I started an online course on The Science of Happiness out of interest what the science behind it is.
One of the first questions we (approx. 100k students) were asked was:
How do you define happiness?
Surely everyone has an idea what happiness is, right?
I noticed that I don't. What is happiness? It is the state in which we are happy. So when am I happy? What are the situations that make me happy?
I am happy when...
* I see somebody that I missed
* I achieve something I have been working for (Example: seeing my master thesis finished on the table)
* I am able to help someone out
* I love/care for somebody and feel loved/cared for in return
* I hold that gadget in my hands that I wanted (or is that excitement?)
So, if I fulfill as many as possible of those things, do I feel happiness? Am I happy?
In the introduction of the course we learn that there are different ideas of happiness. While the western view of happiness seems to involve achievements and experience as part of happiness, the eastern view talk more about leaving your desires behind and gaining happiness through helping others (human connections play a bigger role).
So, what do you guys think? How do you define happiness?
My daughter just phoned me. She's solving problems and living her life.
Knowing that and having a connection with her make happiness easier. I'm tempted to delete this, but I'll throw it out there into the mix because when you are connected to people, their happiness is connected to your happiness. (As for the rest of you, if you're not living at home, call your mom.)
Thanks for responding. I often start a post and then on 2nd thought, erase it. I'm glad I didn't erase that one. What do you mean by insulation? I see it as meaning blocking out others - being narrow, unwilling to meet others. Did you mean being protected by others, holding them close?
It made me happy to read this. I'll do that today. I can be bad about it. I can see that one day I will be on the other end of the phone, and teaching by example is probably reason enough.(As for the rest of you, if you're not living at home, call your mom.)
There are a few different kinds I think. When I clean my car, room, etc, I have a certain satisfaction and 'happiness.' When I do things that I enjoy with those I care for, a different kind. When it's 3 in the morning, I'm a few joints deep playing guitar by myself and I finally nail the lick that I want, a very particular kind of elation. By my experience, happiness is fluid, conditional and especially, relative.
Knowing what it is and having a concise definition for it does not have to be the same thing, I think. I just finished reading Mindfullness in Plain English, in which Bhante Henepola Gunaratana wrote the following passage: Remove the bit about Pali, and swap out mindfulness for $MENTAL_STATE. Language is great, but it isn't infallible. When I would say I am happy: When I'm not feeling lots of pain, apathy, fear, sadness, or anger. When I'm aware that I'm not feeling losts of pain, apathy, fear, sadness, or anger. I'm more likely to be happy when I'm doing something I enjoy, but not always. And doing something I dislike doesn't necessarily preclude happiness. Probably a shitty response, but the more I try to drill down and get specific, the more disagree with my answer. Having healthy relationships definitly fosters my own happiness. So does acting to address problems that I perceive and am able to influcence. I find my own happiness falls closer to contentment than excitement.MINDFULNESS is the English translation of the Pali word sati. Sati is an activity. What exactly is that? There can be no precise answer, at least not in words. Words are devised by the symbolic levels of the mind, and they describe those realities with which symbolic thinking deals.
Mindfulness is presymbolic. It is not shackled to logic. Nevertheless, mindfulness can be experienced—rather easily—and it can be described, as long as you keep in mind that the words are only fingers pointing at the moon. They are not the moon itself. The actual experience lies beyond the
words and above the symbols. Mindfulness could be described in completely different terms than will be used here, and each description could still be correct.
Absolutely. Like love, or porn: you know it when you see it.Knowing what it is and having a concise definition for it does not have to be the same thing,
I'm happy when people around me make an effort to talk to me. Or when a friend mentions that they were thinking about me in some way. It's really nice to know that people like you enough to want to be around you, it means that I must be doing something right.
That is a nice a feeling. It's so important to know that we have people in our lives that care about us. Sometimes it's hard to recognize because we can trick ourselves in to thinking we are not worthy of such care. Of course, this is wrong and counterproductive. We are all in this together! When I remember that, it makes me happy.
That's a good question, and I think it varies not just by person, but by moment and ... I guess perspective of that moment? I don't know how else to explain that. But, for example, I'm super happy right this minute because I just bought some plane tickets to somewhere I've wanted to go for a really long time. Does that make me "happy" in my life overall right now? As in, when I look back on this general time period will I say I was happy then? Probably not because of that instance specifically...but hopefully it will be part of the things that made me happy at this time. And I like to think that when I look back at my life overall, I'll be able to see it through a "happy" lens and not focus on those miseries that we all suffer through in some way or another. I think if you ask people if they're happy in this moment vs. if they're happy overall, you'll probably get two different answers quite often.
I have various moments when I feel happy, but I'm trying to extend my happiness to become an attitude rather than a fleeting moment. Some examples of those moments include: -laying in bed under my ceiling fan in fresh sheets after having washed my hair and watching Netflix
-coming home and cuddling on the sofa with my mom
-running errands with my dad
-getting coffee at my favorite coffee house and catching up with a friend
-just having a friend to talk to and hug and share my life with and who shares their life with me
-knowing that when I'm scared I say the Sikh prayer I learned as a young kid, even though I'm not sure if I want to be Sikh (I'm confused about religion, in general)
-sitting in a classroom at college and thinking "hey, I really love what I'm learning."
-speaking to my great aunt, the woman who helped raise me, on the phone because she's in India and I'm in California. She's over 90 years old and I'm scared I'm going to lose her, but I hear her abundant love for me every time we talk on the phone through her tone alone and I'd be gutted without her. And last but not least: Nutella.
That was a very uplifting comment, I'm glad you shared it. Watching anything good on Netflix?
Happiness is a transient experience that a brain and body produce on encounter with various different favourable circumstances. Of course, what experience produces happiness is relative. I love the feeling of happiness you get when you realise you're needlessly wallowing in unhappyness and proceed let it go. Such a lovely wave of contentment.
I strive to be like my dog. That's what I think true happiness is. Living your life with a few set priorities and putting your all into making them the best things ever. Walk time? Snack time? Pure bliss for them. I wish I could throw myself into activities and enjoy them as much as that.
Sorry if this comes off pissy. The answers so far are great. I could go on and on about how fleeting happiness is. It's like a cigarette, or a brownie, or an orgasm. It's very briefness is what makes it wonderful. Life can be a real bitch but the few moments of sunshine, where you truly feel ethereal, are worth all the hardship. Right now? My idea of happiness is having enough money to make next month's rent.
Eh, I didn't respond to this because I wanted to provide a specific response, I more thought it would be interesting to consider the types of happiness in a generalized way. I phrased it as an "I" statement but I meant it as a generalized response to your general question: "What is happiness?" I think one type of happiness is the feeling that occurs when someone obtains something they desire. There's clearly at least one other type of happiness that occurs when something is obtained/received that a person didn't know they wanted until they had it (for instance, presents). We could probably break down "Rules of Happiness" by category: happiness brought about by physical/material things (possessions), happiness brought about via social interactions (interpersonal), happiness brought about by achievement or reaching one's goals (which could relate to either of the two already named). For instance.