Are people able to look for happiness?

Remember The Wizard of Oz? The message of that movie was that happiness is found right where you are. If you ever go looking for your heart's desire, you needn't go looking any farther than your own backyard. That means that happiness is found within you. Most people look outside themselves for it. But it's really you yourself--your own spirit. Problem is that most people have lost their spirit, so they're not happy. In other words, if you have your spirit, you will find true delight in everything around you, no matter how "bad" it is. If you don't, you won't be happy even if the most positive of circumstances.

People don't have their spirit because it is being block by their minds. The mind blocks out the experience of life makes people live in their heads rather than in the world.

For more on this and to find out what you can do about it, see the free online book called The Present, at truthcontest.com.

Some cannot imagine greater happiness than merely being able to feed and clothe their family without continual worry.

Others think the greatest happiness would be to live in royal castles and to travel in a golden coach. Still others mean to find it by seeking fame and honors, high positions and renown.

Few seem to comprehend that neither wealth nor honors can ever make a person truly happy, but that in happiness resides a force that will provide, of all the treasures of this earth, to every individual precisely what he needs to lead a happy life no more, no less.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/happine...

Nature provides such a happiness to those who understand it.

I don't think you can look for happiness or choose to be happy until you change whatever is causing you to be unhappy.

Hence.. a pill or a wish is not going to cure what is wrong... only give a little less pain to deal with.

If someone is harming you daily, you aren't going to be happy or find happiness until you find a way to change what's happening and make a better life... my example. You find happiness when you find a way to make changes for the better. Sometimes, it's just a matter of how you see things.. many times, it is a matter of needing to change things to BE happy.

Yes most people do look for happiness.

Invite happiness into your life by making space for it and giving it opportunities to enter your life.

Sitting at home waiting for it to knock on your door rarely works.

Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every

kind of enjoyment except that of the animal appetites.

It ia a state of well-being characterized by emotions

ranging from contentment to intense joy. These include:

bliss, joy, joyous, carefree, jubilant, exultant,

cheerful, playful, amused, fun, glad, gay, gleeful,

jolly, jovial, delighted, euphoric, ecstatic, thrilled,

elated, enraptured, comfortable, harmonious, and

triumphant. Societies, religions, and individuals have

various views on the nature of happiness and how to

pursue it.

Only saint-like persons, who feel that they are no

longer interested in the external world, think that

happiness is within. For many persons, nothing can make

them happy. Our minds are as different as our finger

prints - no two are alike. Listening to loud music

makes one happy and makes another unhappy. Hence, there

can be no single definition for happiness. It is

probably impossible to objectively define happiness as

humans know and understand it, as internal experiences

are subjective by nature. Because of this, explaining

happiness as experienced by one individual is as

pointless as trying to define the color green such that

a completely color blind person could understand the

experience of seeing green.

As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and

commented on extensively throughout world history.

"Call no man happy till he is dead." - Aeschylus

"True happiness arises, in the first place, from the

enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the

friendship and conversation of a few select

companions." - Joseph Addison

Happiness is often associated with the presence of

favourable circumstances such as a supportive family

life, a loving marriage, and economic stability. Kali

Yuga, the age of darkness, is the time when these

favourables are difficult to find.

Unfavorable circumstances - such as abusive

relationships, accidents, loss of employment, and

conflicts - diminish the amount of happiness a person

experiences. In all nations, factors such as hunger,

disease, crime, corruption, and warfare can decrease

happiness. However, according to several ancient and

modern thinkers, happiness is influenced by the

attitude and perspective taken on such circumstances.

From the observation that fish must become happy by

swimming, and birds must become happy by flying.

Aristotle points to the unique abilities of man as the

route to happiness. Of all the animals only man can sit

and contemplate reality. Of all the animals only man

can develop social relations to the political level.

Thus the contemplative life of a monk or a professor, or

the political life of a military commander or

a politician will be the happiest according to their own

"psyche".

The following is the self-reported positive affect

(i.e. positive emotion) during the day by 909 employed

women in USA:

Activities and their positive effect index:

Intimate relations 5.10

Socializing 4.59

Relaxing 4.42

Pray/Worship/Meditate 4.35

Eating 4.34

Exercising 4.31

Watching TV 4.19

Shopping 3.95

Preparing food 3.93

On the phone 3.92

Napping 3.87

Taking care of

my children 3.86

Computer/Email/

Internet 3.81

Housework 3.73

Working 3.62

Commuting 3.45

Interaction with partners:

w/ friends 4.36

w/ relatives 4.17

w/ spouse/Significant

other 4.11

w/ children 4.04

w/ clients/customers 3.79

w/ co-workers 3.76

w/ boss 3.52

alone 3.41

Happiness is not entirely psychological in

nature - it has got a biological basis too. The

neurotransmitter dopamine is involved in desire and

seems often related to pleasure. Pleasure can be

induced artificially with drugs. Use of drugs is not

some thing new, it has been used by many including

Sanyasis since millennia.

Our minds are as different as our finger prints

- no two are identical.

http://www.answers.com/Phenomenology

I wonder sometimes if happiness is just extreme contentment, surely laughing doesn't always mean happy.

In romance, "For Couples Only" helps, and in life, "Conscious Capitalism," "The Answer You're Looking for Is inside You," and "Man, Master of His Destiny," and "The Great Divorce." They all offer insight/advice on how to do it.

Progressive realization of worthy idea.

Yes, they simply choose it.