Define happiness

[DIY 1138]

Can you define happiness without using synonyms?
Is it tangible, attainable, real?
Just wondering what you think on a rainy day.

[JillSwift]

I'll give that one a go:

Happiness is an emotional state stemming from the gratification of overall needs - emotional and physical - in a situation where one feels safe and feels assured that there will not be a decline in the atmosphere of satisfaction for a good while (i.e., longer than people generally try to predict). Like all emotions it varies in intensity from individual to individual and situation to situation.

It is not tangible, it's part of an emergent property of the brain.
It is attainable, but it's also ephemeral.
It is real, it can be tested for and the state can be deliberately brought about in one's self and in others.

[DIY 1138]

JillSwift wrote,

[Happiness is an emotional state stemming from the gratification of overall needs - emotional and physical - in a situation where one feels safe and feels assured that there will not be a decline in the atmosphere of satisfaction for a good while (i.e., longer than people generally try to predict). Like all emotions it varies in intensity from individual to individual and situation to situation./quote]


Can you expand on overall needs? In other words, are physical needs more important than emotional? What emotional needs are most important?
IMHO, of couse the physical needs outwiegh the emotional, but surely some emotional needs are more pressing than others. For example, the need to "feel" safe outwieghs the need for self-actualization.
Cheers.

[joeactor]

They say "Money can't buy happiness".

I'd like to do a scientific study of that hypothesis.

Give me a grant for $10 million, and I'll let you know if I'm happy.

Anyone wanna volunteer for the control group?

...

Ok, kidding aside.  It's tough to define, because it could be different things to different people.
For some, it's giddyness of being free from work.
For others, it may be working really hard (sans giddyness ;-)

Happiness for me is closely tied to being content.

I'll have to think more on this one... good topic,
JoeActor

[AlP]

I just bought I psychology textbook that I haven't read yet because I'm still finishing another book. I looked up happiness. There was no definition.

I did find an interesting idea. People tend to want their children to be happy. Maybe if you thought about how you want your friends and family to feel you might get some insight?

Regarding money, it seems that there is no correlation between wealth and happiness. They didn't have data for outliers though. My experience of being poor when I was a student leads me to think that not having sufficient wealth to cover basic things might make someone unhappy. Also from personal experience, once I could cover basics, I was happy. I have not noticed any difference in happiness that I can honestly attribute to income between being able to cover basics and a six figure income.

Another thing that interested me, people often feel happy after a windfall like winning the lottery but it passes quickly.

[DIY 1138]

Last weekend was rainy also, I was at the cottage, the wind was blowing too hard to go fishing, so I poured a glass of scotch and gave this subject some thought.
Defining any emotion is all but impossible. As JoeActor rightly points out, happiness is defined differently by everyone, but here's my two cents.
I liked JillSwift's response regarding the gratification of needs, it reminded me of an article I ran across in Wikipedia re. Maslow's hierarchy of needs.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s ... y_of_needs
Now before you scroll down the article and find that his research is flawed, let me be the first to say the subjects used is his research are far too narrow,  using gifted, well healed subjects necessarily biases the results.
That being said, acknowledging the bias toward the priviledged, the list of needs he provides, I believe, has a great deal of merit. There's no doubt that the hierarchy of needs he presents will require tailoring to suit every individual, indeed the
order may change from culture to culture, or the interest in one category of need may be significantly different from person to person, and, granted, will likely change for everyone throughout their lives. However, I see a fundamental truth in a
hierarchy of needs. Safety is more important than self actualization (to our happiness). In other words, the degree of safety we require to consider ourselves happy is much higher than the degree of self actualization we need.
If we can agree there exists a hierarchy of needs let me make this point next.  
Happiness is not dependent on these needs being met, as much as we must feel we have control over these needs being fulfilled. We need control to be happy.
For example, being out of immeadiate danger could be seen as being "safe", picture a survivor of a plane crash finding a piece of wreckage to get out of the weather. The survivor is safe, but likely far from being happy(being happy to be alive is valid but short lived happiness). In contrast to this, picture a pioneer clearing the land. What does he do but remove the trees, erect a fence, put up walls and a door. By exerting control over his environment, he is attempting to find lasting happiness.
With respect to the category of love/belonging, I see marriage as an attempt to exert control, to hopefully find long term stability and happiness.
The question arises, how much control do we need to be happy?  I believe the lack of control we can tolerate and still  consider ourselves happy, is inversely proportional to it's proximity to the base of Maslow's triangle. Very little lack of control is tolerable with regard to health, more chaos is acceptable within esteem or self-actualization.
So is happiness real? Is the control we crave an illusion?

[AaronAgassi]

The TRUE MEANING of LIFE is that HAPPINESS is subjective well-being, an INDIVIDUALLY REACTIVE STATE VARIABLE to howsoever favorable circumstances.

[MariaEvri]

Can you define happiness without using synonyms?

each one will define it in a different way
for me happyness is when I  feel nice, joyful and even content

[LoneMateria]

Can you define happiness without using synonyms?

each one will define it in a different way
for me happyness is when I  feel nice, joyful and even content

I think those are still synonyms.  I love the english language sometimes and sometimes I hate it.  It sucks because in order to learn the meaning of one word you need to look up the meaning of another.  I guess happiness for me is a result of overcoming an obstacle or a challenge.

[Renegnicat]

What's so important about being happy?

The second you are content is the second you stop doing great things.  

[Will]

Can you define happiness without using synonyms?

Sure.

Is it tangible, attainable, real?

Sometimes.

 

[susangail]

Can you define happiness without using synonyms?

My experience with happiness is that it's both an emotion or feeling, and a goal. It's something that never seems to be satisfied, at least where I live. We all strive so hard to attain 'happiness', but we aren't satisfied once we get there, so therefore we must not truly be happy yet (my head aches from the thought of it).

Is it tangible, attainable, real?

I believe happiness comes in many different forms some of which are tangible, attainable, and/or real.

Just wondering what you think on a rainy day.

I'm actually quite happy on rainy days It's those damn sunny days that make me blue...

[curiosityandthecat]

Happiness is a warm gun.

(Nobody said that already? Really?)

[McQ]

Happiness is a warm gun.

(Nobody said that already? Really?)

Fuck! You beat me to it by half an hour!  

[curiosityandthecat]

Happiness is a warm gun.

(Nobody said that already? Really?)

Fuck! You beat me to it by half an hour!  

Aw, you should be used to that by now, shouldn't you?