What is happiness? The answer to this question seems to vary depending on who you ask – and when you ask them!
People who see themselves as happy still go through the range of human emotions – worry, fear, anger, frustration, boredom, loneliness, difficult times and sadness.
But a ‘happy person’, when faced with difficulties and challenges, has an underlying optimistic belief they can deal with the problem in hand, resolve it, and return to their normal everyday happy state. Even a person who considers themselves unhappy can experience fleeting moments of happiness.
While happiness has many different definitions, it is a universal human experience, the feeling of positive uplifting emotions combined with a sense of life satisfaction. And when people reflect on the meaning of happiness, or if they are happy themselves, they might be considering how they feel in the present moment or be referring to a more general sense of how they feel about life and the world in general.
So, are you happy?
While perceptions of happiness may be different from one person to the next, asking yourself these simple questions will reveal your present level of happiness.
- Are you living the life you want?
- Are you satisfied with life?
- Do you have positive, healthy relationships?
- Have you accomplished (or believe you will accomplish) what you want in life?
- Are you open to new ideas and experiences?
- Do you treat yourself (and others) with kindness and compassion?
- Do you express gratitude?
- Do you love yourself and others?
- Are you generally more positive than negative?
- Do you sense you are living a life of meaning and purpose?
- Do you want to share happiness?
The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, suggested happiness is the fundamental human desire, and that all other desires exist as signposts to happiness. He made a distinction between two different kinds of happiness: hedonic and eudaimonia (pronounced YOU-DAY-MOAN-E-ERR).
Hedonic happiness is realised through experiences of pleasure and enjoyment. It is most often associated with doing what feels good, self-care, fulfilling desires, experiencing enjoyment, and feeling a sense of satisfaction.
Eudemonic happiness concerns meaning and purpose, seeking virtue and meaning, feeling that your life has quality and value. It is most associated with fulfilling responsibilities, concern for the welfare of others, and living up to personal ideals, morals, and ethics.
Daily, we experience happiness as a positive emotional experience when something external makes us or will make us happy. Although these are joyful, uplifting experiences, because they are driven by external phenomena, they tend to come and go. So, we typically have times when we are happier, good days and bad days.
When your sense of happiness is derived from the outer world, then the things that make you happy (or lack of them) can also create unhappiness; for when you are disconnected from the perceived sources of your happiness, you feel down and unhappy.
When you let go of the belief that happiness is found outside of you, and you rest in neutrality of awareness (i.e., a still mind) – there is a thriving universal spiritual common to us all which transcends the poles of happiness and unhappiness. It doesn’t rely on exterior happenings, it’s not ecstatic, it’s simply the joy of being, the spirit of existence, or pure consciousness.
For in the depths of us all, at our core, there is a place, a Heart, through which we can experience the reality of being universally connected. The experience of Oneness, of being whole, is joyful and happy. Being inner happiness (i.e., not caused by external events or through any ‘other’) it’s a fundamental part of you.
You may not constantly experience being happy, but this infinite eternal joy dwells at the heart of you, and at the core of all ‘others.
As human beings, we sometimes become lost in the ups and downs of life, distracted by our minds, but when we return to the fundamental stillness at our core, peace and happiness are found to be there, ever-present, and alive.
When you uncover this essential ‘spiritual’ reality, you realise the true meaning of joy, which is really what all other forms of happiness point to. When we are happy, we are free, and when we are free, we are unburdened, peaceful, compassionate, and loving. We are ourselves, authentic and true.
So, the next time you are feeling unhappy, try not to dump it on another, don’t go running to your partner, your friends or family to cheer you up, don’t play with your phone, binge watch TV, snack orgy, drink yourself stupid or eat too many chocolates; just choose to still your mind and be present.
Dive into the happiness which is waiting for you.
For it is in this simple stillness we find eternity.
As the Liverpudlian comedian Ken Dodd once sang.
“A wise old man told me one time
Happiness is a frame of mind
When you go to measuring my success
Don’t count my money count my happiness.
Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess
I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed
With more than my share of happiness.
To me this old world is a wonderful place
I’m just about the luckiest human in the whole human race
I’ve got no silver and I’ve got no gold
But I’ve got happiness in my soul.”
Thank you for sharing happiness Ken.
And there you have it. Happiness is not about ownership, it’s a state of being.
Find your soul, and you will know happiness.
Jonathan Harrison is a More to Life Elder and Award-winning author.
His new online course is available NOW on Udemy.com: www.udemy.com/course/how-to-find-your-whole-self/
SUBSCRIBE to my YOUTUBE channel Natural Being Foundation
Here’s a link to the latest offering;
