Happiness is a Lack of Depression

Good Day,

Do you feel happy most of the time? Or is there an underlying feeling that things are never quite right with the world? There are degrees in between of course, in fact too many to really say with any certainty whether someone is truly happy or not. You see it’s like beauty, all in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes what one person would say about another person’s happiness (or lack thereof) would surprise that person if they told them.

I guess what I’m getting at is only you can judge for yourself how happy, or satisfied with your life, you really are. What then is happiness? Is it just the lack of sadness, or is it a noticeable quality of life that can easily be defined? I believe this is something that has been confounding scholars and philosophers since the times of Aristotle. Of course it’s easy to ascertain when someone is extremely unhappy, as in someone that is clinically depressed. They sleep for way too long, sometime 20 hours a day. And sometimes don’t have any energy even when they are out and about, unable to function in a way that most of us take for granted. But do you know someone that is not obviously unhappy, or depressed, but just doesn’t really show a whole lot of interest in life in general? There are probably millions of people like that in the world, going through life somewhat like zombies every day, doing what they have to do to survive but not a whole lot else. Are they happy or unhappy? To what degree? I guess it depends on their definition, really. If they grew up in a family that never appreciated the good things in life, such as music, friendship, loving relationships, nature, the companionship of a dog, or any of the other million or so things in life that there are to enjoy and treasure, maybe just “surviving” is enough for them.

What are the many ways we enjoy life? Do you look forward to each day, thinking in advance about the things you want to happen or do? I’m sure there are many days that you do.

Do we all have days that we wish would just go away and pass by, because something is coming up that we know we won’t enjoy? Sure, take for example a trip to the dentist for a root canal! Anybody that says they enjoy those, I would probably start to worry about. But then again, maybe some people find enjoyment in pain – and who’s to say that is completely wrong? Again, I hate to judge what some people find enjoyment in, but the “average” person is pretty much agreed that pain is to be avoided usually.

Psychologists say that the happiest people have many social contacts, which is probably very true. I know in my experience the people I know who have many friends tend to be happier. Does that mean people with only a few friends are not happy? Not really, depending on a persons psychological makeup, they may be quite content with only a few friends. People like this usually have a occupation or hobby that takes up most of their time, so they have less time for friends and family. They can still be happy though, right? This is just another reason why there are so many different ways a person can be judged to be happy or unhappy, but until you really sit down and ask the person directly, you can’t ever tell for sure. Do happy people smile a lot? Maybe, maybe not. Does a happy person jump out of bed at the crack of dawn, ready to explore each new day with excitement and joy? Again, not necessarily, although I would tend to think happier people might do that more often. What do I know about happy people?

The truth is that happiness is one of the most subjective things around, and it means something different to every person I know. Happiness can just mean, on a temporary level, that the dopamine level in your brain is higher. Without that handy little neurotransmitter, nobody would be really very happy. But of course, there’s more to life than the chemicals in our brain, the actions taken on a daily basis, the number of friends we may have, or the amount of time we spend on fulfilling hobbies. In order to be happy, we must sometimes experience a little bit of sadness. Otherwise how do we know the difference? All I know is we should make it our task to find out what makes us happy and go for it.

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