posted March 26, 2008 01:23 AM         

Everyone feel free to share your experiences of happiness. What makes you happy? What brings you joy?

Tell a story about when you were the most happy?

How do you try to feel happy when you are stressed or sad?

What maintains long term happiness for you?

What makes me happy?

Sunshine.

posted March 26, 2008 01:25 AM         

Biological basis
Though it may be impossible to objectively measure happiness, physiological correlates to happiness can be measured through a variety of techniques. For instance, psychophysiologist R.J. Davidson has developed reliable fMRI and EEG tests that correlate to subjective levels of happiness.[citation needed] Stefan Klein in his book "The Science of Happiness" links the dynamics of neurobiological systems (ie. dopaminergic, opiate) to the concepts and findings of Positive Psychology and Social Psychology.
[edit]Mystical (religious, spiritual, and mythological) view

Explanation of happiness in mystical traditions, especially in advanced spiritual techniques is related to full balance (conjunction, union, "secret marriage") of so called inner energy lines (energy channels of a soul or deepest dimension of the human): nadi (ancient Indian), gimel kavim (Hebrew), pillars, columns, gnostic ophis or caduceus. In balanced state two main lines (left & right, Ida & Pingala) form third line, called Shushumna or lashon hakodesh (hebr.). Speaking technically (full) activity of this third or central line is happiness. Left and right lines include all aspects of normal human life: sleep and awake, body and mind, physical and spiritual and so on. To attain balanced state of these 2 lines is a main task of life - a paradoxical result of all kinds of activities and endeavours combined with full relax or tranquility at the same time.[citation needed]
In Catholicism, the ultimate end of human existence consists in felicity (Latin equiv. to the Gk. eudaimonia), or "blessed happiness", described by the 13th-C. philosopher-theologian Thomas Aquinas as a Beatific Vision of God's essence in the next life. See Summa Theologiae
As an example, according to Augustine's Confessions, he lived much of his life without God. He sinned much and recognized his sinfulness. As a youth, he sinned for its own sake, and later in the pursuit of a perceived good. When he lost a dear friend to death, it troubled him a lot and he turned to God for answers. He turned to God to find true happiness, and was converted to Christianity. He found that true happiness can only come from a relationship with God, and appreciating God's creation His sake, and not its own.
Happiness forms a central theme of Buddhist teachings and the Eightfold Path that will lead its practitioner to Nirvana, a state of everlasting peace. In this teaching, happiness is only achieved by overcoming desire in all forms. The philosophy and practice of Buddhism also encourages the generation of compassion, the desire for the happiness and well being of others [1].
One of the core concepts in Buddhism is that of Dharma, also a central concept in Hinduism. Dharma is about expressing and acting according to your core nature. This eliminates potential causes of 'disharmony' in the mind and leads to happiness.
[edit]Positive psychology

Main article: Positive psychology
In his book Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman, one of the founders of Positive psychology, describes happiness as consisting of 'positive emotions' and 'positive activities'.
He further categorizes emotions related to the past, present and future. Positive emotions relating to the past include satisfaction, contentment, pride and serenity. Positive emotions relating to the future include optimism, hope and trust. Positive emotions about the present are divided into two categories: pleasure and gratifications. The bodily and higher pleasures are "pleasures of the moment" and usually involve some external stimulus.
Gratifications involve full engagement, flow, elimination of self-consciousness, and blocking of felt emotions. But when a gratification comes to an end then positive emotions will be felt. Gratifications can be obtained or increased by developing 'signature strengths' and virtues. Authenticity is the derivation of gratification and positive emotions from exercising signature strengths. The good life comes from using 'signature strengths' to obtain abundant gratification in, for example, enjoying work and creative activities. The most profound sense of happiness is experienced through the 'meaningful life', achieved if one exercises one's uniques strengths and virtues in a purpose greater than one's own immediate goals.
Steven Reiss found that nearly everything we experience as meaningful can be traced to one of 16 basic desires or to some combination of these desires. When humans satisfy their desires and live in accordance with their values they take happiness in passing.[1]
[edit]Worldwide happiness

