h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My Collins Dictionary says that happy is:

1. feeling, showing or expressing joy; pleased
2. causing joy or gladness
3. fortunate, lucky

I wonder why, even in the darkest, bleakest moments (which happily are not frequent occurrences) - that in those moments if someone asked me if I was 'unhappy' I would always say - no! not unhappy, just feeling lost, sad, scared, nervous . . .' (whatever)

I guess I don't think of 'happy' as being an emotion - rather it's a state of being. And so, I think I am always happy. It's just that sometimes other emotions and certain situations tend to get in the way of my constant 'being happy' state.

Does this make any sense?

azahar

ps
I also don't mean that I feel some sort of mindless lah-de-dah silly happy feeling. The 'happy' I'm talking about (or attempting to) feels like it's just who I am. Like it is the core of me. Trust me, I am very far from 'lah-de-dah'.

sorry, am afraid that came across as just sounding 'flaky'.

well, never mind.

az

hope you have sound
http://www.beliefnet.com/features/peace/test2/container01.html

Interesting to see the definition of the word!
Broader yet shorter than I might have guessed

All 3 are distincly seperate to me.
If all these are ignored, the result is surley unhappiness!

(1)feeling or doing joyful things
(2)causing or sharing joyful things
(3)experiencing or noticing fortunes, joyful things

I think I know what you mean - I always feel, well not happy but fairly content - even when I feel like hiding in a dark place...I still get joyful moments when I'm feeling up but I'm always pretty sure that any sadness/unpleasantness will pass eventually so I don't let the down-ness get me further down (well not since I was 17 or so when I realised that depression will end - in fact realising that ended the depression that seemed to last from 11 to 17).

I wouldn't call myself a happy person - but I do tend to find the fun regardless of the situation (so far)...I'm the person splashing in puddles and talking to sparrows, the smallest little thing can make me grin like an idiot

Me 2 PQ.
I read somewhere if you are content 70% of the time you are generally considered a happy person.

hi pheloxi,

That was lovely - thanks!

Perhaps I've been using the wrong word - happy - and should be saying 'being at peace' but that doesn't seem to quite fit. I'm honestly happy. And for no good reason at all. Not sure why, don't question it much. But even though I can get caught up in day-to-day stress and strife, I know I am still happy.

Hmmm . . .

az

70%?


Damn!

hi pencil queen,

(delay in response due to computer crashing - dang!9

<>

But you see, that sounds like a happy person to me. Or at least, like me, you have a natural tendency towards being happy. Otherwise the smallest little things would have no effect on you at all.

I can be in the darkest mood, worried about all sorts of things, then one of my cats will come racing into the room looking like he's just seen a ghost, tail all puffed out, then he spins around in circles for awhile and races back out of the room. And suddenly I'm totally creased, bent over laughing. And even though my problems are not forgotten, I have just got a break from them by laughing - and this helps a lot.

az

hi abbi,

Being happy 70% of the time?

The point I'm trying to make is that I really think I am happy 100% of the time because I don't think of things like stress and worries as making me less 'happy' - they just make me stressed and worried.

As I said before, I don't think of 'happy' as being an emotion. But I've never been able to explain it any better (as has become quite obvious )

Hey, I worry like crazy, I can't sleep most nights, I get panic attacks, basically I'm your all-around weirdo. Yet I still don't see how all this stuff has to do with me not being happy (cos I *am* happy!) As I say, perhaps I'm using the wrong word.

az

Perhaps "accepting" is a better description of your state of mind?
And not a bad place to be, either. If you "accept" then you arn't judging, and if you arn't "judging" then maybe, just maybe, you could be descibed as "happy" - or at least, serene? I'm working on the concept... honest!

I spose I could be described as happy...I think I just live on two different timelines, one long term and serious and generally content, one short term which jumps from silly and happy to miserable as sin but which will always find time for a giggle and a smile.

Plus I've got a slightly sick/dark sense of humour

Accepting what is is a major part of Buddhism

hi Witchone,

Nope, I'm not all that 'accepting'. I do try to understand and accept certain things that cannot be changed (for the moment). But I don't normally just 'accept' things I don't like without putting up my best fight first.

Then again, the 'happy state' is so full of humour, but a deep, rich sort of humour (though again, often quite silly).

Oh, I always get lost trying to explain this.

I'm just GOD**MN HAPPY - OKAY!!!!

sigh,
az

PQ Sounds happy to me!That dark sense of humor can help!

I think *happy* is a word also.
Azar you sound like a sane person very capable of joy

Some militant *happies* push it , they insist on it in others.
I AM a bit skeptical their *sameness* is happiness!
Demeanor has a part ~ you can be happy without being exuberantly so.

Peace & acceptance, reality based and living in the moment are good!
I can relate to PQs thoughts on having two timelines.
There's an immediate picture then a long life line.

I think I get what you mean by being happy, Az. I've started seeing happy in the same terms over the last year or so, and being happy is independent of external stimuli for me, which was a HUGE shift in outlook. I still suffer depression at times, which is *really* weird, as it doesn't make me unhappy, just affects my initial response to things. For me it came about when I realized that I'm actually have the power to be in control of my own state of mind rather than to be at the whim of everything which happens around me and blame other things for 'making' me unhappy. Nowadays I'm deliberately storing up things in my mind which 'make' me happy, like my sunrises and sunsets on the beach, and when I hit a tough point I kick back and kinda meditate myself into one of my mental moments, remember the light and the texture of the air and the way everything smells, the way the breeze felt on my skin, and then I can loook at whatever's 'making' me agitated and figure out how to turn it to a benefit, or fuel for more happiness.

I see happiness as a treasure inside every person, and it's just a matter of being able to access it when you want to, without denying the other kinds of emotions their validity. I've found that the more I practice being happy the easier it becomes to get there quickly. It's also a sort of pleasure to indulge myself in feeling angry or sad or whatever for a little while since I have the knowlege that I can bounce into happy when I've had enough of wallowing. The contrast makes all the emotional states feel richer.

hi abbi,

The 'militant happies'? That made me laugh out loud. Though I DO know what you mean (just like your term for them).

Of course being 'happy' can only be a personal thing. Just like practically everything else.

I also liked PQ's thoughts on having two time lines.

az

hi . . . mother of god? (goodness, quite the nickname you have chosen for yourself!)

I agree that the 'distancing factor' is quite important. So that even when sh*t happens, this doesn't end up meaning that one is unhappy, just undergoing stress from other things.

Though I may disagree that nice things like sunsets,etc 'make' one happy. Anymore than a bad experience 'makes' one unhappy.

But it's a nice strategy. Storing up postive stuff to help get through bad times. Meditation and whatnot. (have never been capable of meditating, can't sit still long enough!).

As for 'practicing happiness'. Well, I think it's like anything one practices. The more you do it, the more it just becomes an integral part of who you are. And then it becomes second nature. Or even just one's true nature.

I can't seem to help it. I think I'm happy. I wonder if this is connected to my belief in a 'god' that also happens to be me and everyone else. Have never joined any particular 'god club'. Much prefer to just enjoy the one I have and share.

az

The two timelines are perhaps mood and temperament, or perhaps the immediate reaction to things as against a long term sense of one's own value. Or something

Noggin

hi Noggin,

I'd definitely say without any doubt that they were 'something'.

az

(being a bit silly, sorry, been a long day . . . )