Happy: What is genuine happiness? Can we have happiness without sadness?

[LightSun]

With all the choices in life and the many necessary sacrifices we have to make to effect change, how does one become happy? What is genuine happiness? If money cannot buy happiness, can you ever be truly happy with no money? Can we have happiness without sadness?

 

[LightSun]

"Searching the external world exclusively for happiness is a fool's dream. You will die searching because you never discovered yourself. That is the inner world. The path of self- discovery and finding out what you truly wish for, who is your real self and to find completion. Too many times we may ignore the inner universe, searching for peace, as well happiness when these lay within us.”

 

[Alice in Blunderland]

I think research on happiness is so, so interesting, but it's definitely a difficult concept to even define. For example, there's day-to-day happiness, but there's also an overall sense of life satisfaction, and the two aren't necessarily correlated. Take children, for instance. They tend to decrease happiness in the here and now, but they contribute to overall life satisfaction.

Some of the factors that appear to influence happiness routinely turn up on world happiness surveys and include personal freedom, income equality, physical health, social support, and the ability to trust one's community and government.

There are people who can be happy with no money, especially in societies in which no one has money and everyone is living a simple life because there's none of that discontent that comes from failing to keep up with Joneses.

I'm not sure if there can be happiness without the contrast of sadness, but there can probably be contentment--a state of being at peace with yourself and your circumstances. Interestingly, happiness studies also show that everyone has an individual baseline level of happiness that they return to after especially joyful or depressing events.

 

[Deep-Minded-Girl]

I believe that being happy does not mean never being sad, but that happiness is something more global in terms of life. I mean, it's not a particular moment, it's our whole life, the process of how we live our lives. I believe that happiness for each person has its specific criteria, but in general, I think that happiness implies leading the life you want (not perfect but one that fulfills / has fulfilled the most important things for you) like: study / work in what you like, have a good support group (family, friends), make the hobbies you like, have a good partner, have the necessary capital to give you the life you want (simple or expensive), know you, and feel good with yourself. ... I mean implies, have time, money, affection, self-esteem and self-realization. For me it implies one more thing: to have opportunities, and to be able to choose.

 

[Fluffywolf]

If you don't know what it is like to be sad, how can you expect to recognize and understand what it means to be happy?

I think I once made an interesting thread about happiness in which I wondered where the ideal balance lies between acceptance and desire, when it comes to attaining happiness.

For example. If you are happy, you have much less to reach for and you are more likely to stand still in life (one of my deepest personal concerns as I often feel like this is where I tend to settle in).

But if you are unhappy, you are much more motivated to reach for what you believe will bring you happiness, and once you attain it, it will mean that much more.

Of course, that means that if your goals are unreachable, you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life, so ultimately it boils down to trying to have realistic goals and feeling just about unhappy enough about your current life to motivate you towards those goals and just be happy with that little bit of unhappiness.

 

[Mole]

Narcissists are concerned about whether they are happy or unhappy, while mensch do good.