girldetective

Cyklone: It's funny-I don't think I have ever felt fulfilled, but I do feel happy most of the time now. When I don't, it's absence is palpable, and like the cocaine addict I seek it out. I am not talking here about momentary happiness, but a deep seated sense of okayness and warmth, a view of joy. Of course that begs the question, How can one feel happiness without fulfillment. But, still I know this is true.

Crompsin: Of course you don't do altruism, what was I thinking?! Yes, I agree with you that happiness is chemical, which is why I likened it to cocaine. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is feel, rather than think. Then I think. Other than the things that I have a responsibility to do, I often choose things to do based on my feelings, particularly at that moment. Maybe i just have too much time on my hands and the opportunity for indulgence, or maybe I really am an idiot.

Roachboy: Nothingness in real time, or internal nothingness? Yes, what you say about music is true, it doesn't always promote happiness (although it almost always has an effect). O, I'm beginning to get it. While playing, or perhaps watching a scary movie, one might not be feeling happy at that moment. Instead, one might be scared or nervous. And as a child if your mother made you play that piano when you wanted to be out playing baseball, you would not be happy. If that was the case, as an adult, one might not look with happiness at the piano. So the happiness is situational. However, also as an adult wouldn't one choose something to do other than the piano simply because it does not bring happiness. In other words, yes, happiness can be a fleeting and situational, but isn't it also a goal? (Shh-I think I was mistaken re orgasm. You're right, I feel more, too. I was thinking more of that first time of confusion and bliss.)

Jewels443: I'm not sure. it seems that most of us do experience happiness over and over, but I don't think it has lost it's meaning. If it had, it is not something we would cherish and revel in. Yes, there will always be times, or whole lives, where unhappiness or discontent abound, but does that preclude happiness as a goal? Isn't it expressly at those times that one tends to seek out happiness, whether analytically or emotionally? Doesn't happiness beget happiness? When you feel it, don't you want more? Do you ever think, "Shit, I was so happy, what happened?", and then feel loss? At those times, do you find that you are looking forward to again feeling happiness? I understand what you mean about the difference between happiness and contentment. This is what I struggle with, the definitions of happiness. Are they the same, or is happiness more joyful? I don't know. I still wonder though, isn't happiness, whatever that personal definition is, the goal of common man?