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Fri 1 Apr, 2005 11:43 pm
I know it's different for everyone, but to you, what is complete happiness(to you).
I mean, isn't life full of problems? you know, from birth till 4, that might be the best part, but then again, your so young, it's hard to rememer and enjoy these memories. Then, after that to 18, it's school....and for a majorty of kids, school ruins the kids life....
from 18 to whatever, it is either more school, or work....and during that time, we have relationship problems, work problems, social problems, whatever....and once you get that taken care of......more problems will come up, kids problems, family problems, money problems...it seems there are a lot of problems in life....life is so cyclic....round and round, never ending problems
I think that is why everyone has different ambitions for their life....they know their life cannot be god-like perfect, so we kind of think and see what is possible and make the best of what is given to us, and that, in turns gives us this so called "perfect" life.
anyways, what is your view of true happiness, and when will you reach this goal? or have you already reached that goal...
I attained happiness when I stopped woorying about being perfect...or normal...or rich.
It took 30 years of worrying tho to get there.
What a concept: complete happiness!.
Will I ever reach it? Nah, no such thing.
Besides, attempting to gain perfect happiness (even if it did exist) would be a certain recipe for misery. I prefer to aim something a little more attainable, myself.
I think of the sensation that happens to me at that fleeting moment I am not sad, but not happy either, just alert.
sometimes that precise moment feels as if completely 'happy', which is infintesimal in duration, happens occasionally but is not cumulative (yet).
SO I was thinking: what constitutes happiness, then?
For me, a simple recipe: for the time being, no matter how long it lasts, freedom from angst. Like this morning, sitting on my back verandah, watching a beautiful morning unfold. Just quietly thinking: how beautiful everything is! That's enough for me!
Happiness is always there to be had. It just takes a little effort sometimes.
A lot of people knock relativism, citing it's a self-refuting proposition. But it's with concepts like 'happiness' that its real fruits are exposed.
All of us who are on the internet right now are living in luxury far beyond that which the majority of the world is able to experience. When the average person thinks of 'luxury' they think of gold and jewels, mansions, pools, lakeside property, ocean-front property, Beverly Hills. But really, considering things like death, real poverty, starvation - I mean, whatever you can think of that marks true unhappiness ... most of us are well in position to be 'happy'; most of us are living in luxury. We just fail to recognize it.
I'm not rich. I probably never will be. But how many people really are? How many people really get to do what they want to do with their lives?
I'm fine with 'just' being happy. And I am. For I'm always willing to recognize that my life has just culminated. Right then. Just now.
First I thought I'd be happy when I would graduate from high school.
Then I thought I'd be happy when I graduated from university.
Then I thought I'd be happy when I got a job and started to earn some money.
Then I thought I'd be happy when I got married.
Then I thought I'd be happy when we had kids.
Then I thought I'd be happy when the kids went off to school.
Now I'm just certain I'll be happy in 14 months when I qualify for early retirement.
I can't quite grasp the concept, but there just might be a trend here.
I don't know that I will ever see complete happiness. There are moments of course, but I can't yet reconcile the mistakes of the past, and feel I have not planned well enough for the future. It's just that at some point you realize the strengths of your youth won't be there forever to get you through the tough times. That being said, I'm actually a very upbeat person.
Acceptance and a sense of humor.....very important!
blueveinedthrobber wrote:never
Correct. For us carbon beings - perfection is unatainable - and being happy comes in little spurts and is filled in with a lot of down areas.
Happiness is about the journey and it seems like an aggrogate happiness spread over a lifetime.
TTF
The moonlit night I steal into the cemetary, and dance, and urinate on the fresh ground of my mother-in-law's grave.
In that moment, I shall achieve Nirvana.
There are those moments where I've had a great day with friends and lie half asleep after sex clutching onto a warm body thinking that this is the true definition of bliss.
There are moments when I channel the thoughts of my mind into writing on a page and I cease existing as anything other than a conduit for those words and feel truely content.
There are moments when chemicals course through my bloodstream hitting all the right receptors and creating buzzes and dizzying vertigo in all the right spots to make me feel that this is a moment of absolute pleasure.
In between these moments I just bumble along as best I can, try to enjoy reading a good book, do my job and take care of my life.
Can't say that I can complain. It's enough for me.
Though if it's on offer a palatial estate filled with beautiful sex slaves where I never need to work and have every luxury that the inventiness of human avarice and sloth can invent would certainly make me perfectly happy.
September l3, l975 - I promised myself that I would always remember that date as an absolutely perfect day when I was absolutely happy. I was in love (for the first time)spending the day with the person I was in love with and several friends - swimming at the Delaware Water Gap - and cooking over an open fire - we were all sunburned and laughing and high and it was perfect. (oh yeah, and Amy by Pure Prairie League was playing on the radio on the way home).
Many amazingly happy times since then - but that one will always be special.
We would be sufficiently contented if we could give up the ideal of "complete happiness." Comparing the real to some ideal is, to quote Msolga, "a certain recipe for misery."
Happiness: exposed
Happiness is a a state of mind! It is possible, when you are willing to except you lot in life. It is necessary to have goals, in order to know where you are going in life, but if you set your expectations to high, you will never be truly happy!
Bad times, eg: getting fired; losing an argument with wife; getting a ticket; or just cold, rainy, stress filled days are essential in life in order to appreciate the sunny, relaxed, clear days; watching that guy, riding your bumper, get a ticket, (Sweet!); or when your teenage son finally grows up and says, "Gosh Dad you were right after all", (may never happen), which are the good times and the happy times!
To be Successful it is necessary to Succeed
,
To Succeed it is necessary to have a Goal
,
To have a Goal it is necessary to have a Dream
This is why I need more sleep in the mornings,
I'm dreaming of being Successful!
First two paragraphs superior to the last two.
Re: Happiness: exposed
dadrcrpntr wrote:Bad times, eg: getting fired; losing an argument with wife;
If you think losing an argument with wife is bad, don't ever win an argument with her.
The long term repurcussions are worse.
I have learned to lose on purpose.
Just keep asking yourself: Do you want to win the argument and be right, or
be happy?
ExtraMedium, bowing to your wisdom.
JL Nobody
You are a "chauvinist pig"
(is that what you call in US, right?).
For years I had several discussions with my friend - we were not married - and I won a lot of them. And our relation, believe me, didn't suffer because of that.
Val - usually in America - that phrase is 'Male Chauvinist Pig'.
I think I want to clarify. I think happiness is never fully achievable when you look at paint as a negative. Pain, is a signal to do something different and a chance to learn.
Happiness is living by your nature - and part of our nature is to be in pain most of the time.
TTF
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