Happiness is within yourself
Carameltail
UK Veteran
http://nperov.com/happiness/how-to-find-happiness-within-yourself-and-in-your-life/
'In order to be happy, sometimes you have to be able to deny the pleasure!
Strong passions and uncontrolled desires lead to suffering. To avoid this suffering that may cause addiction and destructive impulses, you need to be able to deny the pleasure that promise you these things! Happiness is based on freedom! Freedom from strong desires and passions!'
A lack of life happiness makes people seek to pleasure constantly, because therein they see the only way to feel alive.'
http://buddhanet.net/ans21.htm
'The Third Noble Truth is that suffering can be overcome and happiness attained.'
So I think the key here is freedom from attachments.
It's worrying that with social media these days people seek instant happiness.
Comments
the art of happiness is an interesting topic.can we enjoy life?yes.but the freedom from grasping,as you suggest is very helpful.altruistic joy in the success of others makes me happy.
and working on contentment is challenging.but on payday im happy!pay bills,makes me feel accomplished.
There is a big difference between Happiness and Contentment. I do not pursue Happiness. Yet it finds me.
I Relax into Contentment, and by relaxing, am able to therein abide, much longer.
This article, "The Power of Delaying Gratification", quickly surveys the findings of physiologist Walter Mischel's research of the subject. It isn't Buddhist, but the Buddha long ago taught what Dr. Mischel demonstrated.
happiness: verb - the manifestation of realization (of one's true nature)
Go beyond all views which views are skhandas and non-self and rest in metta
I like the answer given in the link, that once we can live patiently and accepting of what comes, then a lot of psychological suffering vanishes. Perhaps that is nirvana.
“To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy.' Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically. As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete.
Viktor E. Frankl
In part that is what Thich Nhat Hanh says as well, that happiness and suffering are intimately connected, and that as suffering disappears happiness comes to the fore. But I also ask how can there be happiness without truth? Surely one must understand truth and commitment before we can really be happy.
I reckon science agrees with the 'pleasure' and 'happiness' conundrum (happiness being contentment, a feeling of abundance, and peace).
Pleasure is dopamine fuelled; a lot of street drugs targets whatever bits of the brain this is.
Whereas it's serotonin that gives us the peace and contentment happiness.
That's 100% an over-simplification because I don't really know what I'm talking about; but I'm fairly sure that's the overall gist of it.
Not really happy ... when dependent on:
Really happy (not quite the right word - fulfilled perhaps or content or balanced) when:
Oh yeah! Buddhism - sweet. ?