What will make you happy?

[Tien]

My story.


Lived quite about 8-9 years of my life in constant misery. And when I mean constant misery I mean waking up every single day of my life not caring if I was dead or alive. Some days was thinking nothing else but suicide....


I picked up a book "maximum achievement" by brian tracy and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I went from being 24/7 miserable to 24/7 happy. Prior to reading that book, I could not believe it was ever possible to be happy all the time. When I mean happy, I mean happy from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, regardless of what is happening in your life.


I think back and say to myself how the f'cuk I managed to live 8-9 years in complete misery....


Basically, it comes down to this: Happiness is a choice. Happiness is something we feel 24/7. Happiness is something everyone can achieve if they change their paradigms.

Another incredible book is "7 habits of highly effective people"

I suggest you check up on amazon and order these two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Achievemen...TF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effe...TF8&s=books

If these books do for you only 10% of what they did for me, it is still worth it.

[Tien]

To answer topic question: What will make me happy?


Waking up every single day knowing I am one step closer to achieving my dreams as well as my life mission.

Helping other people.

Build as many meaningful loving relationships as I possibly can.

[ImsaKidd]

So many good posts in this thread guys. This is what 2p2 is all about (besides poker). I had chills reading some of these posts, no idea why. I'm hoping it is a sign of good changes to come.

[ike]

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It's very very easy to get trapped by your freedom. I'm absolutely sure this is what happens to most online poker players who suffer from being unsatisfied. With all that free time, it's almost impossible to enjoy it when there is nothing to contrast it to. You take it for granted and you start to blend together a lot (a LOT) of days of sitting in front of the computer, passing time.

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This sounds a lot like my life right now. I'm 22, I'm not in school, I can leave right now and go surf anywhere in the world and yet I sit around in a college town smoking pot and doing nothing with my time but play poker. Sure having no responsibilities is cool, but it gets pretty [censored] tedious and time consuming doing nothing all day. Its like I'm overwhelmed with choices and so it causes me to do nothing.

Mods move to QLC?

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wow, this sounds like me too :-/

[Pete H]

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The process of acquiring power and wealth for example should make you happy.

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Why? That's more likely to make me unhappy.

What makes me happy are the things I do with the wealth I've acquired, not the wealth itself.

And I have zero interest in acquiring power. I don't want to make decisions for other people. I want to make decisions for myself.

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I tend to disagree. While I enjoy a good dinner or a better car, I dont get a feeling of enduring satisfaction from them. Being wealthy on the other hand gives me a feeling of security that wont go away once Ive gotten used to it.

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Being secure = boring

I think depression is so common in western world because people live too boring and too secure lifes.

Third world people who have to struggle to survive are happy if they'll find enough food to survive for another day.

I'd me much happier as a hunter-gatherer living like they lived 10000 years ago than I'd be as Bill Gates and I'm pretty sure that applies to (almost) every person alive.

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Being able to make decisions for yourself shows quite a lot of power I think.

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I think that if you don't have power over other people, you don't have much power.

NP: Kreator - World Anarchy

[raptor517]

Well, i haven't read all of this.. but i have pretty much every material posession i desire. nice cars, nice house, nice pool, nice tvs, amazing bed, etc. i have an amazing gf who loves me way more than she should, and puts up with all my quirks. i have a fantastic family that has been extremely supportive of my endeavers throughout my life. i have a great group of poker friends, who i can trust anything to and with. i have a fantastic group of non-poker friends who i love to hang out with and makes me feel like im still in college getting that 'experience' every now and then. however.. i dont feel like im truly happy. sure, i have fun a lot, and my life is great, but it doesnt bring me happiness or contentment.

for me to be happy, i need to be financially safe, no matter what happens. i need to never worry about money for the rest of my life, and my kids never need to worry about money either. i need a beautiful, intelligent wife i can actually talk to, and who can challenge me intellectually. i need 2 kids that i can teach everything i know to, and mold them into fantastic human beings. i need to be teaching something, sharing whatever knowledge i have with others, be it in a school, on a baseball diamond, wherever. i dont have any of these yet, but thats kinda endgame talk.

currently, the things i can do to improve my happiness levels.. i guess ill start a bit of a list..

1. start working out more. ive gotten back into it recently and it makes me feel much better in general, as i feel healthier and my mind seems to function better.

2. healthier diet. i usually just kinda eat whatever i want whenever i want. im starting to drink more water instead of soda, eat less candy (anyone who knows me knows im a candy whore), less random fatty foods, etc etc.

3. i have a few investments, some money in different index funds, etc, but i REALLY want to get started in real estate. my goal for the end of this year is to have at least a duplex, and ideally a 4 unit building somewhere around my tcu area, and have it rented out by the next school year. basically if it pays for itself, and i dont make any profit, ill be extremely content. that alone will greatly increase my happiness factor.

4. read more. i used to read every night for about 2 hours for the better part of 5 years. now i just kinda read whenever i take a dump. i wanna get back into the habit of reading in bed before sleeping instead of popping in an episode of CSI or flipping thru the movie channels.

i cant think of a whole heck of a lot else, but i think this is a great thread, and should be motivational to everyone that posts in it as it helps you outline your goals and things you are happy/unhappy with so we can all work to better ourselves and reach that oh so happy state.

[theBruiser500]

"Being secure = boring

I think depression is so common in western world because people live too boring and too secure lifes.

Third world people who have to struggle to survive are happy if they'll find enough food to survive for another day.

I'd me much happier as a hunter-gatherer living like they lived 10000 years ago than I'd be as Bill Gates and I'm pretty sure that applies to (almost) every person alive."

i think you have a very very idealized view of what a poor persons life, or a hunter gather's life is/was like.

[scotchnrocks]

I know from experience that I'm happiest and at peace with most everything when I have a good girlfriend.

Sometimes I think I'd be much happier without the internet. It complicates my life more than it helps it.

I have a lot of material stuff and it definitely does not make me happy, but is very entertaining.

[WillyT]

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limon,

"what they do is meditate on what is good in life and sorta just tell themselves they are happy/content. they train their brain to be happy."





That's really interesting and puts another twist on the whole "what is happiness?" question.

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One of these guys is writing a book. A friend of mine sent me the link as it's something I've been studying on my own for some time now (since I was 19 (now 26))

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...cle2171679.ece

-WT

['Chair]

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"Being secure = boring

I think depression is so common in western world because people live too boring and too secure lifes.

Third world people who have to struggle to survive are happy if they'll find enough food to survive for another day.

I'd me much happier as a hunter-gatherer living like they lived 10000 years ago than I'd be as Bill Gates and I'm pretty sure that applies to (almost) every person alive."

i think you have a very very idealized view of what a poor persons life, or a hunter gather's life is/was like.

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Bruiser - I think you are full of crap. I very much enjoy (and am envious) of what you are doing with your money, as opposed to others with the same means around our ages. But give me a break! You really think you would be happier being dead broke and living in a 3rd world country? I know the grass is always greener on the other side, but you can take that quote above and stick it up your ass.


Dids - I liked your response...it sounded genuine. congrats and good luck.

I'm in the "happiness is all about perception" camp.