A Hard Look at Happiness

[bubbleguppy]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

I don't believe this to be true. I believe there is an evolutionary necessity for all emotions we have. On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

 

[Tumah]

In order to feel empathy, you may need to be able to experience sadness. You don't need to be in a constant state of sadness. I imagine that to truly be mentally stable, you should need to be able to experience a whole range of emotions. But in terms of the most ideal state to be in, that is definitely happiness.

 

[YmirGF]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

I think so simply because it recognizes that happiness is not a permanent state. There is nothing wrong with trying to make your lot in life better. That said, my permanent state of bliss is well beyond the experience of your average garden gnome. That does not mean that I don't oscillate between other emotions, I do, it's just that my perennial chipper as the birds self bounces back rather rapidly when I'm down... usually fueled by my relentless sense of humor.

I don't believe this to be true. I believe there is an evolutionary necessity for all emotions we have. On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

Part of the magic, if you will, that I've managed to make a reality in my life is to let emotions play themselves out wherever possible. Sometimes you do have to bottle them up but quite often you can just let them rip. It's my belief that allowing emotions expression will result in a happier overall disposition.

I think that part of the problem is that people are frightened by the raw power of their emotions and consciously stifle them because they do not trust themselves enough. This is a self-fulfilling belief however.

 

[Sunstone]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

"striving for happiness" sounds counter-productive to me.

On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

The notion that frequently happy people cannot be empathetic strikes me as misguided. Sadness focuses people on themselves, which is detrimental to experiencing empathy for others. Years ago, when I was afflicted by depression, I had some empathy for people who were depressed like me. But I experienced very little empathy for people who were not depressed like me. I couldn't see very far beyond myself.

 

[YmirGF]

"striving for happiness" sounds counter-productive to me.



The notion that frequently happy people cannot be empathetic strikes me as misguided. Sadness focuses people on themselves, which is detrimental to experiencing empathy for others. Years ago, when I was afflicted by depression, I had some empathy for people who were depressed like me. But I experienced very little empathy for people who were not depressed like me. I couldn't see very far beyond myself.

Tell me about it, Phil. I think you are right on the mark here. Empathy is a bit more than an ideal/idea. Those will little empathy often want to feel more and yet when you have more you sincerely wish you felt things less penetratingly.

 

[sun rise]

There are times I've been working on something hard and have felt very frustrated but I would say "happily frustrated" because I was enjoying the struggle to figure something out and optimistic that I would sooner or later enjoy the elation of having solved the problem.

And for empathy I need to avoid what I would call a feeling of being egotistically "self satisfied" and that's what I'm reading into the OP.

 

[Laika]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

I don't believe this to be true. I believe there is an evolutionary necessity for all emotions we have. On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

No. Not if doing so essentially shames negative emotions as "bad" and "unacceptable". Being upset, getting angry, etc are all necessary part of defining our boundaries and coping with problems. You have to respect your emotions.

There is a tendency in our society (positive thinking?) to think that positive emotions have positive results, whereas negative emotions have negative results. It's very destructive to mental equilibrium if you think being upset or having negative emotions is a sufficient basis for people rejecting you as "negative" or that "bad" events are self inflicted due to you having a lot of "negative energy". It also means that when you are happy, it's often deeply insincere and doesn't reflect who you are but how you are "marketing" your self to others as an "attractive" personality.

I'd rather be unhappy than fake happiness out of fear of rejection. Then I can really enjoy the moments when I happy as "my own" and not as a mask worn for others.

 

[Ahanit]

No one is happy all the time, but that is not a definition of a happy life... someone who loves his live is happy, equal if there is one time a cloud or a shaddow....

As Autist I can not really speak about Empathic, but thinking About People I have met in my life those who where Happy with their life, after going through deep Problems where those who have shown most what is called Empathic...

I think it is a perfect goal to try to reach a stadium of Happyness, a Life you love to life. If there are many stones and Mountains and rivers to cross on the way to reach the goal, you will understand and you will be able to appreciate this state of being.
This I think is the main Problem why many people today do not like their life equal how much they have, and how good they live, they did not go the hard path and so they are not able to evaluate what they have

 

[psychoslice]

I think striving for happiness or sadness is stupid, just be, if happiness comes enjoy, if sadness come then let it come and let it go.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

I don't believe this to be true. I believe there is an evolutionary necessity for all emotions we have. On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

It's too exhausting to strive for happiness and maintain it. It's also exhausting to be in sadness and even more so depression and trying to smile within it. With either, it's hard to have empathy when you're "out of breathe" in your state of happiness (a wholesome state of well-being) and people retract. On the other hand you attract people to help you when you're sad but to say its better is like saying death is better than life.

So, there is a balance. It's not a truly healthy mindset to be happy. It tires the mind and body if one doesn't have challenges to overcome as one ages. However, challenges doesn't have to be negative to learn from them. It's just healthy in order for our minds to grow. That's happiness's. A smile not wanted but not required.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I think contentment is undervalued.

 

[12jtartar]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

I don't believe this to be true. I believe there is an evolutionary necessity for all emotions we have. On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

bubbleguppy,
The term happy, as used by some Bible translators, can be misunderstood. In the Holy Scriptures the term happy has more than one definition. Many places in the Scriptures, happy, does not mean what we think of today, like mirthful.
The term happy means, in many places, very Blessed.
Some Bibles have translated, at 1Timothy 1:11, that God is a happy God. Most Bibles say Blessed at, what is called the seven Blessednesses, Starting at Matthew 5:3-5:11.
Now, here is the point about these differences. Technically, Happy is what the first century Bible writers wrote, but translators are supposed to be translating for their contemporaries, so if the word happy is used the exact meaning is lost because extremely blessed, or Very Blessed, is what the first century writers meant, so I believe the word blessed is more accurate, but even more accurate would be, Very Blessed, for readers in the 21st century.

 

[jonathan180iq]

I think striving for happiness or sadness is stupid, just be, if happiness comes enjoy, if sadness come then let it come and let it go.

enjoy it

 

[Brickjectivity]

Do you believe that it's truly a healthy mindset to strive to be happy all the time?

Sooner or later you have to sleep.

I don't believe this to be true. I believe there is an evolutionary necessity for all emotions we have. On top of that, sadness is actually a vastly superior state to be in in order to demonstrate considerable empathy toward other people.

Evolution is a treacherous backstabbing heartless jerk, so...its OK to resist your evolutionary foundations. I bet there are a few people who spend their entire lives happy. Doesn't that make you jealous? Imagine the mental energy and the radiance you could have if you were happy all the time. You would always hit the target and never miss. Everyone would know everywhere you went even if they didn't want to know that there was someone happy nearby. They would sense your happy pheromones and subconsciously hear your happy ticking heart. Your confidence would create doubt around you in great conquering waves. You would be the nightmare of all unhappy people, practically Conan the Destroyer to them. Your very presence would soak up all of their happiness making it your own. Glorious is it not? You could manage all managers and win all political battles. You would become a natural leader. People would come to you for advice and seek you out for friendship. It may be very healthy to be happy all the time.

 

[buddhist]

Happiness/sukkha is one end of the swing of the pendulum of existence; suffering/dukkha is the other end, with a mixture of both anywhere in between. Mankind swings incessantly from one end to another in the round of samsara.

 

[Ana.J]

I think one cannot be happy if you have not experienced other emotions (you will have nothing to compare your state to). However, it is completely natural desire to be happy, the point is that we are looking for happiness in a places where there is none....