Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- .See also: Leisure, fun. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- .This section is about happiness. Topics include: ( ) Celebration. ( ) Fun. (See also: Leisure.) ( ) Happiness ( ) Humor. (See: Arts, literature, comedy.) ( ) Physical pleasure and emotional happiness. ( ) Types of happiness. --- 1/24/2006
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- "Glad just to be here" attitude. Brushes with death have a tendency to put it all in perspective. This is the purpose of danger sports and risk taking. --- 9/29/1998
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- (1) Delight is a positive emotion that has an element of surprise to it. (2) Awe, wonder is a positive emotion with a sense of surprise and amazement to it. (3) Surprise seems to be an important component of happiness. Why? --- 12/2/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- (1) Happiness and biology. We are evolutionarily hard-wired so that certain things will make us happy. For example, sex, love, etc. (2) Happiness and ethics. Two problems. (A) What makes us happy is not always ethically good. (B) What is ethically good does not always make us happy. (3) Happiness and psychological health. Happiness is important for our mental well-being. Even if no negative emotions are present, an emotional flatness caused by lack of happiness is psychologically unhealthy. --- 5/18/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- (1) Peace, serenity, tranquility. Bliss, joy, rapture. (2) "Content" as "couldn't be better". "Content" as "it will do". (3) Song examples: "What a Wonderful World", by Louis Armstrong. "Its a Beautiful Day", by U2. --- 6/4/2002
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- (1) The most fun I ever imagined. (2) The most fun I ever actually had: Sitting in high t, after working out on a sunny, clear, daylight savings time day. Hot, intelligent, beautiful babe lined up. Good job. Creating great ideas, having done much good (in effort and results) creative work. With much free time ahead of me that I know I will use well. Calm, driven, making progress on all theoretical and practical fronts. Winning and making it. Remembering everything I ever learned (theoretical and practical). Why don't it satisfy me? Why can't I do it? What is the problem? --- 05/30/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- (1) To evolve means to undergo a change in what you think makes you happiest. How to do this? Why do people not want to let go of what they think makes them happiest? (2) You undergo a change in what you think makes you happiest. And you also undergo a change in what actually makes you happiest. So the effect is like shooting at a moving target from a moving platform. Its a dogfight. --- 10/20/1999
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- (1) What should make me happy? Adherence to the highest principles? (2) What actually does make me happy? Does anything? Food, sex, leisure. (3) What to think about (i.e., remember) to get happy? (A) Thinking about some things will make you feel content, peaceful, satisfied or relieved, like thinking how lucky you are to be where you are. (B) Thinking about some things will make you laugh, such as jokes and comedy. There is a close tie between humor and happiness. Funny and happy are cousins. Stupid inanities often make us happy. (C) Ethics and happiness. What is good should make you happy. Often it does not. Often the inane and trivial makes us happy. Some things that are not in the realm of ethics make us happy. For example, natural beauty and works of art. --- 5/17/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- A solution or revelation makes me happy and laugh out loud. A problem makes me sad or angry. Why? --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- A view that some people take: Happy that the world is imperfect. Happy to have an opportunity to take action to make things better. I am useful. I have a purpose. I matter. This is weird. --- 3/28/2000
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Celebration, definitions of. (1) Celebration as reward. (A) It is helpful to reward yourself when you put in the effort and do well. Even if you put in a good effort and don't do well. Even if you did well by luck, without a good effort. (B) It is helpful to penalize, discipline or punish oneself when one does not put in a good effort. But the punishment must not be self-destructive. And that is a conundrum. Also, don't penalize yourself if you put in a good effort but don't succeed. Also, don't penalize yourself for bad luck. (2) Celebration as joy in the everyday. (3) Healthy celebrations (good) vs. unhealthy celebrations (bad). (4) Celebrations as "cheating". For example, going off one's diet, etc. Indulgence. --- 6/9/2000
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Celebration. When you accomplish something worthwhile, you should feel happy, and express that happiness through celebration. --- 5/30/1998