The Satisfaction with Life Index. Green = Happiest > Blue > Purple > Orange > Red = Least Happy; Grey = Data not available
The Satisfaction with Life Index is an attempt to show the average self-reported happiness (subjective life satisfaction) in different nations. This is an example of recent trend to use direct measures of happiness, such as surveys asking people how happy they are, as an alternative to traditional measures of policy success to GDP or GNP. There are also several other examples of measures that includes self-reported happiness as one variable. Happy Life Years, a concept brought by Dutch sociologist Veenhoven, combines self-reported happiness with life expectancy. The Happy Planet Index combines it with life expectancy and ecological footprint. Gross national happiness is a concept introduced by the King of Bhutan as an alternative to GDP but there is as yet no exact definition.[citation needed]
Michael Argyle developed The Oxford Happiness Inventory as a broad measure of psychological wellbeing. This measures happiness as an aggregate of self-esteem, sense of purpose, social interest and kindness, sense of humor and aesthetic appreciation. This has been criticized for lacking a theoretical model of happiness and because it is felt that certain aspects overlap. Some studies suggest that happiness can be measured effectively.
[edit]Happiness and economics

Main article: Happiness economics
Typically market health measures such as GDP and GNP have been used as a measure of successful policy. However, although on average richer nations tend to be happier than poorer nations, beyond an average GDP/capita of about $15,000 a year, studies indicate the average income in a nation makes little difference to the average happiness of the people in the nation.[2][3] It has been argued that happiness measures could be used not as a replacement for more traditional measures but as a supplement.[4]
[edit]What causes happiness - scientific research

Looking for the level of happiness as reported by people, and comparing it to various elements in their life reveals the following findings: [2]
About 50% of one's happiness depends on one's genes. This is shown by studying identical twins, and learning that their happiness is 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses.
10-15% is a result of various measurable variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others.
The rest of the variance does not have a discernible cause. Called "unexplained variance", it may actually be attributed to noise.
[edit]Religious involvement and happiness

posted March 26, 2008 04:26 AM         

quote:

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How do you try to feel happy when you are stressed or sad?

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reading, funny movies, call a friend, write, driving around, or watching conan o brien

quote:

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Tell a story about when you were the most happy?

---

it was last june, when someone i loved told me they loved me for the first time. also when i met with a sibling when i was 16, i hadnt seen her since i was little kid.

quote:

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what makes me happy?

---

posted March 26, 2008 04:42 AM         

quote:

---

How do you try to feel happy when you are stressed or sad?

---

affirmations work wonders.

Louis Hay's book, You Can Heal Your Life, is required reading...that lady can tell you in the most amazing way how, and why, to make joy a big and necessary component of your life.

posted March 26, 2008 01:53 PM         

I am still purusing it so I"m not sure if I'd reccomend it yet, but so far seems sensible.

http://www.howtobehappy.org/happybook.pdf

I hope everyone is having a happy day!!!

posted March 26, 2008 09:36 PM         

What makes ME happy? This time of year, Spring. Driving down roads (and especially here in Oregon) when the trees and everything is just beginning to bud with new greenness. The sun shining from over head and all you see above you is beautiful green. It must be my Saggie self, but the beautiful outdoors, inhaling and feeling part of it makes me happy.

Accomplishing or finishing something that at first felt like a challenge; but I finished it!

posted March 28, 2008 05:48 PM         

warm violas polished brass 'n mustache wax ..

blue danube .. composed 1867 .. ( j.s.II .. d.o.b. .. October 25th 1825 .. )
brings joy to my leonine south node .. :-)
~ blue.danube.mp3 ( edit 2nd april 08 .. mps3 file now off-line ) ~
( 24.2 MB ~ 10:31 ~ 320 kbps ~ MPEG audio file )

voices of tranquility .. .. stillness .. waterfalls .. sans movement .. the ocean ..
~ v.o.t.a.08.mp3 ( edit 2nd april 08 .. mps3 file now off-line ) ~
( 7 MB ~ 3:02 ~ 320 kbps ~ MPEG audio file )
~ v.o.t.b.01.mp3 ( edit 2nd april 08 .. mps3 file now off-line ) ~
( 11.6 MB ~ 5:03 ~ 320 kbps ~ MPEG audio file )

posted April 01, 2008 12:00 AM         

By H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you'll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.

posted April 19, 2008 03:02 PM         

I found the following article quite interesting, (especially as a saturn influence person who hopes to get happier as i age).

