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Why Is Happiness So Often Elusive?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Yes, this is correct. Also, we make rules to even further limit our already self-limiting lives, which brings unhappiness in abundance for the many, with respite only for the few.
Fluffy
A fool
I've just come from an evolution thread...
I wonder if seeking happiness is a trait that is selected for but enjoying happiness is one that is not or even selected against. I can see how seeking happiness (ie fulfilling one's needs) is an obvious advantage in many environments. Enjoying that happiness might limit one's desire to continue seeking it and thus be unproductive.
I wonder if seeking happiness is a trait that is selected for but enjoying happiness is one that is not or even selected against. I can see how seeking happiness (ie fulfilling one's needs) is an obvious advantage in many environments. Enjoying that happiness might limit one's desire to continue seeking it and thus be unproductive.
Quiddity
UndertheInfluenceofGiants
Because attachments are inescapable. The fact that they may come to us in the form of rules or of our own making really doesn't matter. Either way, you will attach yourself to something. Since attachements are inevitable, so to is loss.
So it's a constant cat and mouse game of you trying to move away from pain and move toward pleasure.
So it's a constant cat and mouse game of you trying to move away from pain and move toward pleasure.
Most of us don't know what we have till it's gone. We take things for granted and we have become a generation of easily bored folks who need to be entertained 24-7. A good example would be the rich and famous. You would think if anyone could find happiness, they could. Some of these folks have time and money to burn while in a relationship with someone very easy on the eyes. Six months or 2 years later, everything is in the crapper.
Imagine being a crack head. These people only get 30 seconds of pleasure or less before they come back down to there hell on earth. My goodness, afterglow lasts longer than that.
You could always be a pessimist. They are only disappointed when something good happens.
Until you learn to like being who you are and realize that it's OK to feel down from time to time, contentment is going to be fleeting at best. If we did not have bad days, how would we be able to tell when we have a good one?
Imagine being a crack head. These people only get 30 seconds of pleasure or less before they come back down to there hell on earth. My goodness, afterglow lasts longer than that.
You could always be a pessimist. They are only disappointed when something good happens.
Until you learn to like being who you are and realize that it's OK to feel down from time to time, contentment is going to be fleeting at best. If we did not have bad days, how would we be able to tell when we have a good one?
Cynic
Well-Known Member
Studies in Psychology have shown that everyone has their own baseline level of happiness. After experiencing higher levels of happiness/euphoria, due to whatever makes one happy (i.e. accomplishments), they soon return to their baseline level of happiness.
One of the suggestion made by research is that material success has, in actuality, little positive correlation to happiness. Despite Americans being several times wealthier than they were decades ago, they have not become happier.
From a biological perspective, I would say that happiness is part of a reward system that would become ineffective if it wasn't so fleeting. We wouldn't strive for much (i.e. to see our loved ones, to engage in a new and exciting romance, etc). Pleasure/pain is what motives organisms to do things. Happiness is our natural, positive reinforcement for behaviors that are conducive to survivability. If we were constantly happy, it would no longer be an effective positive reinforcer.
madhatter85
Transhumanist
2nd Nephi 2
Alma 41
Alma 41
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount -
kadzbiz
..........................
Happiness is a choice. How you want to see the world around you is up to you. If all you do is see it in a negative way, then it will only impact in a negative way upon you. The opposite is also true.
Comprehend
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Because so many people do not know what brings true happiness.
Everyone wants happiness and spend ALL of their time attempting to have it, yet most people have no idea how to get it and when they find out they refuse to do what is necessary to have it.
SO, most go from thing to thing getting temporary satisfaction out of some ultimately damaging thing.
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
:clapBingo!:clap
Because the more you try to achieve it, the further you are from it; the answer is just to appreciate it when it is there, but not to try to cling to it.
capslockf9
Active Member
We can do a lot of things to make us feel happy. Start you morning with a shock-free jog on the thread-mill, then an invigorating shower, then a tastefull cup of coffee, then a pleasant commute to work, then a productive day at work,then a winning game of tennis, then delicious dinner, then a good movie, then some mattress-thrashing with a lover, then a wakeless night sleep, then start all over again. This type of happiness is fleeting.
If you can get the drunken monkey to shut-up and make the spiritual connection; life will have intimacy. Get happy and get intimate with all of creation.
When we say "I like that" or "I do not like that" then happy or unhappy will happen. Thought had a lot to do when we decide if you like something or not. There is a bliss and joy that thought does not touch. You will see evrything and everbody with joy and love. Love will flow from you Not to you.
If you can get the drunken monkey to shut-up and make the spiritual connection; life will have intimacy. Get happy and get intimate with all of creation.
When we say "I like that" or "I do not like that" then happy or unhappy will happen. Thought had a lot to do when we decide if you like something or not. There is a bliss and joy that thought does not touch. You will see evrything and everbody with joy and love. Love will flow from you Not to you.
capslockf9
Active Member
conditional love is momentary. Most people love family, god and country ; and that is where their love stops. (If that is where it stop then it is not love.) Most people give love ; only if some of their desires and /or wants are being met. This kind of "love" is a egotistical survival tactic.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Perhaps because that is its nature.