General Question

aviona's avatar

Are you happy? If so, do you know why, what aspects of your life make you happy?

Asked by aviona (3260points) March 14th, 2009

Any insight here?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

32 Answers

LouisianaGirl's avatar

Yes I am happy but I really don`t know why.

evelyns_pet_zebra's avatar

relative to the situation, yeah. My wife comes home from the hospital tomorrow and the infection she has been fighting is now healing.

aviona's avatar

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I am very happy to hear that she is coming home.

casheroo's avatar

Yes, I’m happy overall with my life.
Am I happy right now? I’m more anxious than anything. My mother is having surgery this week and I’m a wreck over it :(

peyton_farquhar's avatar

I try to be.

@evelyns_pet_zebra that must be a huge relief.

evelyns_pet_zebra's avatar

Yeah, the dog has been driving me nuts with her endless need for attention. My wife really spoils that little thing!

That’s why I like my roaches, they don’t bother me for attention.

evelyns_pet_zebra's avatar

@casheroo well, I hope it all turns out for the best, surgery is a tough row to hoe for people as they get older.

LouisianaGirl's avatar

Wait…I know why I`m happy. Because I am on Fluther, I`m having fun, it`s the weekend, but it makes me mad because my little sister broke the screen on my cell phone and I have to wait a week for the new one to come in, I am so lost without it so I am in between happy and mad.

aviona's avatar

It’s always refreshing to realize why you’re happy. But it’s also nice just to embrace it and let it wash over you. Isn’t it?

Bluefreedom's avatar

Yes, I certainly am happy and that is because things are going really well in my life right now and I am at peace with myself. Being on Fluther and communing with a bunch of very nice people is always a bonus.

evelyns_pet_zebra's avatar

@Bluefreedom I agree, fluther is a great place. I’ve spent a lot of time here today. Takes my mind off other things.

LouisianaGirl's avatar

@Bluefreedom That is very true! Rock on Fluther!!!

evelyns_pet_zebra's avatar

I’m also happy because I just won the item at auction at eBay.

augustlan's avatar

Overall, I am happy. I am at peace with myself, as well. Go, Blue! Right now, things aren’t so great, but there is always tomorrow. :)

nebule's avatar

you know….this morning is the first morning i have felt a genuine glimmer of happiness and hope for the future…

it is the first real spring day here in the UK; the sun is shining, I got on the scales this morning and realised that i have put 7 pounds on in the last four weeks and have therefore decided that i am not only going to stop putting the weight on…I am going to lose it, start exercising and getting my body and mind well….

I’m going to try and love more and calmly work through my discontentment and anguish. I’m not going to smoke any more and be a little gentler with myself… especially when i fail…or have a bad day…

so I have opened the windows to let the fresh air in and i can hear the birds singing…

Jack79's avatar

I am unhappy because I have not seen my daughter for a long time. But I am happy to know she’s fairly ok for now. And I will be in the clouds when we do meet again, which I hope will be soon.

SuperMouse's avatar

Bravo Lynneblundell! @Casheroo, you and your mom will be in my thoughts this week. @evelyns_pet_zebra I’m glad your wife is doing better and coming home!

Although I am still at a pretty rocky point, in general I am happy. I have three amazing sons, I am in love, I am close to my wonderful sister and her family, I finally found a faith that makes sense to me and makes me excited. Then there’s Fluther, who wouldn’t be happy with Fluther as their home page.

dynamicduo's avatar

Sometimes I’m happy. Sometimes I’m not. I’m still trying to figure out why.

EmpressPixie's avatar

I’m generally happy. I’m over the moon in the relationship department. I’m pretty content with general life. I’m a bit stressed because I’m applying to schools, but I think I’ll get in and that’s okay. I’m just really chill this morning actually. So yeah—life is good.

ubersiren's avatar

I’m quite happy, but sometimes I need to remind myself of that.

wundayatta's avatar

When I was depressed, the idea of happiness was so seductive to me. It also seemed utterly impossible. I asked questions like this, hoping someone could tell me why they were happy. Hoping I could learn something that would make it possible for me to be happy. It didn’t work.

I don’t believe anyone really knows where happiness comes from, or even what it is. For me, right now, it is just not being under the water, moodwise. It means being able to feel good about the things I do. Unfortunately for me, my feeling good depends on positive feedback from others. Feedback that I doubt and discourage, but that I crave at the same time.

More than that, I think it means coming to appreciate that doing the things I love to do is…. what? Ok? Is enjoyed by others?

