I thought I was, but maybe I’m not.
If you are happy, can you please tell me some of the things that make you happy?
Happy people are stupid, in that they don’t internalize all the the bad things that are happening in our world.
I’m happy.
On the contrary, happy people do take all those things into account, yet have the brains and the heart to realize that it’s not worth imploding about 
That said, I’m certainly quite happy.
What makes me happy ultimately is my faith in Jesus Christ, and my conviction in the hope of eternity and the joy of life today. Because my spirit has started on the road to purity, and my life has been put into context, the beauty in everything just jumps out at me.
And on a less religious level since that might not be your cup of tea, and people look at me funny when I talk about Jesus, well, currently what makes me happy is going to a minor league game tomorrow morning (I stink at any sport, but I love watching baseball), working for my dad this summer and possibly dunkin donuts or some joint like that during the school year (saving up for bagpipes, cello, bouzouki, low G and low D whistles), the prospect of possibly not having to get a drivers’ license till next year (in the city there’s not much I can’t do without a car, and I need bagpipe money!), having just seen a good movie (End of the Spear; it’s a wonderful real-life story), my house not currently getting robbed (there was some banging on the door, but I think it was jsut one the dogs or something), and… yeah. Little things like those.
On the contrary, happy people do take all those things into account, yet have the brains and the heart to realize that it’s not worth imploding about
That said, I’m certainly quite happy.
What makes me happy ultimately is my faith in Jesus Christ, and my conviction in the hope of eternity and the joy of life today. Because my spirit has started on the road to purity, and my life has been put into context, the beauty in everything just jumps out at me.
And on a less religious level since that might not be your cup of tea, well, currently what makes me happy is going to a minor league game tomorrow morning (I stink at any sport, but I love watching baseball), working for my dad this summer and possibly dunkin donuts or some joint like that during the school year (saving up for bagpipes, cello, bouzouki, low G and low D whistles), the prospect of possibly not having to get a drivers’ license till next year (in the city there’s not much I can’t do without a car, and I need bagpipe money!), having just seen a good movie (End of the Spear; it’s a wonderful real-life story), my house not currently getting robbed (there was some banging on the door, but I think it was jsut one the dogs or something), and… yeah. Little things like those. Enjoy life! Have fun!
SpoonMan,
I used to find happiness in Jesus as well. I don’t know what happened to me. I feel as if I have strayed from the path or something. I drink too much and get depressed. Thanks for the insightful answers.
Happiness is relative. Man is a complex creature full of many emotions and sentiments with many shades. A human being is capable of happiness and melancholy in the same moment, along with any number of other feelings on various matters.
Here’s a good passage from the Bible, on the subject, since this thread has veered in the direction of faith, “He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.”
There is great happiness to be found in helping others. I increasingly find this to be true.
I think I know what you mean.
I was told in my teens that I would be “Happy but not Content”. I thought that was a useful sort of catch-all phrase. And I do feel “Happy but not Content” or perhaps “Content but not Happy”. That’s fair enough, I think.
The thing is, do you want to be happy? A large number of people really don’t, from what I see. They want money, or power, or their sports team to always win, but they don’t want to be happy.
There is a very interesting poem by Browning, which is a Doctor’s assessment of Lazarus, after his resurrection. Auden wrote a similar thing in a stanza of “The Quest”:
"The only difference that could be seen
From those who’d never risked their lives at all
Was his delight in details and routine:
For he was always glad to mow the grass
Pour liquids from large bottles into small,
Or look at clouds through bits of coloured glass."
You find delight in little things. Remember the things that you enjoy. Make a note of them. The flight of swallows. A pretty butterfly. Shadows on the pavement. The sunset. Make an effort to remember them at the end of the day. That tune that is really difficult, but one day you’ll get it right.
Happiness? If it’s not happiness, it’ll do till happiness comes along.
If you think of life as a brilliant-cut diamond: It has a lot of facets. Some are dark, some are bright, some are dim, and some are different colours.
And they all change, as the diamond twinkles. If you concentrate on just one facet, it will sometimes be light, sometimes dark, and so on. And your mood will depend entirely on that facet. It sometimes takes an effort to remember that there are a lot of other facets too. And the whole diamond is always dazzling.
I am happy.
My wife Shannon makes me happy. There is a certain way in which she looks sometimes when she’s very interested in something and doesn’t know I’m watching her. There is a way the light hits her face then that makes me realize she is incredibly beautiful, and that makes me happy.
My ferrets make me happy, watching them play, watching them try to sneak up on and then pounce on each other, watching the look of glee on their little faces as they try to sneak up on and pounce on me, and the subsequent look of confusion: “Ok, I caught him. Ooof! he’s a lot bigger than I thought he was! Now what?” 
Playing music makes me happy.