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Combonations of three variables: twelve situations. (1) Hard x good x pleasurable. (2&3) Hard x good x non-pleaureable or unpleasurable. (4) Hard x bad x pleasurable. (5&6) Hard x bad x non-pleasureable or unpleasurable. (7) Easy x good x pleasurable. (8&9) Easy x good x non-pleasureable or unpleasurable. (10) Easy x bad x pleasurable. (11&12) Easy x bad x non-pleasureable or unpleasurable. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Confidence is actually a component of happiness. Thinking and feeling that "I can handle whatever is coming my way". It is the opposite of dread, fear and anxiety. (2) Optimism is another component of happiness. Thinking and feeling that, "Everything will be allright", or, "Everything is coming my way". (3) Peace and contentment is another component of happiness. "Feeling no pain", "No worries". Relaxed and not uptight. (4) Love is a component of happiness. (See: Sociology, sexuality, love). (5) Another component of happiness is feeling satisfied. Feeling that our wants and needs have been met. Not feeling prey to our desires and other internal pressures. (6) Another component of happiness is feeling safe and secure from external threats. (7) What other components of happiness are there? What else makes people happy? Feeling useful. Feeling like you are not wasting your life. Feeling like your life is meaningful. (8) Why feel happy (all of the above) when we know we will die? When we know life is so harsh. Why be happy? It seems illogical to be happy. It seems happiness is uncalled for. It seems that its not our right to be happy. And yet we are happy and we should be happy. --- 12/2/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Confusing happiness with tension release. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Do I feel good when school ends? When someone is hitting your head with a hammer and then stops, it does not feel good, they have just stopped hitting your head. --- 07/01/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Each positive emotion can cause other positive emotions. --- 12/10/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Each positive emotion can reinforce or magnify itself. Positive emotions can snowball. You can be happy that you are happy. --- 12/10/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Emotional happiness and its relationship to laughter, humor and comedy. See: Arts, literature, comedy. --- 5/18/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Enjoyment. It is important to recognize and enjoy (to the fullest) all that can be enjoyed. It is a tough life at times and if you cannot enjoy the enjoyable you are in a bad spot. Tragedy strikes every life. Monumental mistakes are made. If something occurs that prevents you from enjoying, or if something occurs that takes all the joy out of life forever, you are in a bad spot. --- 8/26/2000
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Feel good about (1) Myself: what I have done, and am doing, and will do. (2) My life: what's been done to me. (3) My world. (4) The world. --- 10/20/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Feeling good about self and life is good. The Grateful Dead. Forests, mountains, sunshine. VW Vans. --- 04/30/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Feeling good emotionally and feeling good physically are related. (1) Being happy can cause you to feel good physically. For example, warm fuzzies. (2) Feeling good physically can cause you to feel happy. For example: Feeling good after exercise (runner's high). Feeling good after sex. Feeling good after a good night's sleep. Feeling good after a good meal. These are all good things, but can be done to excess and abused as a surrogate for true happiness. --- 6/15/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Feeling really good. Is it an illusion? People who report feeling ecstasy, grace, transcendence, etc. Are these people nuts? I tend to think maybe so. Are there limits to how good we should feel? Are there limits to how bad we should feel? I tend to think yes in both cases. --- 2/25/1999
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Fun is an important type of pleasure or happiness. Fun is needed to stay alive. Life is fun, or at least it should be, if you are doing it correctly. Being sensitive to pleasure is necessary to survive and prosper. --- 10/19/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiest when (1) Free. (2) Healthy. (3) Kicking ass. (4) Form and pursue and get best goals best. (5) Successes and wins. (6) Knowing truth. (7) Doing right. (8) Being a hero: to self first, and to others second. (9) Surviving. (10) Not being fu*ked with. (11) Fighting well. (12) When my opposition is low. (13) Filling drives and needs (safety, food, cloth, shelter, self actualization etc.). (13) Reaching ideals. (14) What makes me unhappy: opposite of above. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiness and excitement vs. happiness and calmness. When does one become preferable to the other? How to get either. --- 06/30/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiness is a state of minimal chafing. With Audrey, in NY, I experience minimal chafing. --- 04/15/1997
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiness is an attitude, not a set of environmental conditions. Happiness is a choice. --- 07/30/1996
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiness is freedom. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiness is not the goal in life. For example, serial killers are happy killing. Justice is the goal. Happiness is the by-product. --- 3/13/1999
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happiness. (1) Short term vs. long term. (2) Delusional vs. real: happy about what exists vs. what you think exists, but doesn't. (3) Justified vs. unjustified ethically: happy about what is good vs. happy about what is not good. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happy that I stood up for my principles. --- 11/28/2005
