What will make you happy?

[tdarko]

I don't know if this will address anyone but what makes me happy is constantly moving forward and never becoming complacent. I have to continually be working towards bigger goals, and more goals all the time. I am not necessarily talking about monitary goals either, it could be fitness, professional, emotional, it doesn't matter; as long as I feel like I am bettering myself each day. When I am working toward this I am happy, when I become lazy I am unhappy.

[george w]

happiness is living in the moment and doing it with unlimited compassion and love for everyone.

sharing moments with a great woman is an added bonus and a treasure, but not necessary for happiness. if you're looking for happiness in a woman, you're just running in circles.

[glengarry]

Maybe coincidence, but just before I read this thread, I came upon an intriguing book "Stumbling On Happiness"? Anyone read it yet? Because he's read the book, and is a 'somewhat' better writer, I'll quote Malcolm Gladwell:

[ QUOTE ]
Stumbling on Happiness is a book about a very simple but powerful idea. What distinguishes us as human beings from other animals is our ability to predict the future--or rather, our interest in predicting the future. We spend a great deal of our waking life imagining what it would be like to be this way or that way, or to do this or that, or taste or buy or experience some state or feeling or thing. We do that for good reasons: it is what allows us to shape our life. And it is by trying to exert some control over our futures that we attempt to be happy. But by any objective measure, we are really bad at that predictive function. We're terrible at knowing how we will feel a day or a month or year from now, and even worse at knowing what will and will not bring us that cherished happiness. Gilbert sets out to figure what that's so: why we are so terrible at something that would seem to be so extraordinarily important?

In making his case, Gilbert walks us through a series of fascinating--and in some ways troubling--facts about the way our minds work. In particular, Gilbert is interested in delineating the shortcomings of imagination. We're far too accepting of the conclusions of our imaginations. Our imaginations aren't particularly imaginative. Our imaginations are really bad at telling us how we will think when the future finally comes. And our personal experiences aren't nearly as good at correcting these errors as we might think.

I suppose that I really should go on at this point, and talk in more detail about what Gilbert means by that--and how his argument unfolds. But I feel like that might ruin the experience of reading Stumbling on Happiness. This is a psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives. If you have even the slightest curiosity about the human condition, you ought to read it. Trust me. --Malcolm Gladwell

[/ QUOTE ]

[mrmr]

The older I get, the less I wonder or care if I'm happy.

[SlowHabit]

Here are the things that make me happy:

Moneys so I can buy tasty foods and drinks, seeing a smile on my loved ones' faces, helping others and see how much they've improved, and play around with my gf (as in joking around, making funny faces, talk in funny sounds, and the stuffs that girl does to guy that make guy [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]).

Things that do not make me happy (or at least irritate me and sometimes make me anger):
People sitting around and whine about their lives and their bad luck when they could've used the time to go Barnes and Nobles or Wikipedia to improve themselves as human beings (talent and character -- wise).

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
My wife is my best friend. I was never truly happy until I found her. I still have moments where I've felt lost and didn't know what I was going to do with my life, but she was always there to make me remember that I already had what was really important.

In other words, I am a very lucky SOB. I hope you find the kind of woman I found, because she is amazing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome, Borodog. Having what you have - a good woman to love and who loves me - would make me happy. I'm in a long-distance relationship right now, and I'm not sure if it's going to work. It'd be great to finally have that one person beside me, for good or for bad.

[lapoker17]

yeti, pretty gay thread!

[Yeti]

ok time to speak to my fellow committee members and see if we should exile you

[Matt Flynn]

i went into the bathroom where my wife was taking a bubble bath and reading a novel, and asked her what would make her happy. she said, "taking a bubble bath and reading a novel?"

that made me happy.

my answer is a little different. it's sleep.

[Oden\'s Hammer]

a small anecdote:

I was staying overnight at my friend's house. He's a stay at home dad that I met online through overgrow.com. His wife was on a business trip.

He has two young boys. His older son woke me up at around 8:30am to give me a hug.

That made me happy at that singular point in time.