Is Happiness A Myth?

[/Circa]

It strikes me, i'm the kind of person that keeps quiet and just absorbs everything around me, and today on the train I looked around, and not once was I convinced someone actually looked truly happy. People go about the same routines day to day, happy they got a good job so they can attempt to pay off a $320 000 house, but in true fact theyll probably die before that happens.

You have poor people who strive for happiness but rarely find it, then rich people who still don't have enough. Some peoples idea of happiness is floating through life, coming home after school/work then siting down and watching tv, others play sport.

It's like a quote I saw, "a pursuit of happiness is a silly phrase, if you pursue happiness you will never have it"

In the end, all these years we waste might not even be worth it.

I don't know, what are your thoughts?

 

[.Gamer]

As Bob Marley once said,

"Don't worry, be happpy."

 

[Esper]

If you don't find something in life that really stirs your passion and makes you leap out of bed every morning you'll never really feel happy. Happiness is fleeting anyway so grab onto it while you can. The best thing you can hope for, in my opinion, is a long term contentedness without too many sad moments interrupting. Feeling that you can live with something that isn't exactly what you want is important to learn how to do because most of us won't end up how we really wish we would and if you can't deal with that then you're heading for a very dark life.

 

[Spearow]

I don't know if there is such a thing is long-term happiness. I think it's likely there is only what we feel at any given instance in time - I think that human beings forget that they are still creatures who inhabit the moment, no matter their ability to think temporally.

But if people do want to do that weird retrospect thing, they are free to. I just think it's bound to be a distorted view of who you really were and how you really were during the period you're reviewing.

Also, it sounds like you're talking mostly about economic happiness, which is different in most people's classifications than... well, general happiness.

 

[Blue Nocturne]

"a pursuit of happiness is a silly phrase, if you pursue happiness you will never have it"

Indeed.
Happiness is an emotion, clinically there, just like anger and rage. Personally i find you can only find happiness if your not looking for it, just let it happen whenever possible. Also, happiness is not in money, look at LEDC's and slums. There are higher suicide and depression rates in MEDC's then there are in LEDC's. I suspect that, when we start associating happiness with wealth and possessions, that is when you become unhappy. Sure, you can have a lot of fun when playing New Super Mario Bros or whatever, but this is at best temporary, your joy is not determined by a computer, or an object, it is by people.

 

[Kikaito plush]

I say it is, but meeh I would like to buy some please

 

[Timbjerr]

I believe the OP is confusing the term happiness with satisfaction with one's life of self-actualization. It is fully possible albiet a life-long challenge.

One psychologist (whose name I forget at the moment) came up with the pyramid theory. At the very bottom are our physiological needs - food, water, shelter. At the next layer is security - the need to feel safe anywhere we go, both physically and financially. The next layer is companionship - the need to feel like we belong in a group. After that is love, the need to have a "soulmate". After that is self-actualization. Only after you have fulfilled one layer can you procede to pursue the next layer and so on and so on.

The reason why the OP says that he doesn't think people are really [satisfied] is because we will all most likely become caught up in one of those layers. I, for one, have yet to achieve financial security, let alone the two layers above it. According to the pyramid theory, only a very small percentage of us will ever reach the top and die satisfied with our lives.

 

[Anxiety.]

Is happiness a Myth? No.
It's just hard to find.

Right now, from where I'm standing, it looks like I'll never reach happiness.

 

[Feign]

Oh dear :S You've really opened a can of worms. XD

If you're really interested in this subject matter, the early Greek Philosophers discussed it in great length.

First you'd have to define:

What is happiness? You can guarantee everyone's answer will be different. It is a really interesting topic though.

Furthermore, happiness presupposes that of the good life. How does one attain "the good life"? Again a million answers. XD

 

[Captain Fabio]

I don't believe that happiness if a myth. Even when you looked around the train, it doesn't mean that those people haven't been happy before.