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Happy vs. content. Selling out (settling for second best or practical). --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- How happy can you be (realistically)? (1) Without having deluded thinking. (2) Without being on natural or unnatural drugs. (3) With little things in life. (4) With a perfect life. (5) With little opposition. (6) Having kicked butt. (7) Making quick progress. (8) At start of day, or at end of day. (9) How miserable can you be? Same. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- How to be happy with what you have? How to enjoy the little things in life? After a while we can see the good in, or enjoy, or even desire and long for, even the shit situations. At times we love even the assholes at work. This is dangerously close to masochism. Being happy with our lot is also a way to achieve nothing in life. And yet, sometimes, to achieve mental equanimity it is necessary to cultivate this feeling. A quiet night of accounting. Goody. O peace, o joy. The question is when to cultivate acceptance, and when to cultivate dissatisfaction. Near death experiences and unemployment help you appreciate simple things, and instills a serene, calm, happiness. How long and often during the day to spend where on the spectrum, and concerning what subjects? Will peace increase or decrease your productivity (quantity and quality)? Will it keep you from going crazy? Will it contribute to mental health? --- 02/20/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- How to stay happy, optimistic, positive, given things like job issues, love life issues, social life issues, etcetera? What to say to self? How to beat the blues? Live for Progressive activism and the struggle for justice. Living for my values and principles. Enjoy thinking, writing, reading, and transferring ideas into action. Enjoying simply living, enjoying being alive. Enjoy the weather. Enjoy good health. Enjoy nature. Enjoy friends and people. Enjoy a nights sleep. Enjoy good food. Have low expectations and low desires, and put little pressure on self. Small joys are actually big and important. Go with the flow, take it easy. --- 6/24/2007 --- *
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- I am a peace with my fate. Truly. How to get motivated? Say to yourself, "If I was dying of hunger or thirst or freezing to death, or if I had no place to live, or no job or no girlfriend, I would be quite content to do nothing but my school work or my notes and nothing else." That is what it is all about. There is nothing else. --- 11/15/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- I am responsible for making myself feel good. No one else is responsible for making me feel good. I am not responsible for making anyone else feel good. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- I don't feel great anymore. The last time I felt great was at age 18. Now the best that I feel is just "ok". --- 10/05/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- I don't feel happiness anymore in most cases, just relief. Example: it is a relief I got a good job. Tension gone. Relax. Peace. It is like, why should I be happy when I only got what I felt I deserved. No one deserved this bullshit. I feel vindicated, not happy, when the bullshit ends, like winning a criminal case. Justice has been served, but the pain lingers in my mind. What implications in the ethical realm does this present? --- 08/21/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- I feel great because. (1) No one is after me. (2) I am not in debt. (3) I am saving money. (4) Found a good job. (5) Studying hard and creating well. (6) Looking for women. (7) No major physical or psychological problems. (8) In shape, well fed, well rested. (9) I am not fu*king up (much). (10) I am not being fu*ked with (much). --- 09/14/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- I put joy back in my life when I remember how lucky I am to be with Audrey. I lose joy when I forget the same. --- 6/27/1998
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- If I am not depressed then I am happy. --- 02/28/1998
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Is there true happiness? We swing manic and depressive. How can you tell when to relax, and how much? Some people think that if one thing is "wrong", or one person is suffering, then no one should feel happy. I.e. like the game Sorry, where you must get all your pieces home to win. Is this not overly perfectionistic thinking? --- 11/10/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- It is good to go through life a little manic. You enjoy the trip more, and cash in on the power of positive thinking. --- 06/10/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Just happy to be alive, and not in jail, and employed, and laid and loved, and writing, and feeling little pain, and free. --- 06/01/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Laughter, joy and delight as components of happiness. (1) Laughter. There is a difference between (A) Laughing for joy. (B) Laughing with delight. (C) Laughing because something is funny. (D) They can all coincide. Each type of laugh is important. (2) Joy is a powerful emotion that has an all encompassing scope. Joy is a life affirming yes. (3) Delight. For example, delight with seeing a magic trick, and then delight seeing how the trick is done. Delight with hearing a joke setup, and then delight hearing the punchline. Delight in truth and justice. --- 5/18/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Love and happiness (See Al Green song on same subject). Love is a major positive emotion. Love is a major component of happiness. See: Sociology, sexuality, love. --- 12/2/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Moments of highest happiness. (1) I am going for what I want most. (2) I am not going for what I don't want. (3) I am doing everything right. (4) I am doing nothing wrong. (5) I am going full blast on job, girlfriend, notes, and book searches. (6) High t and in shape. Head in good shape too. No financial problems. No social problems. Nice weather. This is the most I or anyone else can expect out of life? --- 08/04/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Not happiness but rather peace and calm without boredom. