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Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 3:17:48 PM

Lorenzo19

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Is being a happy person a realistic expectation?

How can happiness be acheived?

Why are so many people unhappy?

Is sad bad?

Where is happiness located? In the mind? brain? heart? soul? spirit? Intellect? Emotions? Faith? Luck?

Can happiness be acheived with chemials? If they discovered the happy chemical would you want it? How much would you pay for it?

Will unhappiness be the doom of civilization?

What would society beome if happiness were acheived with chemicals? Should the officials put happy chemicals in the drinking water if the experts decide it is good for us? (they did it with flouride)

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 3:31:20 PM

LafayetteLady

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First of all, why is it that anyone or everyone questions whether emotions are illusions or myths? First it was love is a myth, now wondering whether happiness is an illusion. I'm sorry and I don't really mean to be snarky, but honestly, for those who wonder either of these things or believe them, it is not a question for a message board, but a problem that one might seek professional help about.

Happiness is an emotion. Emotions originate in the mind. The heart in the literal sense is an emotionless organ. Equating it with our emotions is nothing more than symbolism. Our heart doesn't truly "break" when love is lost. Emotions have nothing to do with intellect or luck. Faith, soul, spirit are things that based on a person's belief/value system might help them to achieve happiness.

Some people are never happy. They can't learn to feel happy with the things that are good in their life and simply deal with the things that aren't. Does money buy happiness? For some, yes it will because it will relieve the constant frustration of not being able to pay bills or the trouble of being able to support themselves. Yet many people all over the world are piss poor and yet still manage to be happy.

Lots of people wonder what the key to happiness is. The problem is that there is no master key. The key to each person's happiness is different. For some, finding love will make them happy. Others, having enough money. The one common path to happiness though is to learn how to accept joy in the simple things.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:03:07 PM

pahunkboy

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some need to improve on being happy. just relax and be at harmony with the universe.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:09:40 PM

JstAnotherSub

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for me, happiness is sometimes a choice i make. due to a move and many other things going on in my life this week, i have given me permission to grieve and be pityful til tuesday morning.

tuesday morning, i will turn the page and go to work and be my smiley sweet self again. HAHAHA, i will at least be out of my pity party.

but really, i have found that if i am down, and can fake happy for a lil while, it becomes a reality sooner than i might expect, so i really do set time limits on my pity parties, and thankfully they are few and far between.

illusion? maybe so....long as i am happy, i dont really care though.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:17:02 PM

Lorenzo19

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quote:

for me, happiness is sometimes a choice i make.

interesting. there may be more truth there than you think.

_____________________________

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Everything I needed to know about life I learned by killing smart people and eating thier brains.
Give Me your heart. Make it real. Or else forget about it.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:19:41 PM

heartcream

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I'd say emotions occur and originate in the gut, not the head.

The head often helps to guide the emotions to stay safe, to help shut them down if needed. Or not, most people are involved in shutting down emotions automatically.

The heart is another place where emotions are felt. If you have ever lost someone dear you may know the pain that can happen in the chest during these times.

If you look around this world there are many things to be unhappy about. Anyone with a heart could see all the mess that is not a happy thing.

Desiring to be happy is a natural function of being human. It is easier for some than others for many assorted reasons.

Have you ever met a happy person who had a smile plastered on their face and they claimed how happy they were but something felt false and forced about it? Not a truly happy person but a person sitting on a bunch of so-called negative stuff trying not to let it show or be known even to the individual. Sometimes others demand happiness from another and it is like a hidden agenda to keep things held down and away by any means necessary.

It is natural to want to move toward happiness and if you can really genuinely feel it fantastic.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:23:12 PM

dreamerdreaming

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We control our own perceptions, emotions and actions. So if happiness seems like an illusion to you, you can change that.

In other words, I agree with the person above me who said its a choice we make.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:26:30 PM

camille65

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lorenzo19

Is being a happy person a realistic expectation? Yes.

How can happiness be acheived? Loving ones self.

Why are so many people unhappy? They don't love themselves.

Is sad bad? Nope.
Where is happiness located? In the mind? brain? heart? soul? spirit? Intellect? Emotions? Faith? Luck? Mind & body.

Can happiness be acheived with chemials? If they discovered the happy chemical would you want it? How much would you pay for it? So far only temporary happiness can be derived from chemicals, at one time I would have paid for it but now I don't need to.

Will unhappiness be the doom of civilization? Um. No.

What would society beome if happiness were acheived with chemicals? Should the officials put happy chemicals in the drinking water if the experts decide it is good for us? (they did it with flouride) Um. No.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 4:29:27 PM

pahunkboy

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and breath correctly.

(or else!)

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 5:00:11 PM

Musicmystery

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quote:

Is Happiness an Illusion?

Well if I were happy but it was only an illusion, I'd never know the difference, given the illusion, but at least I'd be happy about it.

I remember when I was talking with Buddha, and he suddenly turned and said "Make me one with everything" to the hot dog vendor.

I got one too. We were happy.

(in reply to Lorenzo19)

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 5:01:52 PM

pahunkboy

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We better get that notarized. Just in case.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 5:04:52 PM

juliaoceania

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I am happy... do I care if it is an illusion? (does quick internal check) Nope.

