What do you need to be happy?

Started by George, February 12, 2008, 05:08:46 PM

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Florestan

#20
February 13, 2008, 05:35:57 AM Last Edit: February 13, 2008, 05:44:32 AM by Florestan
Life is mostly froth and bubble.
Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

                          Adam Lindsay Gordon

"Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part." - Claude Debussy

Harry

#21
February 13, 2008, 05:39:45 AM
Quote from: Florestan on February 13, 2008, 05:35:57 AM
Life is mostly froth and bubble.
Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

                           Rudyard Kipling



Thanks for reminding me of Kipling, I neglected him shamelessly.
Will remedy that!

Florestan

#22
February 13, 2008, 05:45:32 AM
Quote from: Harry on February 13, 2008, 05:39:45 AM
Thanks for reminding me of Kipling, I neglected him shamelessly.
Will remedy that!

Well, it's not Kipling who wrote that, but the Australian Adam Lindsay Gordon. Apologies for the error!
"Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part." - Claude Debussy

Harry

#23
February 13, 2008, 05:47:43 AM
Quote from: Florestan on February 13, 2008, 05:45:32 AM
Well, it's not Kipling who wrote that, but the Australian Adam Lindsay Gordon]Adam Lindsay Gordon. Apologies for the error!

Well can you imagine how long it was ago that I read Kipling, I remember almost nothing, but then the last time I tackled Kipling was 30 years ago... :)

greg

#24
February 13, 2008, 05:48:20 AM
Quote from: E..L..I..A..S.. =) on February 12, 2008, 06:35:42 PM
The trick is to find distractions to your misery. If you find ways to keep your mind occupied you won't feel so miserable. Think less. I don't wonder if I am happy because I know I am not, and I don't dream about what would make me happy because I find it way out of my grasp. Works well enough.
Out of all the posts on this thread, this is exactly the only thing that works for me.  8)

The basic human condition is that you're born, and you develop too many desires, and many of them (probably much more than half) are impossible to fulfill in reality. So the trick is to do what you want when you want, or if you can't (or shouldn't), at least think about what you want when you want.

The hard part is when all of your attention is needed to be paid to something you don't want to think about.... that's when adopting an attitude of carelessness (or, complete indifference at least) is the only way to keep yourself sane.



Quote from: donwyn on February 12, 2008, 08:51:16 PM
It's actually very simple for me. And I used to be a worry-wart and such myself.

The trick to the fix is: I must never forget that there are others in this world who are much, much worse off than I am - ESPECIALLY as I was lucky enough to be born in a developed country (America) in the middle-class income bracket with pretty much all the basic needs taken care of without even thinking twice about it. Things like running water, food, medicine, political stability, central air/heat, etc...all the things I take for granted but which are far, far out of reach for a good portion of the world.

For this, I never forget to thank my lucky stars I was born in a material "comfort zone".

Could I be wealthier? Yes...and no. Compared to a small fraction of wealthy westerners, yes, I'm poor. Compared to the remaining population of the world including practically every third-world inhabitant, I'm actually VERY rich!!

So, to me, it's all about perspective. Perspective, perspective, perspective...




i wish this could work for me, but i just end up feeling worse for the other people in the world and that's it  :P

George

#25
February 13, 2008, 05:51:54 AM
Quote from: Harry on February 13, 2008, 05:47:43 AM
Well can you imagine how long it was ago that I read Kipling, I remember almost nothing, but then the last time I tackled Kipling was 30 years ago... :)

I've heard he was an excellent running back.  ;D

George

#26
February 13, 2008, 05:55:19 AM Last Edit: February 13, 2008, 05:59:16 AM by George
Quote from: Brian on February 12, 2008, 09:06:02 PM
And gratitude. :)

I thought Don was talking about Gratitude there. Being grateful for what you have, since others have so much less.

Harry

#27
February 13, 2008, 05:59:31 AM
Quote from: George on February 13, 2008, 05:51:54 AM
I've heard he was an excellent running back.  ;D

O, yes I am grinning George...... ;D

greg

#28
February 13, 2008, 06:03:15 AM
Quote from: Brian on February 12, 2008, 05:22:03 PM
A similar question in spirit was put to me in very different words several months ago. My suitemate's girlfriend came by on a Friday night at about 10pm to discover that I was (hand-)writing a letter to a friend, of all the things I could be doing. Writing a letter?! On a Friday night!? And she asked me (being an avid partygoer herself), "How on earth can you make it through your life without alcohol?" And it's one of those questions to which I know there is an answer (since I'm a reasonably happy though occasionally insecure person who does not drink at all), but to which I don't actually know the answer, so I said "I don't know." And it's been kind of bouncing around in my mind since then as one of those "put-your-finger-on-it" type questions, where you have a supply of good answers but can't quite put your finger on them. If I'm happy, how am I happy? Am I happy? Why the hell am I happy?

I think the answer is music.

Probably the correct answer is acting purposefully - not necessarily a higher purpose, just doing stuff. Having goals, big or small, in mind (oh snap, just remembered it's laundry night ::) ;D ), actually spending time working on them, understanding the progress that's been made, and feeling good about doing something. But I'm not mature enough to face that kind of thing ... because it might mean less YouTube for starters.  ;D
oh yeah, music is a pretty good substitute for alcohol!
(and not drinking is also a pretty good substitute for drinking!)

MN Dave

#34
February 13, 2008, 06:16:41 AM
Quote from: Harry on February 13, 2008, 06:14:02 AM
That's a very big rabbit, you have as a avatar Dave...... :o

marvinbrown

#35
February 13, 2008, 06:35:14 AM
Quote from: George on February 12, 2008, 05:08:46 PM
I was thinking about this today.

Happiness so often eludes me, despite my effort.

Some say happiness occurs when one learns to stop wanting.

Others say you can choose to be happy in spite of anything.

Still others say that happiness is not a fish that you can catch.

What's your take?  :)

Maybe, just maybe, we can constuctively share our secrets with each other and learn to become happier.


  All you need is Love George, Love is all you need........

  marvin

BachQ

#36
February 13, 2008, 06:35:35 AM
happiness = freedom

Florestan

#37
February 13, 2008, 06:38:42 AM
Quote from: Dm on February 13, 2008, 06:35:35 AM
happiness = freedom

Freedom from what? Freedom to do what?

To praise an abstract freedom without qualifications is like congratulating an escaped criminal for regaining his freedom...
"Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our part." - Claude Debussy

greg

#38
February 13, 2008, 06:39:32 AM
Quote from: Florestan on February 13, 2008, 06:38:42 AM
Freedom from what? Freedom to do what?

To praise an abstract freedom without qualifications is like congratulating an escaped criminal for regaining his freedom...
freedom to do what you want, when you want.

Don

#39
February 13, 2008, 06:44:45 AM
You have to feel comfortable with yourself.
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