Is happiness a temporary or permanent state?

Happiness is a mood in my opinion. It is something we all search for constantly. It is a never ending battle to gain happiness, and there is no way in hell it is permanent. The more you work on it, the more you get it.

We don't seek hapiness, else, it will elude us. happiness comes only to those that do this that delight them.

That means happiness come to those that always do what they love and stay with almost forever.

Get motivated by what you do and be happy!!

Happiness is a choice. Contentment is a choice. But often we allow circumstances to make our choice. Right now I'm happy because I'm thankful for the little I have.

Now how many of you met people that have "eveything" and are not happy? You will never find happiness on the outside, It must from within.

My two cents

There are so many avenues that we could be happy or unhappy in, so it is quite possible to be both at the same time but in different areas of our lives.

I try to personally always have atleast one branch in my life where I am happy, so that I can always retreat there when life gets a little tough and see if I can extend it over into other parts.

We are multi-faceted people with multifaceted lives, so I believe that you can always be happy with something if you just search a little.

MissTerraK

Happiness is everyone's ultimate aim. It can be fleeting but internal peace and fullfillment can be lasting and permanent. I don't think we can attain the ultimate state of happiness in mortality.

Maybe you can not always be happy. But you can always have a calm presence of mind.

Perhaps when one has found peace, one will find happiness.

Renee

Happiness comes and goes as soon as your thought changes.

Therefore, in order to stay happy all the time, control and guide your thoughts to think positive thoughts.

Happiness can be a permanent state as long as you condition the mind to think in a certain way. Things will happen that are out of your control, and trust me, many of them will not be things you would have hoped for. The #1 key to staying happy is understanding that when an obstacle is thrown your way, you need to step back and determine a few different things. Is there ANYTHING I can do to fix this? If so, WHAT will I do? If you can determine solutions, and then pick a solution, your mind will be at ease, and you can continue to be happy while you are working through the problem. If there is NOTHING you can do about the obstacle, then you need to accept that, and accept whatever consequence the obstacle brings, and move on, doing your best to prevent obstacles of a similar nature in the future.

People who are not happy just do not know how to handle obstacles in their life. Once they determine exactly HOW they will handle obstacles, they will find happiness.

For me, hapiness can be a temporary state and it can also be a permanent state. The choice is yours because you are in control of your own mind.

Is that why they cry until we comfort them?

I think happiness is a state of mind, and that is relative.

Fulfillment on the other hand is something you can build your life around.

When we feel like we're constantly growing then we feel happy most of the time and fulfilled.

I think happiness is temporary. It is not everlasting such as things like peace, joy, and love.

I believe that happiness is a state of satisfaction upon finding that one's life is balanced and harmonious, with everything we need and desire. Since circumstances are always changing, and people always have the capacity to change and grow, happiness is elusive. What used to be balanced and harmonious needs to be updated. Therefore we lose the old happiness of the past, and gain the motivation to make changes that will bring us new happiness in the future.

Speaking from personal experience, happiness is very very temporary.
Maybe I could also say that "not being happy" is the default state and therefore we have to keep on
reading positive stuff, trying to do things and always keep trying to get there by some means or the other.

Faraz

I believe happiness is about satisfaction and achieving what's you've set out as part of your target. Certain people might not be happy even though the target has been breached while others will be filled with joy even though the target is partially met. It's the level of expectation that we are talking about here and be contended with what you've gained.

I don't know about happiness, I think that's fleeting. And it depends on the object of your happiness.

When that changes, maybe your happiness does to. I think your happiness is tied to the presence of whatever it is that makes you happy - and it's condition affects the condition of your happiness.

Joy?

That (to me) is more intrinsic. That isn't tied to "outside" so much as "inside". It's embarrassing, but I can't remember the name of the incredible man that lived through Auschwitz and wrote about his experiences in his book.

He wrote something to the effect that he made his choice to be happy - happy to still be alive and that kind of thing. It's embarrassing to mangle something so profound like that from someone so meaningful.

But despite the details, it did stick with me. Victor F. or something like that? Maybe someone here knows.

There's something that really stands out to me as I read through the whole thread.

Everyone has their own unique definition of what "happiness" means!

Therefore:

• there is no such thing as an objective truth about happiness... all we can do is each try to define and live it for ourselves... and we cause a lot of pointless pain when we try to tell each other how to be happy by our definition inside someone else's life...
• OR... there is an objective truth to happiness in human nature, and most of us have got it wrong (since we each have our own definition)... probably causing a lot of pointless pain because of this misunderstanding

That's not a very happy thought, is it?