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Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 5:09:10 PM

DarlingSavage

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The world would and could be a fantastic place beyond our wildest dreams if only every single human could realize their own self worth! Meaning that far too many people don't realize how truly valuable they are. If they did, each person would realize their personal capacity for contributing to this planet we live on and changing it for the better. YAY World!

<--(I just like that little guy so much!)

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 5:31:27 PM

Missokyst

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I don't know. I don't think I am all that much but I am happy. I have stuff. I am creative and intelligent. But, I don't really equate that will the value I place on happiness. Even when life makes feel sad.. it is not the belief in myself that gets me out of it. Nature does that for me. I go out and see a squirrel or an egret.. I watch the clouds gather and disperse rain I can drive by the natural spring that keeps a water way filled daily... and I am ok. For me life and happiness is not so much tied to how I feel about me.. but how I feel about the world around me. Every creation, every leaf.. the wonder of how well things fit together.

That is happy for me. It is not so self involved. Life, even when it is miserble is telling me I have the capacity to love, to enjoy, to cry.. and to get passed it until I can smile with just the little things that life offers me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DarlingSavage

The world would and could be a fantastic place beyond our wildest dreams if only every single human could realize their own self worth! Meaning that far too many people don't realize how truly valuable they are. If they did, each person would realize their personal capacity for contributing to this planet we live on and changing it for the better. YAY World!

<--(I just like that little guy so much!)

< Message edited by Missokyst -- 2/25/2010 5:32:03 PM >

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 5:54:51 PM

DarlingSavage

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quote:

I don't know. I don't think I am all that much but I am happy. I have stuff. I am creative and intelligent. But, I don't really equate that will the value I place on happiness. Even when life makes feel sad.. it is not the belief in myself that gets me out of it. Nature does that for me. I go out and see a squirrel or an egret.. I watch the clouds gather and disperse rain I can drive by the natural spring that keeps a water way filled daily... and I am ok. For me life and happiness is not so much tied to how I feel about me.. but how I feel about the world around me. Every creation, every leaf.. the wonder of how well things fit together.

That is happy for me. It is not so self involved. Life, even when it is miserble is telling me I have the capacity to love, to enjoy, to cry.. and to get passed it until I can smile with just the little things that life offers me.

I think you might be misinterpreting my input. I'm not talking about conciet or any type of Ayn Rand philosophy. I'm merely commenting on the fact that there are people in the world, and LOTS of them, that grow up under horrendous circumstances. People that live out the entirety of their lives in abject poverty and war torn countries. People that are forced into child labor and the sex trade industry and then later, they grow up believing that this is all they are and they can never be anything more. A few people are able to make it out of these lives, but they are the exception. But they are also the ones that realize their own self worth at some point in their lives and begin to realize that they CAN do something else.

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 6:01:14 PM

Jeffff

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Some days I am happy, some days I am not. The contrast is the point. You can't tell the good days without the bad.

Erma Bombeck was happy, look what is got her... dead!

Why can't Helen Keller play the piano?.................... because she is fucking DEAD!

However, the thought of Helen Keller, playing the piano and sinigng along makes me smile. Just imagine how horrible it would be.

She would never know we were all laughing.

I hope this helps

Jeff

< Message edited by Jeffff -- 2/25/2010 6:14:37 PM >

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 6:11:06 PM

Aneirin

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Happiness is a state of being and it comes from within, something many forget in this day and age whilst they pursue bright baubles, the latest gadget, whatever to buy, for money cannot buy happiness and knowing that, I would sooner be poor and at peace with myself than wealthy and questing.

When you can look into your mind and not desire anything then one can believe they are on the road to happiness.

Oh yes, see signature.

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Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 6:30:42 PM

barelynangel

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If people would make themselves happy, the pharmasutical companies would probably go out of business, so i fully believe out society is geared towards reminding people to be miserable. Someone is becoming happy off their misery. They want you to think happiness is a myth and its not something you can really ever achieve but they will take your money as they give you the happy pills to try and find the right prescription for your individual happiness. Just as self medicators do the same, they are all trying to figure out what happy is instead of making changes in their lives to make themselves more content and thriving in their lives. Instead, most are taught that its someone elses fault, its not their own, they don't have to take responsibility and when all else fails don't worry there is a drug a doc or someone on the street has for you to make you feel better.

I also think way to many people are taught by parents, society etc that issues abound they are taught to take the easy way because of this facade of happy people MUST reach for yet most people have no clue how to define or pinpoint lol. What is happy, happy, just like life is what you make of it. People chose to utilize many things to achieve their concept of happy. Being sad sucks, but sometimes a body NEEDS that, its a cycle. One does not need to be happy all of the time as long as they are balanced.

sad isn't bad, happy isn't good. Having a balance of emotions throughout your life is what is needed.

< Message edited by barelynangel -- 2/25/2010 6:37:11 PM >

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 6:35:48 PM

Aneirin

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Oh, another one who has suspicions about pharmaceutical companies then, for meds are known to cause other problems which require other meds ad finitum. I don't think this world is big enough to contain people who wish to be happy and those that thrive on misery.

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Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

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RE: Is Happiness an Illusion? - 2/25/2010 6:44:08 PM

Aileen1968

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I have been an extremely happy person my entire life. Even during the worst times...death and divorce.
It's so much easier and so much more enjoyable to go through life happy.
I have never questioned why or how. I just embrace it and expand it and surround myself with others who are just as happy.

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