Happiness

[Debaucherous]

taken from http://debaucherous.wordpress.com @debaucherous1

Is a conscious state of mind. I'm rather firm believer that if you add up the positives and negatives in our lives, especially within a context of a "western" state of living, we're fairly neutral in our potential for emotional well-being. If we remove extreme variables (child abuse, murder, rape etc. <-- thats a shitty series to add etc. after) that the general populous doesn't experience (I realize maybe those three could add up to 10%?) the 90% of us will, over time, experience the same level of potential positive and negative emotional influences in our lives. So surmising we do have a net neutral human experience, I am of the opinion happiness is a state of being, rather than a specific emotional moment in time; a disposition if you will.

And now I will do my damndest to back this shit up.

Money doesn't buy it.
This cliche seems to be as common as a starving kid in Africa, but ironically its truth is highlighted in that simile (insert graph about relative happiness vs. real GDP income). Depending on who you cite I'm sure you can find some objection to the case, but in an international data set we find that some "happy" countries are poor, some of the "happiest" groups of people can be found in starving Africa, and blah blah whatever data money doesn't buy happiness. In some parts of Africa the concept of post partum depression doesn't exist, it apparently boggles their mind that someone is depressed when a baby is born, because it's so readily celebrated (I'm sure you can find some kind of counter argument if you google hard enough, and I'll find one that supports the lower rates of PPD so hopefully we assume my point is atleast somewhat valid.) Nigeria has one of the higher happiness indexes and a real GDP income of about $150. Poor people aren't as readily hooked on benzodiazepines and anti-depressants (besides the fact they can't afford them), the highest rates of suicide are in the developed world. It seems clear there isn't a direct correlation between money and happiness. Mo' money mo' problems, money worries, etc. But then again the great Jelleestone sang "money can't buy me happiness, but I'm happiest when i can buy what I want, anytime that I want"... and I do hold his wisdom in the highest regard. We can also be certain that poverty doesn't buy happiness... but overall it just seems there isn't a direct correlation between wealth levels and relative joy.

[ted id=1253]

You control it.
I can't quote the research on it, but merely maintaining a more positive disposition, smiling more, and thinking positive thoughts despite your "real" mood, you body will actually produce more endorphins. I understand depression is a physical problem, but maintaining different brain states can actually change the chemistry of your brain. Faking happiness for long enough will actually change the chemistry in you brain to actually make you happy. The physical act of being happy, looking at the glass half full, pushing yourself out of whatever miserable shit you have to be miserable about and finding whatever relative happiness you can in that situation i.e. my job sucks... well hey I have a job, food tastes bad.. I'm not starving, my boyfriend/gf broke up with me... you have the freedom to pursue whatever relationship you wanted and it didn't work, but hey you're not under oppression, you don't fear for your life everyday, you don't wonder where your next meal is coming from, you haven't had a gun put in your face, your house burned, etc. It's not that shit doesn't feel bad, or frustrating, or that certain scenarios can't elicit certain emotional responses... merely that your response to them, and your overall state of being and interpretation of emotional states is up to you.

The outside world doesn't control it
I think its plausible to assume that two people in relatively similar circumstance can react in different ways depending on how they perceive their circumstance especially in a relative context. I have enough shit in my life to be stressed/sad/pissed off about, but letting the world throw me about just inhibits what I'm able to do with my time. Call it peace, zen, tranquility, whatever. You can react to a shitty thing in a shitty way, or you can let it roll off your shoulder and get on with what you deem as important. Stress/anger/sadness might be a temporary feeling, but your acknowledgement to the outside source, and your choice of reaction and in turn the feedback loop of sorts you press upon yourself (i feel sad about "x", I dwell on what's bad, puts me in a sad state "y", happy event "z" occurs but is somewhat dismissed by "y", another"x" happens and because of "y" it pushes "y" even further), if your general state of being is happy, you will find more things to be happy about. How this interaction with the world, and how your happiness fits is up to you. Find a set of beliefs/values that puts you in a harmonious state with your general world interaction. Take what your usual day involves, find what makes you happy, or what you don't hate about it, and spend your time thinking about those things. Acknowledge what may suck, and what you can do to change it, but once you've got to that point let it be. Or do more drugs, escapism exists for a damn good reason.

So cheer the fuck up

 

[CoffeeDrinker]

"So cheer the fuck up"....nice one....

I agree with your premises, and have often drawn similar conclusions, but language and delivery is important to me, so that's where my criticism would lie.

"Depression is a physical problem" I don't really know what you mean by that, do you mean that depression happens out of the blue, with no external reason, and the person experiencing it might as well be experiencing the common cold? Now that I would disagree with. Depression comes about as a natural response to obsessively thinking about yourself and being displeased with things in general. If a depressed person forgets they have depression by doing things and being active, their depression would most likely go away.
This seems to coincide with what you concluded though.

The problem lies in the will. People have varying levels of willpower, and this more than most any other factors determines what their life is going to be like. In the case of a weak-willed person, they're most likely never going to hear "now cheer the fuck up" and take that seriously. They need something more, far more, to light a fire in them, and often times they never get it.

 

[herbavore]

Will certainly is a factor, but I also think that nature (physiological psychology) plays a huge role in being able to experience happiness.

I came into the world afraid, anxious and basically aligned with melancholy. ( I had a supportive loving family, no childhood trauma and nothing physically wrong with me. ) Then, it was like someone threw a switch in me in early adulthood and my introversion and feeling of being overwhelmed transformed. It has always been a mystery to me. Then, when I became a mother of two sons the mystery of "nature" unfolded anew. My older son was born with the capacity to feel happiness no matter what life deals him. My younger son was born like I was, anxious to the point of disorder, prone to depression and rage, etc. Same family, same circumstances, same genes. The interesting thing to me though, is that while my older son seems to feel more (quantitative) happiness, my younger son felt true bliss when he felt happy (qualitative). So while there is choice and will-power involved, a person's innate nature cannot be discounted. We all fall in different places along the continuum. In other words, some of us have to fight a lot harder to cheer the fuck up! :D

The other thing that I think is interesting about how we view happiness is that we expect it to be a state of being as opposed to fluid moments that come and go like every other emotional experience. When people say that they used to be a happy person or they want to be a happy person, I am somewhat mystified. Lots of unhappiness is caused by the idea that we can be happy, rather than understanding that we can and will experience happiness, along with sadness, anguish, calm, serenity, anger, etc. We definitely have the capacity to choose positivity, to choose compassion, to choose connection and those choices usually lead to happiness occurring with greater abundance.

I have always assumed that there is a hormonal basis to one's "nature", or emotional default, because of my own experience with such an inexplicable and drastic change with no circumstantial stimuli, as well as from observing my children's natures from birth onward. I figure that if we could isolate whatever hormone rose or fell in me and could replicate it we could alleviate a lot of misery but then would we dilute happiness? I am convinced that the intensity and overwhelming nature of emotions for my younger son and myself when I was younger allowed us to feel absolute, total body joy, not just happiness, when we did experience it. So, for me, the trick lies in learning to live with all the emotions and to actually see value in the diversity of each as well as their interdependence.

I do agree that when your general state of being is happiness that you will find more to be happy about. That is a great way to put it.