Happiness

[Lackadaisical2]

Simple topic: can someone force themselves to be happy?
What makes you happy?
What do you do to stay happy?
How important is happiness to you?

As to the first question: I don't think so, theres certain times in life where it would be impossible to be happy. I do think there are certain mental exercises you can do to stay positive, and help stay happy. Such as thinking good thoughts, not dwelling on bad things, and most of all, smiling- especially when you feel like crap.

I won't answer the others for now at least since they're very much "get a blog", but I'd be interested in what others say.

[Dyakovo]

Simple topic: can someone force themselves to be happy?

I don't see how...

What makes you happy?

Spending time with my wife.

What do you do to stay happy?

Keep spending time with my wife

How important is happiness to you?

It's more important than unhappiness...

[Tunizcha]

No, I don't believe so. Unless you ingested medication that forces your brain to release endorphins, it's not a conscious decision. (Not for me, at least)

What makes me happy?

Hmm. Very few things, actually. Sometimes I'll get a chuckle or two from friends at school, or a poster on NSG, but aside from that, I'm pretty much depressed all day. Even when I spend time with my girlfriend, I end up just very lethargic.

What do I do to stay happy?

I don't.

How important is happiness to me?

Not very.

[Brajh]

To be happy, I just do what I want. Alcohol helps. Seriously, that's all happiness is to me. Doing whatever I want.

[Lackadaisical2]

Simple topic: can someone force themselves to be happy?

I don't see how...

What about some of the "tricks" I posted in the OP? They certainly won't make you happy all the time, but they do seem to work to an extent.

What makes you happy?

Spending time with my wife.

What do you do to stay happy?

Keep spending time with my wife

How important is happiness to you?

It's more important than unhappiness...

You're a lucky man.

[Mad hatters in jeans]

Simple topic: can someone force themselves to be happy?
What makes you happy?
What do you do to stay happy?
How important is happiness to you?

As to the first question: I don't think so, theres certain times in life where it would be impossible to be happy. I do think there are certain mental exercises you can do to stay positive, and help stay happy. Such as thinking good thoughts, not dwelling on bad things, and most of all, smiling- especially when you feel like crap.

I won't answer the others for now at least since they're very much "get a blog", but I'd be interested in what others say.

actually if you play down the negative feelings when you know you are sad it's not particularly beneficial.
e.g. someone who smiles all the time, makes it hard for people to work out if the person is genuinely happy or is putting on a face for sake of appearences. And you can't fool yourself, people feel emotion for a reason it means whatever you just did or whatever just happened was positive or negative, if it was negative then a new strategy is needed, not papering over the cracks with fake smiles afterward.

Of course happiness is important.
People can't really force themselves to be happy, you can work at things that make you happy though. but then you might get bored of these events so you become disheartened as you become conditioned (used to the same stimulus).
trying new things is a good way to stay on your toes, challenges are also good for you.(as long as they're actually manageable)

I think emotions are more a result of what happens to you as opposed to a state of being, no one actually makes a job of being happy or sad, it's just the outcome of their situation at the time, this means that it can be quite difficult to work out what works best. ie balancing what makes you happy with enough challenges or other jobs too.

dealing with happiness and such, is very much a person centred thing, it's quite hard to generalise about it because one persons poison is another's happiness.

I hope what i said makes sense i am rather tired.

[Lackadaisical2]

Simple topic: can someone force themselves to be happy?
What makes you happy?
What do you do to stay happy?
How important is happiness to you?

As to the first question: I don't think so, theres certain times in life where it would be impossible to be happy. I do think there are certain mental exercises you can do to stay positive, and help stay happy. Such as thinking good thoughts, not dwelling on bad things, and most of all, smiling- especially when you feel like crap.

I won't answer the others for now at least since they're very much "get a blog", but I'd be interested in what others say.

actually if you play down the negative feelings when you know you are sad it's not particularly beneficial.
e.g. someone who smiles all the time, makes it hard for people to work out if the person is genuinely happy or is putting on a face for sake of appearences. And you can't fool yourself, people feel emotion for a reason it means whatever you just did or whatever just happened was positive or negative, if it was negative then a new strategy is needed, not papering over the cracks with fake smiles afterward.

Of course happiness is important.
People can't really force themselves to be happy, you can work at things that make you happy though. but then you might get bored of these events so you become disheartened as you become conditioned (used to the same stimulus).
trying new things is a good way to stay on your toes, challenges are also good for you.(as long as they're actually manageable)

I think emotions are more a result of what happens to you as opposed to a state of being, no one actually makes a job of being happy or sad, it's just the outcome of their situation at the time, this means that it can be quite difficult to work out what works best. ie balancing what makes you happy with enough challenges or other jobs too.

dealing with happiness and such, is very much a person centred thing, it's quite hard to generalise about it because one persons poison is another's happiness.