Happiness may be a temporary state, but we can always choose to achieve that state of strive to always feel happy and content. It depends on what our outlook on life is. It's a choice.

happiness is a byproduct of certain actions. its temporary cause everything is in a state of change. you have to change with it.

Happiness is a temporary state. It is no longer permanent!

Happiness comes and goes. Everyone is different to some degree, but you could be estatic one monent and sad the next.

Sometimes its hard to get that happy feeling back quickly.

I think happiness is the most important thing for yourself. Why wouldn't it be?

What good is wisdom, health and wealth without it?

We have to remember to treat others well also.

Lambert

There is no straight forward explanation what is happiness and unhappiness. There are moments that will cherish you forever and there feel little sense of happiness. According to me happiness is very short live whereas unhappiness always surrounds us. May be because we think happiness is going to be temporary while reasons of being unhappy are many. Say you need to pay your credit card bills and you need to meet deadline and many more as such. Well frankly speaking happiness comes in bits and pieces.
I was in the office and all of sudden some issue took place. After long time I was able to crack the problem and that was the moment that has given me ultimate satisfaction and happiness. There are external factor that influences our happiness. If we are not surrounded by material need then we would have less suffered with unhappiness.
For me happiness is:
1. Seeing wonderful smile on my son's face.
2. Fulfilling my family needs
3. Spending valuable time with family and friends.
4. To help others.
Must watch "Pursuit of Happiness".

Happiness is based on circumstances while joy is based on truth, something that never changes.

Happiness is just an emotion.

But Money Answereth all!

"Recognize beauty and ugliness is born. Recognize good and evil is born."

Are you happy? Sometimes, yes.

What does that mean? How would you know you were happy unless you'd once been unhappy? The meaning of happiness only makes sense at all in relation to what is not happy.

Does that mean you are happy at the moment? Yeah I guess so. I feel pretty alright at the moment. I'm not sick, I have no major pressing issues that are holding me down and it seems like it's going to be another beautiful day.

Though happiness is a slippery beast and once we recognize it there is the ever present possibility that by recognizing it we'll try to grasp at it by asking questions like "Am I really happy?" Which of course puts it off and then we're caught in the mess of trying to go left to get rid of right (left here is of course happiness where right is unhappiness). And so the more we chase it the more elusive it becomes.

Is happiness something we constantly seek? To the extent that you can do something poorly, yes. Because it's obvious when we look around at a culture that is largely obsessed with the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of happiness is a very effective way to keep happiness just beyond arm's reach.

Can we ever get there? No. But happiness can happen. Like all things spontaneous though, you can't force it.

If we get there, will we always be there? Surely not! Happiness implies unhappiness. Just like unhappiness implies happiness. If you find yourself on either pole... watch out, the other is on its way. (Really though there's nothing to watch out for because there's nothing to be done about it.)

I think we just make ourself not happy some people think that money is the key to happiness but many of these millionaires are not happy people at all. Where if you end up travelling to a poor country people barely surviving are happy what they are doing smiling etc. Where here people are all after one thing money and if they don't have it they are not happy. My 2 Cents

Happiness is a state of being you go through. As humans, we go through a lot and that's normal.

It isn't good or bad, it just is.

It is an emotion. Emotions come and go just like the weather. Just like the earth, it is not sustainable to be one way all the time.

Happiness and emotions go altogether. If a person is very emotional, he will never be happy...

It depends on the person and the situation.

I don't know if it is even possible to define happiness at all. Happiness means something different to every one, and there cannot be an "objective" definition. However, recently I had my own shot at defining happiness, which aims to be more "scientific" and "objective" (as much as this is possible for a subjective feeling such as happiness):

"A person can be considered to have experienced a "happy" moment if the person chooses to re-live it as an end in itself if offered at no cost."

For the detailed derivation of this conclusion please have a look at "Spreadinghappiness" in google or website searches What do you think about this definition?

