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BTW -- here's a challenge.  what makes us happy?

not just amused or entertained, but really deep-down happy?

I'm gonna have to go off and think about that one for a while myself, though recent decisions and changes in my life have a lot to do with trying to answer that question (or deal with the implications of the answers to that question).

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Mon Mar 31st, 2008 at 02:02:32 AM EST
happiness is composed of moments that exceed or defy expectations.

strung like beads on the string of a lifetime, they make a necklace of contentment.

it takes many little notes to make a great symphony.

for me happiness is when, for reasons usually unplanned and unknown, my consciousness drills down through the crust of the banal, and finds the motherlode.

the best kind is also the quickest to disappear!

the more i learn to control the animal response of trying to grab and hold it, the longer it stays.

the more i learn to accept it without remark or condition, the more often it flies into my lap.

i take this shit very seriously! unhappiness was connected to money fetishisation very early, which helped to vaccinate me against mammon per se, yet i can see how money has a place in a good life, though it took me a long time to understand the correlation/causation factor, jaundiced as i was from seeing so many fucked up dysfunctional family situations, where less money might have been a very good thing.

a whole lot more philosophy would have met the problems way upstream and made the money issue moot, but the cookie didn't crumble that way, alas.

so many suicides of children in my parents' world, that demographic called the upper-middle, or those who were aspirants to upper class, but doomed never to get there.

and yes money was the only metric they used for satisfaction, its power supplanted their own, they became defined by money...

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Mon Mar 31st, 2008 at 08:33:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
melo:
happiness is composed of moments that exceed or defy expectations.

strung like beads on the string of a lifetime, they make a necklace of contentment.

What a lovely expression....

melofluous I call it.....

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Mon Mar 31st, 2008 at 08:18:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
lol!

when i reread it later, i thought 'too hallmark', specially for this blog.

it's true though...maybe we need sap like trees do.

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Mon Mar 31st, 2008 at 09:47:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Beware of introspection! Research indicates that becoming paraplegic doesn't make people very unhappy, long term. It seems that the mean level of happiness depends more on ones makeup than on events. (Bummer.)

Words and ideas I offer here may be used freely and without attribution.
by technopolitical on Mon Mar 31st, 2008 at 02:58:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
See above comment.
And please write about it--

"There is mysterious music in democracy, when people decide to believe in themselves." ---Bill Greider, The Nation.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Tue Apr 1st, 2008 at 04:27:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Quote:
BTW -- here's a challenge.  what makes us happy?
------
I am 53 and my answer is very clear : peace of my soul. If I can only have it.There is no single material thing that I need, let alone that would make me happy.I would like life to be as simple as possible (but I am not that lucky thanks to my adult children's actions)...
Maybe I am just older then I should be at 53...
by vbo on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 12:41:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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