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What attributes lead to universal happiness?
We all have different values and priorities, but what are the parts of life that are essential to pure happiness? What are the most basic aspects of life that are necessary to be happy? What are universal characteristics that are important ensure a happy life, whether you're in a big city or remote tribe?
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Simona Sanda-Mir
While health, prosperity, well-being etc are important, they may not be sufficient to promt happiness. People also need meaning that is the feeling they contribute to a larger purpose. That their uniqueness makes a difference. That life is worthwhile.
And still, we all know healthy, wealthy, inspiring people who are not precisely happy. So maybe, it all comes down to being a happy person and not necessarily to living a happy life..these are two different things. You may have them all - love, money, social recognition- and still get the feeling something is missing...Or you may be someone, like me, struggling to make ends meet, but still be happy, embrace life and cherish everything that comes your way.
So, as I see it, there is no universally valid answer to your question simply because there is no such thing as universal happiness. Happiness comes in so many different shapes! It is never universal, but rather tailor-made :)
Colleen Steen 500+
I agree that happiness means different things to different people. Do you think/feel that accepting our differences may be on the road to experiencing universal happiness?
Simona Sanda-Mir
I think accepting our differences can indeed make us happier as individuals and add more meaning to life as well as a sense of personal worth and value. Perhaps if we all did so, we would be closer to universal happiness..
In one of your comments, you wrote “I am happy when I do what I want to do”. This is a good point. People are happy when they do what they want to do...But what do they want to do? This is where their inner structure comes in...and this is why i said happiness was rather tailor-made. We don't all want to do the same things...yet by doing the different things we enjoy, we could experience the same result and that is be happy...
Colleen Steen 500+
I am also low income, as you said you are in your first comment, and no matter how much money I have, or DO NOT have, as the case may be at the moment, my foundation of happiness/contentment does not change.
I think what I said is that I do what I love, or love what I do? There was a question of do what we love OR what we HAVE to do, and I said they are one and the same for me? I cannot find the comment you refer to.
I agree....we do not all want the same things, and it seems realistic that we will all experience happiness/contentment from many different life experiences:>)