chthonic]

Is it possible to be truly satisfied, free from the endless gnawing inside that tells you things are not as they should be? Is it possible to achieve true harmony with your sense of ethics and those in your innermost circle?

If by happiness you mean that you come to a place where you will be free from desiring more? Then no I dont think that is possible by normal people, buddhist monks maybe. Every movement in the direction of what we want gives us a vantage point from which new possibilities are seen. So yes, we will become enchanted with these new ideas and create desire from them.

Is it possible to acheive true harmony with your sense of ethics? Only if you don't require others to share them then yes I suppose it is. Making peace with them is what I have done but I dont expect my ethics to be practised by anyone except me. I also know that sometimes me practising my ethics will disadvantage me also. Thats just life.

With my inner circle, no I dont strive for total harmoney with those who are my friends. Its more fun if we are different enough to have some discord and disagree a bit. Friendships are better when you have some aspects you have in common and others that you dont.

 

[Pionart]

you're a mean one, mr. grinch...

Muahahahha

 

[Kullervo]

Is it possible to be truly satisfied, free from the endless gnawing inside that tells you things are not as they should be? Is it possible to achieve true harmony with your sense of ethics and those in your innermost circle?

I would like to think so.

However, let's be real. If humans were wired to be satisfied with what we currently had, we'd still be living in the Stone Age. There are positives to longing for something greater, I guess it's about whether you allow this to take over your life...

 

[Avocado]

If by happiness you mean that you come to a place where you will be free from desiring more? Then no I dont think that is possible by normal people, buddhist monks maybe. Every movement in the direction of what we want gives us a vantage point from which new possibilities are seen. So yes, we will become enchanted with these new ideas and create desire from them.

Is it possible to acheive true harmony with your sense of ethics? Only if you don't require others to share them then yes I suppose it is. Making peace with them is what I have done but I dont expect my ethics to be practised by anyone except me. I also know that sometimes me practising my ethics will disadvantage me also. Thats just life.

With my inner circle, no I dont strive for total harmoney with those who are my friends. Its more fun if we are different enough to have some discord and disagree a bit. Friendships are better when you have some aspects you have in common and others that you dont.

Very interesting. So monks are free of desire?

 

[Avocado]

I would like to think so.

However, let's be real. If humans were wired to be satisfied with what we currently had, we'd still be living in the Stone Age. There are positives to longing for something greater, I guess it's about whether you allow this to take over your life...

Indeed, we would not even leave Africa.

 

[Jaguar]

Divine discontent - it drives me.

 

[Mademoiselle]

If you fixed you brain system a bit, yes.

 

[indra]

Very interesting. So monks are free of desire?

They are free from rebirth, of a metaphoric sense. They are pristine, in that they may loll in mud but emerge as they were dropped; there is no facet to their self by which dirt will cling to.

This is where one is said to be "bound upstream", there is no longer an eye for what's gone before.