how happy are you

[wilbur lim]

Let happiness and glee happen everyday,for I abhor depression and grief.I am,well,not a genuinely 'happy' person because I cannot attain my wishes.It is taxing to overcome the negative for it undermines postitive easily.

[Scheherazade]

Ok, so everyone is saying that happiness isn't based on things or circumstances or other people. You are in control of your own happiness. That makes sense, but how to do force yourself to be happy? I've been depressed alot the last few years and I would go through phases when'd I'd think that my life would be so much better if I had a better job, car, more friends, a boyfriend etc. But then I'd realize that'd even if I did have all those things, I'd still be miserable. So I know it's not things that make you happy, but what is it?

This is such a hard question to answer because, I am sure, the answer is ver different for each and every one of us.

Even though I know it is somewhat of a Pollyanna attitude, I have come to appreciate the things I have (both materialistic and otherwise): Among my students, there are people who have had strokes and lost their ability to read, write or even to hold a pen properly. Thinking that the very same thing can happen to any one of us, I try to make best of what I have today. I am glad that I am healthy (more or less) and independent in many ways and have the people I care about around me. I was not very satisfied with certain things about my career so I have decided to make the necessary changes and taken big steps towards altering those circumstances that were bothering me (even though it means I will be making sacrifices and working probably twice harder).

Even if sometimes things don't go the way we want them to, being able to say "I have tried and done my best" is a happiness in itself too.

[jhonerliz]

I don't know how happy I am right now... I cant even say if I'm happy or not. Maybe a mix emotion. Happy I was able to watch my students giving their best in their basketball game but sad because they lost.

Happy because I'm in love with my husband and sad because I wasn't able to prepare his dinner before leaving for work. (happened that I came home late because of watching the basketball game of my students)

[blazeofglory]

Happiness is fleeting every time.

[Virgil]

Ok, so everyone is saying that happiness isn't based on things or circumstances or other people. You are in control of your own happiness. That makes sense, but how to do force yourself to be happy? I've been depressed alot the last few years and I would go through phases when'd I'd think that my life would be so much better if I had a better job, car, more friends, a boyfriend etc. But then I'd realize that'd even if I did have all those things, I'd still be miserable. So I know it's not things that make you happy, but what is it?

This is such a hard question to answer because, I am sure, the answer is ver different for each and every one of us.

Even though I know it is somewhat of a Pollyanna attitude, I have come to appreciate the things I have (both materialistic and otherwise): Among my students, there are people who have had strokes and lost their ability to read, write or even to hold a pen properly. Thinking that the very same thing can happen to any one of us, I try to make best of what I have today. I am glad that I am healthy (more or less) and independent in many ways and have the people I care about around me. I was not very satisfied with certain things about my career so I have decided to make the necessary changes and taken big steps towards altering those circumstances that were bothering me (even though it means I will be making sacrifices and working probably twice harder).

Even if sometimes things don't go the way we want them to, being able to say "I have tried and done my best" is a happiness in itself too.

This is such a great response from Scher. I completely agree. I have my health and family and a reasonably good life. What more could I want? Nothing. I have fun either at work, with my wife, and here on lit net. So I have my health, a good life, and I have fun. What more is there?

Scher, I wish you the best of luck with the changes you are making. I hope they work out perfectly.

[motherhubbard]

When I started this thread I was actually thinking of this woman who is always so happy. There are a million bad things that have happened to her family and she has suffered through so many things. Her first husband was not really the best guy, and when their three children were young he was in a motorcycle accident that left him with the mentality of a three or four year old. She cared for him for over 30 years. One of her children was brutally attacked in one of the most horrid crimes to happen in this area in the past 50 years. She survived, but it was touch and go and she is forever changed by the experience. She has cared for many sick and dieing relatives and is always busy doing for others. About a year after her first husband passed away she remarried. We were all so happy for her and she was excited to be wife to a husband instead of mother. A month after the wedding he suffered a severe stroke. It’s been about ten years and he can walk a little now, but he still cannot communicate.

I don’t know how she keeps her attitude. I admire her ability to keep going and doing for others. I admire her smile.

[blazeofglory]

I am fine.

[wilbur lim]

Of course one cannot be gleeful all the time.Trails and tribulations struck virtually everyday.

[WhimsySA]

I voted "rather happy". I am generally a jolly person although I do have a temper problem. There are always things in life that get us down, however it is up to you yourself to decide what you are going to let get you down. There are some pressing issues in my life that are bothering me and the time is drawing nearer for me to decide how I am to handle them, but for the moment I am not letting them bother me too much. After all, this is my last year in high school and I must enjoy it while it lasts!

[Annamariah]

I know I should be happy, but I'm not. I do try to be happy, but for some reason it doesn't work.

Things that should make me happy: I'm studying something I really enjoy and something that should make sure I'll get a job after I graduate. I don't have any financial problems. I have a couple of friends. I have a pretty good family (even if we don't always get along that well).

Why am I not happy then? I like studying, but sometimes it's just too much work and stress. I almost never see my friends, they're so busy with their lives and living in different towns makes things even more difficult. Without my flatmate (thank God for her) I'd be really, really lonely. I have an atopic skin which makes my life really difficult. Right now it's pretty bad, I wake up a couple of times every night because it hurts so much. I hate the fact my skin takes up all my thoughts and all my energy. I cannot forget it even for a moment.

[blazeofglory]

Happiness has no station. It is a river, a flow. It can not be retained.

Happiness is just a state of mind. When you are hungry you eat and during the process or activity you will bed happy and once it is over or the activity is over the state of or the intensity of happiness does not remain the same.

Happiness is not fully fulfillment or contentment. It is in part hunger and in part fulfillment, and in fact it is a mix of the two. It is not just the destination, but the path too, and of course it is to be out of the state of poverty but both the feeling of poverty, the memory that you were and now you are not anymore poor. Both in combination makes you happy.

It is not just reaching there, but going there too can be in the making of happiness.

[Scheherazade]

Scher, I wish you the best of luck with the changes you are making. I hope they work out perfectly.

Thank you, kindly!

I don’t know how she keeps her attitude. I admire her ability to keep going and doing for others. I admire her smile.

I wonder if we need to experience some kind of loss or threat to be able to appreciate the value of what we already have...

[blazeofglory]

In fact happiness is something relative and we can not say exactly wherein it lies and it may lie in a state without material profits and at times even if you can make a million you cannot achieve it. It is totally relative.

[ntropyincarnate]

i'm not at all happy. 'cause i'm screwed.

[wilbur lim]

Discernibly people are getting more melancholy these month.