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Not repressing happiness as well as sorrows. Enjoy any happiness you got. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Now I feel good about myself, and proud of myself, because... (1) I chased a lot of women well. (2) I taught myself a lot, and figured out a lot, and wrote it down. (3) I mastered the wilderness, country, suburbia, and city, both in thought and experience. (4) Got a job and a babe. (5) Stayed in shape. (6) Developed a high ethical system. (7) Strove and didn't fu*k off. (8) Broke free of, and didn't get caught up in, all the types of system bull shit (ideas and actions). I transcended it. I invented my own thing, and it was superior. Keep going further, stronger. --- 09/20/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Once driving around LI and camping in the Gunks brought me joy. Now I can't bear it. Kicks keep getting harder to find. I was on or ahead of schedule in getting goals in a certain value system. Now my value system has changed, and I am way behind schedule. --- 08/16/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Optimal emotion condition is not peace, total relaxation, and happiness but some level of discontent, drive, tension, and optimism. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- PART ONE. What are the types of happy feelings? (1) Relaxed, yet excited. (2) Calm. Serene. Peaceful. Still. Quiet. Meditative. (3) Positive. Optimistic. Motivated. (4) Carefree. Clear conscience. (5) Exuberant. Energized. Pumped up. Psyched up. (6) Content, satisfied, satiated. Cozy and comfortable. Placated, mollified. (7) Vindication. Being proved right. Seeing evil punished. (8) Silly. Giddy. Laughter. Playful. PART TWO. What things make people happy? (1) Happy after a hard day of useful work for a good cause. Happy after having a day off from work. (2) Happy after a good meal. Happy after good sex. (3) Happy spending time with friends, lovers, etc., social happiness, party time. Happy to be in love, that is, to love and be loved. Happy to have some time alone, peace and quiet, privacy. (4) Happy about the past. Happy after successfully completing a goal. Happy after the fact. Happy having accomplished something. Happy that all your hard work paid off. (5) Happy in anticipation. Happy to have something worth living for. Happy about the future and its possibilities. (6) Happy here and now. (7) Happy to have good health. (8) Happy in getting justice. (9) Happiness at feeling oneness with the universe. (10) Feeling happy for someone else, like, if something good happens to someone else, or even if someone else is happy, then that can make you happy too. (11) Happy for no reason. Who says you need a reason to be happy? You can even be happy despite bad times. (12) Happy with simple pleasures. (13) Happy to be alive. Alive and kicking. PART THREE. What are the types of unhappy feelings? Despair. Longing. Rage. Fear. Grief. PART FOUR. What things make people feel unhappy? (1) Being wronged by other people. (2) Bad luck, unavoidable accidents and illnesses. (3) Unhappy with self, self appearance, self behavior, self accomplishments. (4) Unhappy about one's personal life. (5) Unhappy about a love affair gone wrong. Unrequited love. (6) Unhappy about events in the world at large. Feeling unhappy for someone else. PART FIVE. What are the most general comments one can make about happiness and unhappiness? (1) Happy and unhappy feelings do not always correspond to the situation, because sometimes a person misperceives the situation, and other times people are unhappy when they have good reason to be happy, or happy when they have good reason to be unhappy. Emotions are not infallible. (2) Happiness is a choice. You are responsible for your own happiness. You have control over your own happiness. One should try to be happy. Yet, one does not want to be blissfully ignorant. (3) As one gets older one hopefully becomes more aware of what makes one happy and unhappy. That is, as one gets older one acquires emotional knowledge. As one gets older, one gets more of a grip on their emotions, and hopefully has less unhappiness, yet also hopefully does not lose their happiness. That is, as one gets older, hopefully one gains more emotional control. Also, as one gets older, hopefully one becomes more fine tuned as to what should and does make you happy and what makes you unhappy. That is, as one gets older one acquires emotional refinement. (4) The emotions one feels when watching a movie or reading a novel, are those real emotions? That is to say, when we feel for fictional entities, are those real emotions? The emotions one feels when listening to a piece of music, or looking at a piece of abstract visual art, are those real emotions? If real emotions can be so easily produced by fictional characters or by music or visual arts, then what kind of confidence can one have in one's emotional reactions? (5) Be happy, yet keep on striving. Strive happily. That's right. Doo bop dee bop dee boop. --- 4/15/2007