It just goes to show you that unhappiness is rooted in desire. When we're young we desire a mate, attention, sex, love, and worry about our future. When we're middle aged we worry if we're accomplishing enough, our children, our retirement.

The most crucial element in happiness, it just goes to show, is probably acceptance and not struggling for things that are somewhat out of our control.

The oldest Americans are also the happiest, research finds
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Apr 19, 7:05 AM (ET)

By LINDSEY TANNER

(AP) George O'Hare, 81, a retired Sears manager from Willowbrook, Ill., is seen at his home Wednesday,...
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CHICAGO (AP) - It turns out the golden years really are golden. Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand: Being social can help keep away the blues.
"The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages."
A certain amount of distress in old age is inevitable, including aches and pains and the deaths of loved ones and friends. But older people generally have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said.
This is partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George. An older person may realize "it's fine that I was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize winner."

(AP) George O'Hare, 81, a retired Sears manager from Willowbrook, Ill., is seen at his home on...
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George, who was not involved in the new study, believes the research is important because people tend to think that "late life is far from the best stage of life, and they don't look forward to it."
Yang's findings are based on periodic face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans from 1972 to 2004. About 28,000 people ages 18 to 88 took part.
There were ups and downs in overall happiness levels during the study, generally corresponding with good and bad economic times. But at every stage, older Americans were the happiest.
While younger blacks and poor people tended to be less happy than whites and wealthier people, those differences faded as people aged.
In general, the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age.
Overall, about 33 percent of Americans reported being very happy at age 88, versus about 24 percent of those age 18 to their early 20s. And throughout the study years, most Americans reported being very happy or pretty happy. Less than 20 percent said they were not too happy.
A separate University of Chicago study found that about 75 percent of people aged 57 to 85 engage in one or more social activities at least every week. Those include socializing with neighbors, attending religious services, volunteering or going to group meetings.
Those in their 80s were twice as likely as those in their 50s to do at least one of these activities.
Both studies appear in April's American Sociological Review.
"People's social circles do tend to shrink a little as they age - that is mainly where that stereotype comes from, but that image of the isolated elderly really falls apart when we broaden our definition of what social connection is," said study co-author Benjamin Cornwell, also a University of Chicago researcher.
The research rings true for 81-year-old George O'Hare, a retired Sears manager in Willowbrook, Ill. He's active with church and AARP and does motivational speaking, too. His wife is still living, and he's close to his three sons and four grandchildren.
"I'm very happy because I've made friends that are still living," O'Hare said. "I like to go out and speak in schools about motivation."
"Happiness is getting out and being with people, and that's why I recommend it," he said.
Ilse Siegler, an 84-year-old retired nurse manager in Chicago, has a slightly different perspective. Her husband died 35 years ago, and she says she still misses him every day.
She has vision problems and has slowed down with age. Yet she still swims, runs a social group in her condo building, volunteers in a retirement home and is active with her temple. These all help "make life more enjoyable," she said.
While Siegler said these aren't the happiest years of her life, she's content.
"Contentment as far as I'm concerned comes with old age ... because you accept things the way they are," she said. "You know that nothing is perfect."
Cornwell's nationally representative study was based on in-home interviews with 3,005 people in 2005 and 2006. While it didn't include nursing home residents, only about 4 percent of Americans aged 75 to 84 are in nursing homes, Cornwell said.
It's all good news for the aging population. However, Yang's study also found that baby boomers were the least happy. They could end up living the unfortunate old-age stereotype if they can't let go of their achievement-driven mind-set, said George, the Duke aging expert.
So far, baby boomers aren't lowering their aspirations at the same rate earlier generations did. "They still seem to believe that they should have it all," George said. "They're still thinking about having a retirement that's going to let them do everything they haven't done yet."
Previous research also has shown that mid-life tends to be the most stressful time, said Cornell University sociologist Elaine Wethington. "Everyone's asking you to do things and you have a lot to do. You're less happy because you feel hassled."
The new studies show "if you can make it through that," there's light at the end of the tunnel, Wethington said