Unfortunately, most people aren't working in the job that they would like, therefore, they won't be happy. I work a part time job and when I am coming back from work, I am sure I don't look all that happy.
Those people might be feeling drained, tired and just exhausted, I am never that happy when I am feeling like that :P

But back onto the point; I believe that happiness isn't just a myth.

 

[Mika]

Happiness is not a myth it's just part of maturity.

Part of growing up is realizing that things don't make you happy and never will. People with next to nothing are happier than people like Britney Spears because they have the things that matter in life. Those people, who have no bling or anything like it, have a good self esteem and people around them that love and cherish them and treat them like they deserve to be treated.

tl;dr: Unconditional love is the true root of happiness, that and a good self esteem. It takes work but hell it's worth it.

 

[!!!Mudkipz]

Happiness is a feeling and additude that not ought to be dependent on circumstances, although circumstances can certainly help...

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

Happy? I'm happy :P
You should be, too.

 

[JadedIguana]

Feeling happy is easy if you;

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour
That's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way
Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars
It's 100,000 light-years side-to-side
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light-years thick
But out by us it's just 3000 light-years wide
We're 30,000 light-years from galactic central point
We go round every 200 million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
Because there's bugger all down here on Earth

Oh sorry, I couldn't resist. But it's rather true. It's just noticing how great things are, good and bad, the fact that it can be had. The fond memories, and the experiences so far, things that you wish to do, the things that you have yet to see. There's a lot of bad in the world, but there's also a lot more good. You just need to stop paying attention to the usual things that people pay attention to. :3

 

[Virtual Chatot]

I'm perfectly happy right now, and that's because I don't let things get to me.
People make themselves happy and they can make themselves sad.

 

[XCHAMPX]

These are some quotes i found about happiness......
-The happy man is he that knows the world and cares not for it.
-It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.
-The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.
-Happiness does not consist in things themselves but in the relish we have of them.
-There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.

 

[twocows]

What a load of nonsense. No, happiness is not a myth. My happiness tends to come from the same three things; specifically, helping others, fixing equipment, and learning/thinking. Also, Cardcaptor Sakura.

 

[Miz en Scène]

Happiness is really subjective to an individual actually. You can't really pin it down to one universal thing. If I were writing a school essay, I would inject the phrase, 'one man's meat is another man's poison'. Examples include the fact that Masochists derive happiness from self inflicted pain or pain. Sadists, such as myself, on the other hand, derive happiness from the sufferings of others.
Don't judge me... I have limits too...

Anyway, usual happiness is the feeling of self gratification from something that might trigger your 'happy switch'. Such as doing something meaningful, spending time with your close relations, discovering something new and such of that nature.

In the end, all these years we waste might not even be worth it.

You sir, sound Nihilistic to me. Other than that and you might be depressed. I recommend a visit to a psychiatrist or something. Or else, try some soul searching. The best happiness is achieved through struggle. :D
Or something free. ;P

Edit: Oh, oh, MONEY!

 

[/Circa]

Happiness is really subjective to an individual actually. You can't really pin it down to one universal thing. If I were writing a school essay, I would inject the phrase, 'one man's meat is another man's poison'. Examples include the fact that Masochists derive happiness from self inflicted pain or pain. Sadists, such as myself, on the other hand, derive happiness from the sufferings of others.
Don't judge me... I have limits too...

Anyway, usual happiness is the feeling of self gratification from something that might trigger your 'happy switch'. Such as doing something meaningful, spending time with your close relations, discovering something new and such of that nature.

You sir, sound Nihilistic to me. Other than that and you might be depressed. I recommend a visit to a psychiatrist or something. Or else, try some soul searching. The best happiness is achieved through struggle. :D
Or something free. ;P

Edit: Oh, oh, MONEY!

I am in no way depressed :P

 

[Miz en Scène]

I am in no way depressed :P

Haha lol, your speech pattern just seemed Nihilistic to me. XD