For some people happiness is defined by the monetary, for others it is defined by the spiritual, for some it is defined by the physical. How do you define happiness? What makes you truly happy. For me happiness includes getting together with family and friends at a celebritory bar b q, carne asada on the grill, old folks vs. young folks basketball, and talking and telling stories over the dinner table.

It includes listening to music tha makes me truly glad to be alive. It's when I am tutoring a kid and you see that look in his eye that he gets it. Maybe it's when I break down a young man on the field and destroy his bad habits and help mold him into a person of character and good work ethic, It's talking to dad and mom just to say I love you. It's going to church and hearing a sermon that speaks directly to your heart.

Its saying a prayer for someone you love, It's knowing someone out there is praying for you. Its learning something you didn't know the previous day. Its friday night lights. Its going out on that morning run and going a little farther today then you did yesterday. Its doing an occupation and getting paid for something you would do for free. Its making someone smile and talking to a new person everyday.Its staying humble in victory and dignified in defeat. Its overcoming obstacles. Its love. How do you define happiness?
[Edited 6/16/07 23:45pm]

i would be happy if u had typed your thread into paragraphs

man... you would go there, wouldn't you... you know I actually saw this thread coming.

There is so much tied up with happiness, with what makes me happy in my core, fills my soul and feeds me. So much that it is hard to describe. One thing can never make a man truly happy, there are many facets to happiness, many things that are required to make each section of ones life feel right. The simple things in life that make one happy are just as important as the life choices, the big things, the ones we need as building blocks. I have spent much of my life without one or the other, had one and the other one went, got the other and the first was lost.
That has taught me that it is hard in this life to put these things together and i am still working to do so.

I only have one answer, how do i define happiness.....?

I usually try to use as many big words as possible.

Illustrator said:

Then surely that would have been...

Speaking personally, I invariably endeavour to disemminate the maximum quantity of considerably sized words as is humanly imaginable

I read somewhere that Happiness is "achieving your childhood dreams"

happiness is my family...
its always the little things

receiving flowers 4 no particular reason, just because.....

getting hugs & kisses from my son, without asking 4 them

watching my son sleep

watching my hubby and son play 2gether

happiness is void of feelings.

When I'm listening 2 music and feel really creative I feel so happy.
When I'm talking with some special ppl I feel really happy.
And when everything goes fine I feel again really happy lol

i can't think too much about what i require to define "happiness" or else i trick myself into thinking it is eluding me.

as long as i can be allowed to be who i am, i'm happy. it's when i am expected to fit the square peg into the round hole that i'm unhappy.

Something that doesn't exist.

JoeTyler said:

I used to think that. HAve faith friend. It comes from within

Happiness for me is being content, having enough, and everyone around me being healthy and having enough food to eat. I sometimes stress out wishing for more, but if all that is alright, I'm generally very happy. Everything else is a bonus.

mdiver said:

No, no, I mean, it truly doesn't exist, "HAPPINESS" as a concept, as a tangible thing, doesn't exist, that's what I think
Sometimes a lot of people think that Happiness is related to something physical, to the material things of the world, but I don't think so

JoeTyler said:

It is internal, not physical and it is subjective...it exists within us

I guess happiness can be defined in many different ways by different ppl. What makes me happy might make some one else miserable.
I do find that some times humans tend to make happiness more complicated or more unattainable than it should be. We tend to think well if I had this or that I would be happy. It is usually a material thing and that is usually done to fill a void. It usually has nothing to do with happiness- unless it makes you happy to fill voids with material things.
I try to find a balance and try to keep the things that make me happy the simple little things. The past year has taught me a lot about appreciating the little simple things. I have also learned that I deserve to find my own happiness.
I think happiness is a simple yet complicated thing because it is hard to define in words. We just know happiness when we feel it. I feel it very much right now and appreciate it more because for a long time I did not feel it. So that makes it sweeter- I know that it takes work and it does come from within.

On a mundane level happiness happens when one or multiple senses are stimulated in such a way as to be pleasurable to a person, or thing that has the ability to reason that it is being pleasured in such a way. Yeah, when in love, several of the pistons in our various senses fire in a pleasurable way. We collect all this input and say that it is happiness. All those conditioned circumstances and responses are fleeting.

Then there's happiness free of conditioned circumstances, independent of the senses which themselves are co-arising and conditioned depending on the organism that evolved to have these senses and rely on stimulation of such. It's an unbecoming happiness that is unaffected by fleeting conditioned co-arising dependently originating circumstances. That's happiness.

Imago said:

Thanks for breaking it down on another level

Imago said:

You've been going to the temple too much.

Imago said:

this post is making me happy.

Fauxie said:

I know.

I have to do those little fortune sticks now before leaving the house.

Fauxie said:

Imago said:

Did they finish the temple, as you mentioned they were going to? Have you been going quite a bit? I'm always interested in your blogs, in the kayaking, your nephews, wanking predicaments, yes, but more so in the Buddhist elements that creep into your blogs, and indeed your posts here. Your last post was so Nagarjuna.

Revolution said:

It may all come over as very noble but I think as much as it may come over as altruistic and proper it just comes out of a situation where money is hard to come by and no matter what you have it's never quite as much as you'd like, or need.

I try hard not to "define" it as that perhaps sets limits on it's possibilities and confines it with expectations.

I believe happiness is possible in each moment we choose to find/see/create it

It's not something one can say would work for another as we are each so different

Having a career, good health(for me & my family), financial security and Playstation3.

I agree. It's a feeling of peacefulness in your core being. Regardless of the circumstances or judgments on the outside. It's accepting what is and to some degree, what will be.

mdiver said:

More thoughts on happiness...



I think for some of us humans - we get wrapped up in the bad times, it happens all around us, we are constantly bombarded with news about bad tragic things and also about meaningless shit like Paris. I feel like we do not celebrate the happiness in our lives enough- on a daily basis.
We do things in small spurts like a birthday, wedding day.....
then we just move on after that day.
We spend a lot of time dwelling on illnesses or tragedies but I think we should spend more time celebrating our happiness- even small things. We should say thank you more to those we share our happiness with as well.
I know it sounds lovely but takes more work to actually execute past the words.


&

* God
* Having my family so close to me, we can sit for hours just laughing together and having a good time
* Knowing that I have a home and a bed to sleep in everyday
* My job, even though I hate getting up to go to it every morning I am happy and grateful that I do have a job to go to. Im sure there is many people that would love to have the job I have.
*Music, when down I can always turn to music to brighten my day
*Beautiful poetry
*Friends
*Love