Thoughts 4/18/2006 April 18, 2006
Posted by Kelsey Martineau in Psychology.Tags: Psychology
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Define happiness. What makes us happy? Is it subjective? I think so. But where does happiness really come from? Does it come with who we really spend time with, or friends, families, lovers, or does it come from within? I’ll never forget, someone was unhappy with their current lover at the time, about a year and a half ago, and I asked her, “Are you truly happy? Because it comes from who you spend time with, who loves you, how people treat you, so are you truly ‘happy?’ “She told me that she disagreed, and she thought happiness came from within. I can respect that. So define happiness for me. Not a bookshelf definition, just your thoughts on it. I want replies, so if you’re reading this, do me a favor and tell me your thoughts. And like I said, personal thoughts, not dictionary definitions.
I think happiness definitely comes from within. If you’re not happy with who you are then no other person can bring you happiness. I’m sure some people get their happiness from others but i think it must start in yourself.
I suppose it comes from within……but money certainly helps me as well.
I agree that it comes from within. Although I also don’t think you can be happy with a jerk for a boyfriend, even if you are happy inside. But then again happiness is a temporary emotion. Should there be another word for it? Joy? At peace with yourself? Contentment?
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Your site rocks!
Happiness is an emotion which means many different things to many different people. Vague eh? Good I’ve just started. Let’s begin with the personal and move outward. Happiness to me means peace of mind. In my head its chaos and the moments I get reprieve from it lend me the strength and the happiness to realize the chaos is fleeting. Lets move outward now to what I’ve heard others describe their happiness as (generally of course to protect friends). One friend told me she found happiness in knowing she was loved, this to her brought a feeling of joy and kept her from the depression, which threatened to ruin her life. Another friend of mine finds happiness in the thrill of combat. He goes to great lengths to tell me of the adrenaline rush that battle brings him. He truly is a man out of time, but he always reminds me the dull between fights is boring. And my last friend that I’ll describe finds happiness internally. She seeks the happiness through constant writing and singing. She also knows that unleashing these feelings and words helps her express who she is and keeps her from being sad. So let’s add a common theme here. In each of these cases the happiness replaced something other then happiness. It’s called an illness these days with high priced drugs to match, but in reality it’s just the lacking of something that creates an emotional homeostasis. Depression is the word for it, and happiness to me is the lack of depression. Or in other words the lack of a lacking in emotional areas. (Forgiveness for briefness, but I don’t want this to be a blog-like comment heh)
Thanks for the answers. I guess I would more or less agree. Dawn made a really good point though; happiness is more like an emotion. Being “content” is a better word I would assume. But that brings up the question; can we be content all the time? I don’t think so. I think happiness is a state, as well as contentment. Things just happen in life, and sometimes we can’t explain them. There isn’t a game plan for life; you can’t always plan ahead for everything. You can’t explain every single thing that happens, nor can we understand. Maybe certain people find it from certain things. Look what Eli had to say, he claims money makes him happy. Maybe it’s different for each person? Of course money could just be a temporary solution, I really don’t know. Just like Matthew mentioned, he has multiple friends, and different things make each person happy. Basically a different type of event or activity, for lack of a better word, makes each person happy.
I also like what Karlee said. It has to start from within. You have to have a base for everything. If you think about it, if you’re building a house, you have to have a good foundation or it’s not going to hold up. It won’t stand, because you have problems where you started. Life is kind of like that. Each situation we go through has an answer. Every single thing we do can be solved, but we have to start from within. There are so many times that I’ve asked advice for things that I knew the answer to, but didn’t want to accept it. Hell, I’m in that kind of situation now. Logically we know what we have to do, but emotionally we don’t do it. But see that brings a paradox, if we’re doing what makes us “happy” but it’s not the “right” thing to do, are we truly happy when we’re doing that?
Continually and every moment seeking to fulfilling oneself is the means to inner joy that can’t be taken away from you. Concentrate upon what you want and ironically, you’ll be the most unselfish and the most useful to all. my fondest wishes to you all!