Do We Know What Happiness Is?steemCreated with Sketch.

in #life7 years ago

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We want that thing, That promotion, That money, That closeness with our friends and family. All the sudden. We get exactly what we wanted. And we still aren't happy. All the sudden there is a new problem. We dream about the day we get to move onto the rest of our life, Where things are easy. Where everything has fallen into place. That moment when we can finally be happy.

Do We Even Know?

It's difficult to know what you want When you've never had it before. Some stuff is obvious, Many of us want to shelter and food to eat. And if we have that we can be somewhat happy. But some of the larger things, Like your career or lifestyle. We may think we want it, And it will be good for us, But it's easy to "get it" And realize it's not actually what we wanted after all.
The media we indulge in, And our peers help carve those things that we may "think" that we want.
Sometimes the reality is we don't even know. SO we live everyday fighting for that thing, When it may not even bring us the pleasure we think it will.
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Short Term Happiness

Many things bring short term happiness. You get new clothes, And you may feel like it was the best day ever, But that can quickly fade. Every shirt you wear was once new, Was once exciting. Now you are used to it And don't care about it anymore. Most things seem to give us the little bursts of happiness. There is nothing wrong with that Unless of course, you rely on those extra boosts on a regular basis. Then we have problems.

Be Above Your Peers

Many of us feel better about ourselves when we are doing better than people in a similar workplace, A Similar age range. I'm guilty of this one. I often find myself comparing myself to other people at the same age. This often brings me down, Because even though we are the same age, It's an unfair comparison. Our life situations and opportunities dramatically vary from each other. There is no "fair" comparison. One of us could have had much better opportunities.
If you are feeling severely insecure about yourself. It's been proven that if you are surrounded by people who are not doing as well as you, you'll feel happier. This is not a good tactic for your growth though. It's often best to be the "dumbest" in the room, That way you can focus on constant growth.

Giving

GIving is a great happiness booster. It's funny that when you give with no expectations, You lose resources, Yet that feeling on your brain just feels so good. Because of you, Someone has food to eat Or clothing. Giving has been proven over and over again to make a person feel better about themselves.
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Happiness Comes from Within

So many people spend a lifetime looking for happiness.

  • Blaming others for their unhappiness.
  • Working Hard to get that extra money for happiness.
    Many people live miserable lives because they are never happy no matter what they have. Those people could receive a million dollars right now, And later on, they'd still be miserable. I have seen people go through unbearable situations. I'd expect them to be miserable.
    But they aren't. They "find" something to be happy about every day. Are you wearing shoes? Do you have a meal? Be grateful! The only person/thing that can make you happy is YOU!



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Hey @kaylinart - Very good post and a profund topic, actually one of the most important topics. There are soooooo many different concepts and perspectives out there - from Sigmund Freud thesis, that there is no "real" happyness (see civilization and its discontents) or Epikur, Albert Camus and and and...

In terms of the short-term happyness I always have to think about our "fun-society" and how we are socialized to be consumers - I hope we can create a society which does support the opposite one day. What do you think?

Wow I love that!!
I love that you brought up that we are taught to be consumers because it's so true! I'm realizing that as I consume less I'm actually happier, Because I know I'm damaging the environment less, Saving money and not "Wasting" resources that could go to a much better cause.

thanks @kaylinart :-) you are so right!!

Do you know the book "having or being" - I highly and strongly recommend it in this context. It is so full of truth and Erich Fromm was really a great man.

Oh man, you and @krnel totally inspire me to write something in english. I just wish my english would be more sophisticated and I could express myself like I can in my mothertongue. BUT I will try it in the next two or three weeks - so thanks to you two :-D

Have a great day, blessings, Martin

Would we really appreciate happiness if it lasted forever and it never went away. without sadness would you even know what happiness was?

I do find as well that giving whole heartedly is what brings about the most pure happiness one

I've found myself struggling just to get through the work day lately as I'm terribly unhappy with my job due to poor management and huge structural changes in my dept. just six weeks ago I was promoted, got a 6% pay increase, and a $9k bonus and that fixed things for me for all of a week or so. But I'm still not happy. I need more time with my family and less work related stress.

Unfortunately I don't really have a short or mid term solution to this as I'm stuck in this job for a lot of complicated reasons I won't get into. I find happiness in the hour or so that I get to hang out with my wife at the end of the day and relax together. The rest of the day on weekdays consists of work and the many menial tasks that eat up 95% of my waking hours. Death by a thousand cuts.

I'm making long term plans to get out of my current situation but it seems so far off that every day seems like a struggle to even motivate myself to keep up with life. These are all First world problems for sure. I should be thankful for having a home and enough resources to survive. I try and keep it all in perspective but today I'm failing miserably as I have most days recently.

You're right that promotions and money won't fix everything. Money can buy things but it sure can't buy happiness.

happiness is always fleeting. It's a never ending cycle of ups and downs. It has to come from within.

RIght? It's so true!

@kaylinart well said I'm agreed with you!! For me happiness is Happiness is when my life fulfills my needs. Happiness comes when I feel satisfied and fulfilled. Happiness is a feeling of contentment, that life is just as it should be. Perfect happiness, enlightenment, comes when i have all of your needs satisfied.

Thank you!! It does doesn't it? Happiness is a weird feeling for sure!

Help others and you will be happy. Dont be jealous about others success.

Exactly! Give what you can! And don't hate someone for doing well

This is so true. I often compare myself to others and then beat myself up, but your right this is an unfair measurement. I've learned that most happiness comes from chasing what you want and not the actual achievement of getting it. So now i just enjoy the journey. Great post

hy @kaylinart you is beautiful girl, follow,upvote and resteem for you
greeting....and nice post

Your'e welcome @kaylinart

Happiness is when people upvote my post and i get rewarded in Steem! :P

Glad to know that my comment made the author laugh and btw this was something interesting to read. GoodDay!

happiness is reaching 73+ reputation. jk lol

Right? LOL! I get so excited everytime the number goes up!