What does it take to be happy?
Question by Chase: What does it take to be happy?
Teenagers think they know everything, huh?
Okay so I have this long train of thought I’m going to share with you. I’m looking for someone to either agree with me or try to understand my concept and explain to me why I am wrong. I’m just a 17 year old kid so something I am lacking is experience which ultimately means that I am probably lacking wisdom.
Okay so what does it take for a person to be happy? Well obviously a lot of things, that’s not really my question. My question is do you think it is healthy to think on a deeper level? I think it depends on how deep you like to think. But overall there is a point when the depth can be a bad thing. The people who think too deeply about the meaning of life (and those who have no religion) can easily find themselves getting depressed about the thought. The people who say “There’s really no point to life” are the ones who have thought about it. It may cross most people’s minds, but the ones who think on a deeper level will definitely think harder about a seemingly important concept such as this. Well there is really no point to thinking like that. Have you ever wondered what animals think of death? I’m sure most animals don’t even realize they are ever going to die. It’s something they’ve never experienced, why would they understand it? They don’t have a language or a mind complex enough to talk and think about it.
Here is my thought. People are happy because of the “reward system” in our anatomy. Positive events trigger a positive emotion. A lot of people think they need meaning in order for them to be happy. People who need meaning are deeper thinkers than those who don’t care. People who need meaning actually make it much harder to be happy because they separate the anchor between happiness and their actions or surroundings. For example, let’s say someone has fun playing a video game, we’ll say Halo 3 since it is popular. But then he starts to ask himself why he likes the game so much? After a couple months of thinking in that manner he doesn’t like halo 3 anymore. Why is that? Because he realizes that it is pointless in helping him get ahead in life. Nobody really cares if he wins a game every once in a while on there. He simply realizes that it is a pointless waste of time. Some people would agree with this kid and praise him for realizing that the game is meaningless and that he should not waste his time doing such a pointless activity. But when you really think about it, that’s just another gateway to happiness that he took from his life.
So here’s what I think is key to being happy: Not asking why it is that you are happy. But simply focusing on the present. Focus on what is happening around you and think a lot less philosophically. You only need to choose a path and take it. If you find yourself miserable, use your intelligence to fix the problem and change your path. Only think what makes you happy, not why it makes you happy.
Best answer:
Answer by Pretty Boy
To be honest, I didn’t read the Huge description.
But the only thing that makes me happy is
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
Cash, Checks, Debit, Credit…Any Way! Any Form!
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
only $ makes me happy.
Though I don’t have the answer to your interesting question, I really want to say that you have have outstanding writing capabilities. I can tell that your the kind of person that thinks about things intensely and on a deeper level. Which is an amazing quality that very few people have.
I don’t want to sound melodramatic and everything but for some reason as soon as a started reading your question it made me do some thinking about life and people in general. Why we do the things we do, ect.
Sorry for rambling on about what you are probably thinking and nonsense but thank you for getting me to think about stuff that normally people wouldn’t even think twice about.
Once again, thank you.
i don’t know and i didn’t read all that you said
but i’m pretty happy now and i have been for most of my life
i don’t need to know what it takes to be happy as long as i am
and i get the feeling it isn’t any harder than eating a banana
Jesus Christ will bring you happyness when you get to know him
you have to buy it from the store.
“Teenagers think they know everything, huh?”
- Teenagers very often start to apply the moral commandments they were compelled to obey to the people who made these likely unwarranted moral commandments.
“do you think it is healthy to think on a deeper level?”
- I feel very unhappy when communicating with someone I know I can’t talk to on a deeper level.
“(and those who have no religion) can easily find themselves getting depressed about the though”
- And many get severely depressed thinking that an omniscient being is reading their minds and at the same time many feel very happy not to have such a coercive father figure to fear. Maintaining irrational beliefs like in god’s existence makes being happy much more difficult (see “catholic guilt”).
“Have you ever wondered what animals think of death?”
- Animals can think about dying or pain, but the abstract concept of death is beyond non human animals as well as non animal organisms.
“People who need meaning actually make it much harder to be happy because they separate the anchor between happiness and their actions or surroundings.”
- You are engaging in deep thinking. If you suggest thinking in the way you do AND that people should be happy, then you are caught in a contradiction. It would help for you to define “deep thinking”.
“Not asking why it is that you are happy.”
- So you have a methodology for achieving happiness and that is to not understand that methodology?
“But simply focusing on the present.”
- The present is emotionally neutral. The emotional reaction of a person is an involuntary reaction to the principles of which the present set of circumstances were consciously arranged. Considering past experience is necessitated by emotionality, happy or otherwise.
“Focus on what is happening around you and think a lot less philosophically.”
- Defining what you mean by “philosophically” is necessary to respond to this.
“You only need to choose a path and take it”
- Every single person on the planet does this. Very few are consistently happy.
“If you find yourself miserable, use your intelligence to fix the problem and change your path.”
- It would help to elaborate on “intelligence” and “path” in this instance. This appears too vague to comment on.
“Only think what makes you happy, not why it makes you happy”
- A thing (what) cannot bring anyone happiness. It’s a valid methodology that achieves reproducible results (“why are some people happy?”).
I think that you are obviously an intelligent person. If you would like to continue this dialog I would be happy to respond (email in profile).
I don’t think it makes any difference what we think about what we should think, because we will think what we want to. You know what I mean? If someone gets tired of playing a game he might think it is because it is stupid, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with thinking. All this stuff goes on in the subconscious. You’re going to be thinking about things all the time and you can’t stop it, that is what we all are. Some people worry more about it though. Stop thinking about thinking.