- Casen Askew
- Texas City, TX
- United States
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What is the key to happiness?
Whether it's the warm embrace of a loved one or an ice cold beer, a day spent fishing or a day doing nothing at all, Jack Johnson or Aerosmith, what makes you happy? Regardless of its simplicity or complexity, what have you found in life that makes you the happiest? This question goes hand in hand with an earlier question I posed titled "What advice would you give to a younger you?"* and is designed to allow the TED community to establish a list of all the things that make life worth living.
This thread will not only give you a chance to possibly help out others, it will also provide you a list of all the reasons you have to smile, all the things you have to be thankful for, and all the things you might take for granted.
* www.ted.com/conversations/12365/what_advice_would_you_give_a_y.html
-Casen Askew
Catia Begni
Kate Blake 50+
Be aware; content with what we have; appreciate every opportunity, it's a chance to grow; forgive yourself and others; care and share, contribute!
It is indeed a state of mind we all have the choice to embrace or be swamped by self-pity - what do you choose Casen?
Casen Askew
Personally, I have a tendency to be happy more often than not. :) I understand that any day I wake up in the morning is a good one, and things, no matter how bad they might seem, can always be worse.
Kate Blake 50+
Amr Salah
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1- Being helpful to others, specially those who need help, and not expecting anything in return
Making others happy is what trully makes one happy.
2- Making something, or doing a kind of work that helps people or other creatures
3- Having an honest and balanced relationship with:
--- yourself (understanding your needs, understanding your goals and dreams, understanding which road do you want to take),
--- with others (what they expect from you and what you really can)
--- and with the world (We share life on this planet with others. Others have the same right to have a good life and to share the same resources of this planet as we do. This planet has, and maintains, balance with the creatures that live on it, with itself and with the moon, other planets and stars and this is the way humans should probably try to be too.)
4- Trying to understand life as it really is
- Understanding the purpose of life and living
- Understanding that one doesn't 'really' own anything (since we take nothing with us when we die, except our deeds and choices.) All the land, money, property, power, buildings and fame are just something we temporarily have and use. We don't really 'own' and all we have is only a limited and temporary permission to use all this.
- Understanding that everything we enjoy in life is a gift to us and that we should be thankful
- Understanding humans' role in life
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David Matta
Sneha Iyer
We qualify happiness as an emotion, and willingly let it be influenced by other people and things. Happiness is a state of being; that is to be sought/pursued; not merely by stating it as something desirable, but as something you have planned for.
The key to be happy is not to wake up a morning and say, "I feel happy, I wish I would every day", but to wake up every morning and go, "I plan to be happy today."
andrew jones
N SHR
sai kiran
Gail . 50+
Unfortunately, it has its downsides as this condition leaves one rather isolated (knowing so much more than those around me), but the isolation is small penalty for self-respect. You will be so buzy and so fulfilled that you will not recognize it as a penalty, but rather a reward that increases your happiness.
Terry Haynes
pratham parekh
Dan Geurin 10+
Here's an example: I used to hate mowing the lawn and doing the yard work. Now I see it as an opportunity to get some good exercise and listen to my favorite music on my headphones for a couple of hours.
Almost every situation can be seen as good or bad.
Gerald O'brian 50+
Debra Smith 200+
Gerald O'brian 50+
Yeah yeah yeah, being a vehicle for genes is a blast. I love the fact that consciousness, and particularly consciousness of being a biological pawn, doesn't change a goddamn thing in our lifestyle.
We're pawns with jet engines, orchestral symphonies and expensive microscopes.
Debra Smith 200+
The strange thing is that once we turn into them we think it is what we have always been and we stay so happily.
I am not sure that the lifestyle you recommend works or ever worked for women. Unfortunately, people now realize that you have to ask 'what does this person have to gain from this advice?:
Gerald O'brian 50+
Debra Smith 200+
"I love the fact that consciousness, and particularly consciousness of being a biological pawn, doesn't change a goddamn thing in our lifestyle."
Gerald O'brian 50+
I guess one can tell english is not my mother tongue.
I was trying to say that although we know that love is a trick played on us by evolution, we still fall in love like every other thing. And we know we cherish and take care of our children for biological reasons as well, but what does that change...
So what I'm trying to say is ; happiness is what keeps an organism working for its genes. Being healthy, enjoying food, enjoying sex, enjoying family and friends, loving children, etc... And we know it. Yet it does make us happy so we indulge in all of this with shameless abandon.
Debra Smith 200+
Gerald O'brian 50+
Now about shame. And pride. These feelings are very common among other animals, especially social mammals. They are part of an individual's awareness of its behaviour whithin a group. We love the feeling of pride because doing things that make us proud is socially and sexually advantageous.
And we hate the feeling of shame because of its association with a low hierarchical status, or worse, ostracism, etc... So when you say or do something stupid that totally discredits yourself SHAME is the felling that'll help you remember to think twice, next time.
Lejan . 30+
Omer Sarood
"Happiness is a decision, you are as happy as you decide to be"
think and decide :)
Bharath Kumar Kunjibettu 10+
To be happy we must content and grateful with whatever we have and then happiness automatically comes to us ...
There is a lesson in every pain so even when we come across pain, it is only making us stronger in the future ..
Greg McEachern
Peter Law 30+
I think happiness & contentment go hand in hand. If we can live without that next great ambition necessarily being fulfilled, then we can be happy. Some people however seem to work hard at being unhappy, but that is a choice.
I find my Christian faith is a major bonus for me. I can rest easy knowing that my ultimate future is secure. So, yes, contentment is where it's at.
:-)
alrasub .
Peter Young
Oscar Osorio
Ou Lin
Mark Kurtz 20+
But, be willing to work on goals and show ambition for doing something good. Be happy that you may fail a few times, for knowing you have other opportunities to try a project again is a feeling of freedom. Satisfaction experienced for a job well done adds to happiness and well being. Be confident you are valuable to humanity for your skills and experience. Value here is more than money or material wealth. Share what you know to be good for humanity and experience that good feeling of aiding your fellow man. Happiness is a result of reaching higher than your self-serving human nature.
Is there more definition from others?
MK
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Hyun Kim
Sam Kiranga
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
Then one should accept world as an imperfect realm. It is important for one to try his or her best to change unfavourable circumstances. It is important to have hope in adversity, and persistence in difficult times.
But one must know, through it all, that the time to be happy, is now.
Happiness should not be tied to a future event.