I hope what i said makes sense i am rather tired.

You sort of lost me at the end. These two points seem to be contradictory:

"I think emotions are more a result of what happens to you as opposed to a state of being" and
"dealing with happiness and such, is very much a person centred thing, it's quite hard to generalise about it because one persons poison is another's happiness."

I'd say its a combination of things that happen to you and how you deal with it, and as such is both a state of being and dependent on life events. Whereas in the first statement you seem to deny the effect of the individual's perspective.

[Svenen (Ancient)]

I can will myself to be happy whenever I choose.

[Lackadaisical2]

I can will myself to be happy whenever I choose.

how do you do that?

[Saige Dragon]

Can someone force themselves to be happy?

Probably not with out some serious mental issues as a result...

What makes you happy?

A whole slew of things that I won't list here for fear of sounding as though I'm trying to come up with a poetic description of my personality for some cheesy adult dating site.

What do you do to stay happy?

I don't know, nothing really. I've always been the upbeat, laid back type so I guess whatever I've been doing works. Well here's to not coming up with a poetic description of my personality for some cheesy adult dating site....

How important is happiness to you?

Incredibly. That whole 'You're only on this planet for a limited time so make it worth it' shpeel.

[Mad hatters in jeans]

You sort of lost me at the end. These two points seem to be contradictory:

"I think emotions are more a result of what happens to you as opposed to a state of being" and
"dealing with happiness and such, is very much a person centred thing, it's quite hard to generalise about it because one persons poison is another's happiness."

I'd say its a combination of things that happen to you and how you deal with it, and as such is both a state of being and dependent on life events. Whereas in the first statement you seem to deny the effect of the individual's perspective.

i'm finding it quite hard to separate emotion from mental processes, as it underlines most activities. So perhaps in some situations the emotional response is used as a defence to protect your own sense of self (ie extreme anger, or extreme sadness with an impossible situation).
It's a bit like that special atom that changes it's location depending on how you look at it.

So sometimes the persons perspective does change your emotion, you can try and be more receptive to positive stimuli or negative stimuli, but there are also overriding systems if you will that can carry you away from your original intention of emotion.

I'll try an analogy with breathing...it's automatic, no matter what it will happen, it's just a part of you from birth. however you can work at breathing in a certain pattern, or calming pattern you do have some control. It's easier to control your breathing (emotion) in calm situations, add too many stressors and you lose concentration unless you have prior experience or training in dealing with the situation.

[Lackadaisical2]

You sort of lost me at the end. These two points seem to be contradictory:

"I think emotions are more a result of what happens to you as opposed to a state of being" and
"dealing with happiness and such, is very much a person centred thing, it's quite hard to generalise about it because one persons poison is another's happiness."

I'd say its a combination of things that happen to you and how you deal with it, and as such is both a state of being and dependent on life events. Whereas in the first statement you seem to deny the effect of the individual's perspective.

i'm finding it quite hard to separate emotion from mental processes, as it underlines most activities. So perhaps in some situations the emotional response is used as a defence to protect your own sense of self (ie extreme anger, or extreme sadness with an impossible situation).
It's a bit like that special atom that changes it's location depending on how you look at it.

So sometimes the persons perspective does change your emotion, you can try and be more receptive to positive stimuli or negative stimuli, but there are also overriding systems if you will that can carry you away from your original intention of emotion.

I'll try an analogy with breathing...it's automatic, no matter what it will happen, it's just a part of you from birth. however you can work at breathing in a certain pattern, or calming pattern you do have some control. It's easier to control your breathing (emotion) in calm situations, add too many stressors and you lose concentration unless you have prior experience or training in dealing with the situation.

I think thats a good way to put it.

[Svenen (Ancient)]

how do you do that?

You just do it. It may or may not involve not knowing that you're happy. Try doing that at will.

[Neu California]

Side note: when I first saw this thread I thought Happiness is a Warm Gun, which means I've listened to too much Beatles

can someone force themselves to be happy?

I doubt it

What makes you happy?

These days, not a hell of a lot

What do you do to stay happy?

Not much

How important is happiness to you?

It'd be nice, but it's not critical.

[Svenen (Ancient)]

Happiness is chemicals and wiring in the body. There is no need for it to be attached to any occurrence.

[Lackadaisical2]

How important is happiness to you?

It'd be nice, but it's not critical.

It seems there has been this type of response from a few people.
If happiness isn't important to you, then what is?