There is a certain state which you (rarely) achieve, when you are deep in the tune and it just has a life of its own. Time slows down, and you’ve got all the time in the world to play each note just so. You can’t put a finger wrong…everything just works.
Clean sheets make me happy. Soaking in hot water makes me happy.
Good food makes me happy. We ate sushi and hibachi last night, and I was very full, but also very happy.
Getting lost in a good book can make me very happy.
Listening to music makes me very happy, as does viewing a work of art.
–James
It is hard not be happy when watching them little weasels wrestling, bouncing, poofing up and chattering while doing their little war dance and dragging each other off the sofa.
Maybe you need a couple of Ferrets FC. They will make you laugh, and laugh a lot.
The beginning of religious feeling, or the “conversion” phase, is often accompanied by happiness, and that’s a good thing. It’s much the same happiness, though, that you would have with anything new. It’s very similar to the infatuation stage of a relationship. We all know how long that lasts.
After that, things get back to normal. At that point, you have to work at developing a mature relationship. If you understand that, you can be happy accepting the work involved in the relationship.
So, a lessening of feeling isn’t necessarily an indication that you strayed from the path. It may be more of an indication that you’ve progressed.
Drinking too much and becoming depressed isn’t an indication of straying from the path, either. This lifetime’s work isn’t to BE perfect, you know. It’s just to do what you can to improve, accept relapses, and forge on.
“In the zone.” “In the present.” “Perfect moment” It’s got lots of names and can happen in almost any endeavor.
I think Lambchop makes a fine point.
Most of the folks I’ve known with bouncy religious “happiness” are actually folks of pretty shallow faith and almost no real knowledge of the history of their own religion. And they don’t care: to them, the end is all-important, but the process by which you get there has no importance at all. They are not respectful and can be unpleasant to be around for both believers and non-believers alike.
I have known several folks, though, of various faiths, who had done their reseaech, paid their dues, and come to understand what they were part of.
Instead of manic glee, these souls show a deep peace. They know that sometimes the way to be heard most clearly is not to speak at all. They respect the process and they have come to understand that the journey is every bit as important as the destination.
When the bad times come, the bouncy happy folks are shaken to their core, with the surprised look in their eyes of a hurt child.
Nothing shakes the folks with the quiet, deep faith. They got there by riding storm after storm, and they can face distaster without it shaking who and what they are.
–James
I think the most important thing I’ve learned on this subject is that both happy and unhappy are temporary conditions.
If you try to be happy all the time, or work hard at being/becoming happy, it doesn’t work. You need not-happy as much as you need happy - or how will you know when you’re happy?
Sometimes I have a long string of happy times with a couple of not-happy spots interspersed on top. Sometimes I have a long string of not-happy times with little occasional bursts of happy. It’s hard to deal with when I have a long period of not being happy, or a period of being exceptionally unhappy, but I have to remember that it won’t be forever (even if it feels like it at the time). That usually makes a difference.
… and there are always good cookies to eat in the event you may be uncertain which mode you may be in. 
Ahhh, Joseph!!!
There you have it!
I am mostly happy and content. I eat lots of cookies.
M 
(I listen to very little world news.)
Best wishes,
Jerry
I like James’ answer. You really need to appreciate those in the moment things. As for happiness over the course of a lifetime–I think it’s like the stock market.
Something I’ve found I can do (and couldn’t when I was younger,) is sort of operate on a split-personality basis. There’s the me who is experiencing the day-to-day hassles, the difficulty of illness in family members, the hard stuff as well as the fun stuff, and then there’s the me who can kind of stand back from that and be an observer of my own life, recognizing that it’s all a game in a way, and that being stuck in the doldrums, when they occur, is a temporary condition.
I have never been very good at the kinds of transcendental happiness that is induced by philosophy or Jesus, preferring instead the more tactile happiness brought on by chili and smoking.
I’m happy. I had to shake things up a lot to get to this point though. I tried a lot of stuff. Different cities to live in, different jobs, different relationships, different styles of music, etc. Eventually I found the perfect city to live in. I can’t help but be happy here.
Also, learning tai chi and playing music with friends as often as possible enhances my happiness.
I get down sometimes, but not often. Before I moved here I was ridiculously depressed. I remember vividly what that was like, so every day I don’t feel that way I have this euphoric sense of having gotten away with something devious, like robbing a bank.
I also have faith (but no religion.) I agree with James that’s helpful if you’re after a deep and lasting peace instead of the giddy sort of glee you get from an ice cream cone.
I’m chronically ill and I can’t walk very well. I had to call in to work and class yesterday because I fell in the shower. It’s difficult to be happy like this. So no, I’m not happy.
BUT–I put it in perspective and I know I’m just a spoiled brat. Even though I have to use a cane some days, I have life better than about 5,000,000,000 other people in the world.