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Passive, blissful happiness is not always the appropriate emotion or the desirable state. If your neighbors house is on fire and his family is burning to death, then passive happiness is not appropriate. --- 3/24/2000
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Physical pleasure and emotional pleasure seem overly-linked in some pathological conditions such as addiction. --- 4/28/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Physical pleasure and emotional pleasure. Is there a physical pleasure that does not cause emotional pleasure? Is there an emotional pleasure that does not cause physical pleasure? --- 4/10/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Physical pleasure and emotional pleasure. What is the link between physical pleasure and emotional pleasure? The two seem closely linked. For example, sex feels good physically and love feels good emotionally. (1) In most people, physical pain can cause emotional depression. Physical pleasure can cause an emotional high. It also seems to be true that emotional pain can cause physical pains (ex. a pain in the neck), and emotional pleasure can cause physical pleasures (ex. feeling warm and fuzzy). (2) On the other hand, there are some people who can feel physical pain with little or no emotional effect, and some people feel physical pleasure with little or no emotional effect. These people also may have the ability to feel emotional pain without feeling physical pain, and the ability to feel emotional pleasure without feeling physical pleasure. Is this disconnect between the physical and psychological a good thing? --- 4/28/2001
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Pleasure feelings are as important as pain feelings. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Pleasure in time. (1) Anticipatory: requires forethought and denial. (2) Present, during: requires least character of three. (3) After: requires memory, not repression. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Positive emotions like happiness, calmness and contentment are not a problem unless (1) You don't have them very often. (2) The wrong things cause you to have positive emotions (which is a question of value). --- 7/1/1999
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Problems. (1) Blissing out, being too happy, causes one to forget or ignore the problems in the world and the pain they cause, like human mistakes and natural accidents. (2) Being uptight, never happy, not enjoying anything, is bad too. You can become depressed and give up. You can make the mistake of not valuing things as much as you should. --- 12/30/1995
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Related subjects. (1) Humor and happiness. Apprehending a joke, seeing the humor, and laughing can produce happiness. (2) Beauty and happiness. Apprehending beauty can produce happiness. (3) Physical pleasure and happiness. Healthy food, sleep and exercise can produce happiness. Healthy sex can produce happiness. Feeling warm and comfortable can produce happiness. --- 12/2/2005
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Same situation. One minute I feel good, and next minute I feel bad. What is wrong with feeling good as long as I am not ignoring the problems of the world? It is good to feel good. It keeps you thinking and working to solve problems. Many people yearn to feel this good. --- 2/23/1999
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Satisfaction. (1) Satisfaction you get out of something depends on: If you like it. If you are good at it. If you are making progress, getting better. If it is a useful thing. (2) Is satisfaction the same as happiness? --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Some say happiness is the process, not the goal. --- 3/13/1999
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Sum up of mental states related to happiness. (1) I made a difference. I helped. (2) I tried. I gave my best effort. (3) There are many good things. Its not all bad. (4) Feeling happy for others (the opposite of feeling sorry for self). (5) Hope. (6) Optimistic about future. (7) Humor. (8) Safe. (9) Content. (10) Challenged. Engaged. Not bored. (11) Meaningful, purposeful work. (12) Calm. Peace. Serenity. (13) Love. (14) Comfort. (15) Friendship. (16) Enjoyment. Appreciation. (17) Joy. Delight. (18) Celebration. (19) Happiness. --- 6/14/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Sum up. Components of happiness. Hope. Purpose (worthy goals, direction). Meaning. Joy. Contentment. Challenge. Fun. Love. Explore. --- 6/4/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Summary of happiness terms and topics. Glad. Amazed. Calm happy vs. exited happy. Happy and its relation to time: looking back happy, vs. happy about here and now, vs. anticipatory happiness. Feeling good physically. Pleasure. Fun. Humor. --- 6/15/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- The big pleasure and pain problem. Often what you think will make you happy don't. Often what you don't think will make you happy will. Often what you think will make you feel neutral don't. Often what you think will make you unhappy don't. Often what you don't think will make you unhappy will. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- The greatest pleasure is not pleasure anticipated, or pleasure present, but rather pleasure past (knowing you have kicked ass), because pleasure past lasts longest and is forever in your mind. It is also permanent, and it can't be undone. Same for pain? --- 12/30/1995
