the sources of happiness

although we are complex beings, and emotion is one of the most difficult to predict and classify, it has occured to me that there seem to be just a few basic underlying things that cause happiness.

here is my hasty attempt to categorize those sources:

- passion
- personal connection
- accomplishment
- exploration
- humor

you might add a 6th category for drugs, but even though that can be a big part of our lives it does not really count, because we already know that happiness is chemically induced and so finding chemicals that cut right to the chase is cheating

it should be noted that these categories should be interpreted broadly, and from an emotional perspective. for instance, exploration could be exploration of a new land, of an old photograph collection, of a new field of science, etc. what i wanted to capture in this category was the sense of satisfying one's curiosity in some area.

by passion, i refer not only to direct stimulation but to the whole process of meeting someone new and getting to know them in a romantic way, the whole of which i thing is an emotional process dominated by pleasing hormones.

what do you think? can you think of examples of happiness that don't fit into these categories? is there a finite set of categories of things that can bring us happiness?

If you're a homeless person, living off of grabage and sleeping in cardboard boxes, happiness is a full meal ( home-cooked)
and a nice, warm, clean bed ...

I think self fulfillment is one source of happiness, and also contentment, which is basically hard to achieve nowaydays in this fast paced world Laughing

How about the source of happiness being "you"?

*Sanity ...though that is a form of Peace, if you like

The rest is gravy.

Sanity is not required at all. People with Down's syndrome are very happy. I actually think that the more intelligent a person is the more troubled, mentally stressed, and self critical they are...making happiness much more difficult to acquire.

Quote:

The rest is gravy.

I don't agree at all. If I had only peace, basic needs met, and sanity I would be absolutely miserable. If I don't get the other needs I mentioned like exploration to satisfy my curiosity and keep me busy, and a regular sense of accomplishment, and laughing, I would probably just dwindle away to a worthless depressed nothing person.

I totally disagree with your accessment of Sanity, though.
First of all, your example of a person with Down's syndrom in relation to sanity is poor.
A person with Down's syndrom is not necessarily insane, though they might be. But having Down's syndrom does not mean you are insane.
It means you have Down's syndrom, which you might want to do a bit of research on.

Individuals with Down syndrome have lower than average cognitive ability, normally ranging from mild to moderate retardation. Some individuals may have overall average intelligence, but generally will present with some amount of developmental disability such as a tendency toward concrete thinking or naivete. There is also a small number of individuals with Down syndrome with severe to profound mental retardation. The incidence of Down syndrome is estimated at 1 per 800 to 1 per 1000 births.

Secondly, not all people with Down's syndrom are happy. They are no different from the rest of us: some are happy, some are not, good days and bad days.

I've seen absolutely miserable people, from all levels of ability and/or disability. At least in my experience, that has nothing to do with it.

It's hard to be happy when you are out of your mind, or going through a strong manic/paranoid cycle. I've never seen anyone do it. I've seen wicked humor, plodding along until it passes, enduring. Not what one would call 'happiness'.
Just my observations.

In my opinion i don't think anyone in this world is happy,even if our life is perfect we always will envy something or someone else, the queen for example may not be happy because she lives such a public life but someone else may not be happ because they live such a private life, it is incredibly hard to be happy, as humans we always want more, we don't want to stop we want to keep getting better, we never get satisfaction. All life is like this we always want something better, if we were happy with ourselves we would not continue to get better. There is something embedded into us that makes us want to strive for the better that is why so little people are happy