Thank you,

Nick

Is happiness a temporary or permanent state?
Happiness is "temporary" and "permanent" at the same time, but on different levels.
First, let's see ... who is looking for happiness? ... and why?
Is it "the physical body"? Is it "the mind"? ... or is it "the Soul"?
"The body" has no consciousness by itself, so it can't search for happiness.
"The Soul" it is always in the state of bliss; it is in fact it's own nature (absolute existence-absolute knowledge-absolute bliss/"Sat-Chit-Ananda"), so once it is already in this state, it does not make any sense to look for it.
It is the continuously-changing-disturbed "Mind" who is looking for happiness, because is trying to get to the balanced state (which is already achieved by the Soul). As long as "the mind" is kept focus on the outside world, in whatever activity you are performing, it will find from time to time samples of happiness, offered for free by the creation itself (like Bill Gates when offers free samples of a program). Now, if you are performing the same activities, BUT keeping the mind focused on the inside (where the Self/Soul resides), it will get eventually to the "permanent" state of happiness. This time, you have to pay the price (similarly when you buy a full program from Bill Gates); and the price is: PRACTICE.
Practice of what?
Practice of YOGA.
It is the only way to switch the mind from "temporary" to "permanent".
At the level of "restless/uncontrolled/disturbed" mind, the happiness is only temporary. But, at the level of the Soul or a "calm/controlled/undisturbed" mind, the happiness is permanent.
P.S. Warning: Do not be foolish-ed by the "beautiful Yoga center next to your door", because it's helpless to take you there (like a blind which will try to show the way to another blind). Only original/ancient/vedic yoga and a master, which both are hard to find, will be helpful.
If you really decide to do this change, I wish you good luck; you definitely need it.

I agree with the first comment! It's a state. It's a state of cellular communication. We send neurotransmitters in our brains to create happiness. The biggest reason I believe many people do not achieve happiness is because they have a misconception as to what it is. I woke up this morning, happy, but intentionally happy. You create happiness in your nervous system. Once you become conscious of it, and start doing it deliberately, it becomes easier and easier. If you can consciously train your brain to create happiness with more things to the point where pretty much everything makes you happy, life becomes amazing. In addition, mind training exercises such as 30 minutes of alpha state optimization (often called meditation), help tremendously with your brains ability to regulate itself, create certain emotions and to have an overall control over the processes inside. Additionally, as human beings, I think that happiness naturally comes when we're growing, expanding and moving towards something specific in our lives as well as when we contribute directly to the lives of other people! Great post, great topic! I'm happy!

Happiness is only temporary,so we should enjoy it while it lasts!

If happiness comes from within... without the need of any external "source" of happiness like a good news or promotion or extra dollars or a sexy lady in bed... then it can be eternal.

True happiness...

1. Is not based on material possessions or progress
2. Comes from within and comes in unprecedented torrents
3. Comes only after you have a great deal of control over your anxious mind.

All other happiness is but a trailer of what can be.

-Lakshay

I feel happiness is real in some way and we use it to help us grow as people...I don't know if it's ever possible to be happy but I'll live in the illusion believing I'm happy because it's better than being sad.

Everything comes in waves and it moves up and down...it's just the way humans are. Just look at markets if you'd like to look at our emotions and how certain situations create growth and drawbacks.

The truth is you can grow and be alive and have a lot of fun.

I am most of the time happy, sometimes I am not.

nothing is permanent in this world, so to answer the question -- happiness is just temporary. one can never be happy all his life. one can never be happy forever that's why we constantly seek happiness. we will get there, yes, but we won't be there all the time. we may be happy now but sometimes get lost or turned around our path. we become disappointed at times. relationships can somehow become the source of emotional drama. and i believe one cannot be mad or sad and happy at the same time.

Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. Research has identified a number of attributes that correlate with happiness: relationships and social interaction, extra version, marital status, employment, health, democratic freedom, optimism, endorphins released through physical exercise and eating chocolate, religious involvement, income and proximity to other happy people.

Happiness is a conditioned state. It depends on the person on how he makes him/herself happy. But one thing is for sure, nothing is permanent. You can't be happy all the time. It's not normal. Add some spice and thrill to your life.

As I've seen mentioned in the above threads already, HAppiness is indeed a choice!

Happiness comes from within and is not affected by our temporal circumstances, unless we let it. It does not come automatically, and we have to consciously choose to be in that state every single moment. It can and should be developed into a continuous habit, but will require extensive practice and commitment to do so.

I believe the world is the way we perceive it - and if i see it as a cool place where i'm happy - than i'm really constantly happy. If i see only troubles and successes, white and black stripes, frown and dive into depressions - then happiness can be only temporary. And in such a state it's much harder to live as it's more painful to face misfortunes after great happy moments.

So I believe happiness should be constant - as the world inside each of us.