I worry a lot about what others think. I want to please. I want to help. I want to do these things by doing what I love to do. At times, I am certain that this is self-indulgence and delusion. Other times, I can see that people do enjoy it.

A lot of people say that you have to learn to be happy on your own. You have to learn to love yourself on by yourself, because only then will you be able to let other people appreciate you. I’m not so sure.

Humans are tribal creatures. We are dependent on being connected, and on being touched. When we are isolated, we feel useless. We question the meaning of existence. It is only in relation to others that we have meaning and use.

Depression cuts us off. Not because people suddenly hate us. It’s just that it turns a switch in our minds, and we can no longer recognize or feel any connections we may have had. Worse, any connections that do exist feel wrong. They shouldn’t exist, given the way we feel, and so we try to push people away, to bring balance into our worlds. People who haven’t been depressed don’t get that. Maybe they can’t get that.

People often tell depressed folks to do something for others. Donate time. Do for others. These things may work because they give us a way to connect. Over time, those connections will start to counteract our brain chemicals.

Happiness, I think, is understanding that you have a secure place within the fabric of humanity. You are not lost and disconnected. You matter.

When I was depressed, people told me that I mattered, but I never believed it. Even now, it is difficult for me to accept. I need constant reassurance. I need to be overwhelmed with matterdom.

In my recovery, music and dance have played an extremely important role. In the kind of music I play, you can not do it without feeling connected. It’s all improvisational. The musicians get into the common mindspace, and it feels like we are all reading music from the same page. We know what everyone else will do before they do it. It’s amazing.

In improvisational dance, the same thing happens. These marvelous formations form when the dancers are all relating to each other in….. I don’t know how to say it or describe it. It’s like how birds flock—they are all watching the bird in front of them and to the left, and when that bird turns, the next bird turns, and that’s how come they never crash into each other, yet they can turn and swoop as if they are one organism. The same thing happens in dance, except it’s much more complicated, because we’re humans. We can see multiple possibilities for connecting at any one time, and we choose them depending on what we are feeling. We get in touch with our own feelings at the same time as we become aware of everyone else’s, and we move from that.

Fluther is the same. Every question sets a lead, and people all follow like the birds in the sky, and we see our connections being played out before our very eyes. That’s why the place attracts so many depressed people. Fluther is a way to happiness—or, at least, not sadness.

Connection, connection, connection. When we are securely basking in the web that we spin together with everyone else, we can be full. We can know we matter. We can feel it. When we matter, the depression starts to lift. Your head can rise above the water. You can breath. And who know, maybe you will float up into the air. Just a little.

marinelife's avatar

Happiness is taking pleasure in where we in life, what we have, things we do, the people and world around us.

I am happy. I have learned to be in the moment rather than wasting time regretting the past I cannot change and yearning for a possible elusive future in which I might be happy under certain imagined conditions.

hearkat's avatar

My answer can be found in this post.

marinelife's avatar

Edit: where we are in life (left out the verb).

nebule's avatar

@daloon u r genius! is there a special name for this kind of dancing…is there somewhere i can see some…online i mean youtube?

wundayatta's avatar

@lynneblundell: unfortunately, I can’t tell you, because you’d be able to identify me. I can tell you that it doesn’t happen in many places. It’s sort of unique to where I live. Sometimes we travel a bit, but the other places only have it while we are there. The leaders are not exactly Einsteins when it comes to training and marketing and such. Some of us wish we could do more, but most of us have day jobs, and don’t have the energy to do this.

loser's avatar

I’m happier these days! I met someone really wonderful on Facebook! :)

nebule's avatar

@daloon would it be really bad if i were able to identify you?

wundayatta's avatar

It’s not anyone here I’m afraid of. It’s people who know me in the rl that are a concern.

nebule's avatar

of course…silly me!

Update: This morning…I am feeling amazing!! I am off to see a very good friend of mine who i haven’t seen for a long time..about an hour down the road…the sun is still shining… (the weather often follows my mood i find…very bizarre)

I have met someone (non-romantically i might add…) who has opened my eyes to the humour of life and witticism that we all clearly need more of (well…I do!) and also to the infinte possibilities and array of opportunities available out there if we are willing to grab hold of the fear by the neck…wring it to the point of no return, stamp on it, set fire to it and turn it into the magic of excitement, hope, creation, love, action, movement and force for all the good stuff that makes our tummy’s turn, give us goosebumps and sends us shivers because we’re experiencing true connection to the source and purity of who we are intended to be….

anyway…I’m late now…lol

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