Happiness

[Jumi]

How do you define it? Is being content enough or do you feel there need to be high points?

 

[YmirGF]

For me, at least, happiness is my general state of mind, it's default mode. I've never lost that childlike playfulness. If you were around me for very long you may very well wonder if I am EVER serious.

 

[jonathan180iq]

How do you define it? Is being content enough or do you feel there need to be high points?

Contentment is not necessarily happiness, though I suppose it can be for some people relative to other scenarios.

Being accepting of a negative outcome, for example, can be considered content once the negatives are truly accepted psychologically. But that's very different from being happy with a given outcome outcome. Similarly, one could be content with a negative outcome when compared to a whole slew of possible worse outcomes. In the last case, it could be said that one could be happy that the negative they experienced was not worse...

I'm a bit of a dualist in this arena, recognizing that my happiness for any given situation is directly related to the amount of negatives that I've experienced before hand. Happiness at a sporting event, for example, is significantly magnified when I've gained a victory over a worthy adversary than against one of lesser caliber. Victory in the first sense required more work, more sacrifice (usually) but allowed for the greater experience. Disappointment does not seem to track the same way; meaning that I am not wholly devastated when I fail to be victorious over the better opponent, even though I put in the effort which should have resulted in a victory. In that way, I would agree with @YmirGF in that happiness is probably a larger part of my core being.

 

[Enoch07]

How do you define it? Is being content enough or do you feel there need to be high points?

I would say being content is happiness. So long as you are not complacent.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

I would say being content is happiness. So long as you are not complacent.

If ignorance is bliss then what is complacency?

 

[Enoch07]

If ignorance is bliss then what is complacency?

Ignorance = bliss

Laziness = complacency

Its all too common to become content and then stop working at being happy. To stay content you must work at it. Don't get too comfortable. Make sure you stay humble, and try not to get overconfident. To stay content, is a difficult balancing act. Much easier said than done.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Ignorance = bliss

Laziness = complacency

Its all too common to become content and then stop working at being happy. To stay content you must work at it. Don't get too comfortable. Make sure you stay humble, and try not to get overconfident. To stay content, is a difficult balancing act. Much easier said than done.

I was just tongue-in-cheeking that if ignorance is bliss, and complacency leads to ignorance, it leads to all the bliss.

But I'm a Ravenclaw so I'd rather have the ugly truth.

 

[PureX]

How do you define it? Is being content enough or do you feel there need to be high points?

To be honest, I think it's one of those things that we're better off not worrying about. But I'm a taoist, philosophically, so I view spontaneity as an essential expression of both humility and honesty. And then, through these, we find our joyousness.

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Interesting thread!

It would be marvellous if we were all "naturally" happy ... but some of us need a lot of "help"

If you want an excellent read on the subject, try a little book simply called "Happiness" by Matthieu Ricard.

He is known as the world's happiest man but he himself scoffs at the title.

You can find him on YouTube -

ricard happiness - YouTube

Have a good one!