Happiness

What is it?

Can you have it in the midst of economic difficulties, illness and disability?

Is it satisfaction, laughter, joy?

Sure. To me it is the ability to work.

Good question!

The answer I have read and heard from several sources is that happiness is more of a transient thing that comes and goes with the stuff that happens, but the quality of joy can stay with us no matter what.There have been some long discussions about joy and happiness on another board where I post sometimes.

The idea is, it seems, that once one is willing to accept whatever comes along and works with that whatever, rather than trying to overcome it or avoid it, one can hold on to a sense of joy. It's like seeing the silver lining in the clouds that come along, and hanging in until the clouds pass.

Ann

Carol,
happiness means different things to different people.
For some it is simple "contentment," being happy with who they are and what they do.
For others it may be achieving a goal, a sense of accomplishment that makes them happy.
I don't think there is any one answer.
Happiness is most often transitory. I don't think there exists a situation where one is continuously happy. And if that existed, it would make you unhappy.

Do you think happiness is a choice people make, or something from outside?

A personal choice would be my answer. That brings self-satisfaction - self-esteem that is more lasting. Outside forces are fickle.

I heard someone on NPR the other day ask what our country will look like after the recession, and one answer was that we would have fewer material possessions and bigger lives. Could those bigger lives mean we would be happier with what we had, with small things in life?

When we stayed in a tenement in Prague in 1990, our hosts had a large picture of President Havel on the back of their door. They said he made them happy. That was true. We'd been there under communism and the whole country was sad, but it was happy in 1990.

Also there is the quote we don't need lighter loads but broader shoulders.

Is happiness having broad shoulders, knowing reality but choosing to be happy. Does fear of the future get in the way of happiness in the present?

Carol

I have heard it said that 'happiness is just a state of mind' and that one can choose to be happy by appreciating everyone and everything around them.

One definition I heard and agree with is: Happiness is not having what you want, but rather, wanting what you have.

Happiness comes in all forms. People can choose to be happy:

When it rains and they don’t have to mow the lawn.
When they have a job.
When they get pregnant.
When they don’t get pregnant.
When they get published.
Etc.

Or when nobody's shooting at you. That goes a long way toward making me happy. Aside from that, I think happiness is in the genes, whatever they are.

Aren't they Levi's or some other such, Dick?

Of course, 'blue' genes would not make you happy!

To me, happiness isn't found in outward things or circumstances, it's knowing I am never alone (God is with me) and that even when things look and feel their bleakest, there are still things to be grateful and thankful for.

I am very clear on my own happiness, those vignettes of joy. It is a feeling of bliss: my newborn son at my breast; my love in an embrace; a song that fills my heart; a sunset and moonrise in sync; a broad reach in a 30 knot wind; floating in a 90 degree sea watching puffy clouds and pelicans zoom by; a phone call; deserved praise; a blooming flower; bright birds in the rain forest; a walk through the swamp; a hike in the mountain; joy in my son's voice; a smile on my mother's face; a story in print; a love letter; flowers on my birthday; ..........vignettes. They come from unexpected and expected places, unplanned and planned, at the best and worst of times; and they fill me with a sense of joy and well-being for that moment in time however fleeting it might be and in times of sadness, I can remember and still have the joy of the memory chase away feelings that pull me down.

That picture of sunset makes me very happy, Shelagh


I wish you and everyone here a wonderful Easter!

Carol, I too think that it is a choice. Some folks choose to celebrate more of it than others, some appear predisposed to accept more of it than others, but they choose nonetheless.

I am happy to be alive...
Happy to eat chocolate.
Happy to have an abundance of all the things that matter.
Happy to have a pretty good brain and sense of humor.

Happy to be goofy enough, but not too goofy.

Rhett,

I'm with you on all of those.

Pam, Ahad, and Dk, good posts.

Shelagh, I love the sunset.

Carol

And thanks to Abe, Dick, Zada, and Merri for your responses also.

Today was a happy day with kids and grandkids.

Love, Carol

And also Ann.

Carol

My happiness isn't linked to the problems of the economy one way or another. I'm happy with a wonderful wife, a lot of work I want to get done, and a room full of books. Then, last night, we went to a bluegrass music jam at a friend's house and heard great music mixed with cool conversation and tasty food.

I can't think of a lot else I need to be happy.

Malcolm

I've been to some of those music jams and they are filled with happiness.

One time I went to one in the middle of the woods, where people came from miles around. It was an unforgettable evening.

Carol

I wrote this in our cabin journal:

Dec. 12, 1998

In the evening, we went to the Willow Rapids Café, a small fairly new restaurant in a smaller town in the middle of the forest. We went to listen to the music of a blue grass band, “Art Stevenson and the High Waters.” Kevin, who owned the Willow Rapids Café, was very excited. The tables had been moved together and additional chairs added. People came through the Chequamegon National Forest, through the wilderness from miles around.

Kevin wore a flannel shirt and jeans. He was the epitome of integrity, a very real person with dark hair and eyes behind which I knew there was a story.

The music performance was exquisite! It included guitar, banjo, fiddle, harmonica played by Art Stevenson, and stand-up base played by Art’s wife Stephanie, and, of course, singing. After the first hour, the band took a break and then they played for a second hour.

After the performance, followed by much appreciative applause, those in the audience got out their guitars, banjos, dobros, fiddles and harmonicas. There was continual playing and singing with everyone joining in on the choruses of the songs. Kevin knew the words to “about a million songs” and Stephanie knew another million.

One person, Ron, left but returned later with his guitar. He drove eighteen miles through the forest to take his wife home, another eight to take the babysitter home, and another eighteen miles back through the forest with his guitar to join the music. He sang and played his original composition, “I’m from Wisconsin and D--n Proud of It.”

Kevin had to get up at five in the morning to serve breakfast at the café, but said it was a special night and he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. Everyone helped Kevin clean up the café for morning breakfast.

There was a feeling that it was one of one of those nights of music where “it just doesn’t get any better than this,” of men and women at their best, of music and camaraderie in the wilderness.

At 1:30 we left as the music continued through the window. We traveled fifteen miles through the wilderness to home.

Note: Since then, unfortunately, the café has closed and Kevin has died, but that night was indeed a memorable night in paradise.

Nice story of a happy time. That's one of the big problems with growing older - nothing stays the same.