General Question
What are the different types of happiness?
I was wondering if it is possible to categorize all the types of things that make us happy and started to list some items. I limited myself to short term feeling of happiness. I also did a Google search to see what others came up with. This and this
are what I was able to find.
It was a revelation that different neurochemicals have been associated with different types of happiness. While this is impressive, I don’t think it is the last word on the subject. For example, one article lists four chemicals and the other has seven.
Here are different types of happiness that I don’t think are covered in either of the articles.
1. The gratification from the cessation of suffering, like coming into an air conditioned room on a hot and muggy day.
2. Sensual pleasure (kind of obvious, I think)
3. The joy of experiencing beauty in a work of art or a part of nature.
4. The feeling you get from an effective communication – being able to understand someone and knowing that you are being understood.
5. Helping or being helped by someone. The person being helped obviously derives satisfaction just from being helped, but there is added pleasure on both sides from the interaction.
6. The enhancement of pleasure by being able to share it. Part of the enjoyment of watching a movie in a theater is sharing the experience with whoever you bring with you and also with a bunch of strangers.
7. Empathic pleasure.
8. Happiness in learning something new.
I am sure there are others that I have left out. I have put this in the general section to filter frivolous comments, but feel free to say anything that you feel is related.
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