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- The positive emotions rise together. Hope, confidence, optimism and happiness all occur together and reinforce each other. One happy emotion can cause another happy emotion. --- 12/10/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- There is a component of happiness that consists of emotions and thoughts of calmness, peace, serenity, relaxation, safe and content. That is, feeling not anxious, not fearful, not worried, and not stressed. --- 2/1/2002
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- There is a danger in being too easily amused, satisfied, contented, placated. --- 3/8/2007
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- These days, most days, for most of the day, I feel good. --- 12/15/2005
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- This reaching out for things that hurt you, in times of pain (of any combonation of types, degrees, or causes) is caused by your refusal to simply be happy where you are. (1) Sometimes it is best to simply be happy where you are. If you had just survived a near death experience you would be happy just to be alive. Pleasure in simple things like running water. (2) At other times it is best not to be happy or satisfied where you are. (3) Mistakes can be made in either case. (4) Do not refuse to be happy. Drop the pain. Take a new view or attitude. (5) How to be happy, with simple stuff, among the bullshit of life, and yet stay motivated and driven? --- 09/10/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Three big questions. (1) What are the types of happy emotions? (2) What things actually make us happy? (3) What things should we be happy about? --- 1/28/2002
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Two of the many types of happiness. (1) Happy because one's needs have been met: Feel satisfied, content and safe. (2) Happy because one feels needed. Having a sense of purpose and meaning. Feeling one has a contribution to make. --- 6/5/2004
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Types of happiness or pleasure. (1) Physical vs. mental. (2) Short vs. long duration. (3) Now vs. later. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Types of happiness: Just got a job. Just got a raise. Just got a lover. Just got laid. Weekend. Vacation. Lottery ticket. Lottery jackpot. --- 1/1/2002
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Types of pleasure and pain. (1) Short duration vs. long duration. (2) While in progress vs. long after it is done. (3) Transient (just once) vs. enduring or consistent (over and over). --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Types of pleasure. (1) Excited pleasure: psyched, pumped, wired, rush, blast. (2) Calm pleasure: satisfied. --- 09/15/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Types of pleasures list. (1) Physical vs. psychological: intellectual. (2) Social vs. solitary. (3) Momentary vs. enduring. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Types of positive emotions. (1) Adoration, devotion. (2) Mirth, joy, delight. (3) Content, secure, safe. --- 1/28/2002
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- What could I do? What should I do? What do I want to do? What do I enjoy? What causes me pleasure? Most to least. In abstract and concrete terms. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- What gives me real calm, content, happy. (1) Not goofing off. (2) Working hard on goals. (3) Kicking ass on active opposition and passive opposition of people and things. (4) Fleeing sub-optimal environments and people. (5) Big successes and wins. (6) Small failures and losses. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- What's going to make me happy. When (before, during, after). For how long (momentary vs. long lasting). How much (little vs. lot of pleasure). What type of pleasure. It depends on the situation. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- When I feel really good, I feel physically energetic, rowdy, playful, and mischievous. Like a kid. And graceful and athletic, like a dancer or acrobat. --- 02/20/1994
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- When I was a child I remember feeling sometimes happy. Probably because life (my life, and my view of the world in general) was (1) Simple (not complex), (2) Easy (intellectually, and in action and effort), and (3) Easily do-able. (4) I had no problems. (5) I had my needs filled (until the new need of sex came up). Life was a breeze and a blast (fun). Just needed more freedom. I can still feel that way. But it was a false happiness based on blind faith and ignorance. Now I can achieve a truer, nobler happiness, based on knowledge and ethical action. But will it feel as good? --- 11/10/1993
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- Why didn't I leave that stinking college? Why didn't I move out west then or now? Do I deny myself happiness? Why do I do so? Do I fear happiness and joy? Do I feel happiness is an evil pleasure that can only be followed by punishment and pain? Do I feel undeserving of happiness? Unworthy? Do I feel guilty of happiness? Most importantly, do I repress happiness and thus fail to recognize it when it hits me? Do I even repress the thoughts of what would make me happy, and thus not pursue those things, and not act on them? --- 7/11/1998
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- You should base your pleasures on how you feel before, during, and after the event. --- 12/30/1992
Psychology, emotion, specific, happiness. --- You shouldn't be happy with world, but you can be happy with your reaction to it. --- 12/30/1992