Do you ever feel that most of the things in your life that you wish were better or had more of or weren’t so damn hard, etc. could easily cease to be such a burden if you had only come from different backgrounds? What I mean to say is, for example, the other day I was irritated by the shitty customer service skills of certain technical support agents at my local ISP (internet problems). But the plain fact that I have the opportunity to use the internet is something that millions of poor people around the world would jump at the chance to have - regardless of how shitty the service is. Again, I remember one time being pissy at a waitress for taking so long with our meals and when the food came, it was cold. Yet there are children in third world countries who are starving and wouldn’t care how long the food took to come or how cold it was.
What I’m wondering is this: can happiness ever be something that is satisfied for good once attained, or is it like a carrot hanging from a rod in front of a horse always drawing the horse forward but never being acquired? Will we always want more of what we already have and feel deprived when we lose what we have grown accustomed to? If so, is there a point to pursuing greater happiness and a better life?
Isn’t it common thought among psychologists that man can never really be satisfied? I read something about it once in a book. Psychologists say once man has one thing, he wants another thing. It’s just our condition.
That’s probably true in certain contexts, but if that’s all there is to it, then man could never be fully satisfied with life - yet there are tons of people who express happiness with life. What is it then? What I’m thinking is that happiness doesn’t come from accumulating more and more of the things we want - at least, not all the time - but often depends on a state of mind. Sometimes happiness comes simply by taking a more positive view on life.
Why pursue it? If you look around you, generally there is some sort of happiness to be found. Any time I chase the darned thing, it thinks I am playing tag and runs away.
I would say that I am happy now. I don’t really feel a need to be more happy. Then again, i don’t need the latest expensive items around me, I have a family, a good job and I am reading and studying what I like. Shakespeare or someone said “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”
I would say that happiness is not something which can be attained but something which is a product of something else.
It’s actually pretty easy to be happy, you just have to decide you are and not let others convince you otherwise. This can be difficult with the all pervasive media campaign to make people feel fearful and unhappy about their lot in life but, your personal happiness really is up to you alone.
If you let the bastards get you down, it is your own fault.
There are certainly things that should make you feel unhappy, like a family member dying or your cat getting run over, but by and large the majority of crap that makes people feel unhappy is just that, crap, and you should ignore it and get on with your life in the circumstance you find yourself in.
If you insist on being personally unhappy through a lack of material goods beyond those necessary for survival you are a fool.
So if everyone just try to be happy in his own way then doesn’t this start a jeopardy in a crowd?! I’m not talking about being a good happy family and share our happiness, that’s another story that needs some situations but how about this individual happiness?! isn’t this more complicated than it seems?!
It could if someone gains happiness from murder etc… Its been proven that happier people are healthier, more productive, more helpful, thus it’s beneficial to society to gain your own happiness. I think Buddhism stress this, although I’m no expert on that.