To Be Happy
Tags: Happy, Philosopy, Life, Joy

I’m sure we all have had a thought about what it meant to be happy during any one point in our life. This kind of thought could happen at any moment, when you are in the toilet or if your out enjoying with your friends. The feeling of doubt if the happiness that you were feeling was true or if such happiness will last.

A lot of people will tell you that happiness happens at the moment, and one should enjoy it at that very moment or there will be people that say that happiness is forever there like when you're married with your beloved. Is happiness perhaps an expression of joy? or is it a feeling that is constantly there, but merely feels stronger during certain times or events. Philosophers that talk about it values it as a state of mind or when life is going well for the person. The scientific ones will say it a result of chemical reactions between dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. I’m sure you can find articles that go round and round about people measuring happiness or trying to explain the feeling through the use of a survey.

In this topic, I would be showing from my viewpoint what happiness is and I’ve divided it into two sides, short term and long term. I do not believe the happiness of a person should be measured, or rather, there isn’t a need to measure it. After all, when a person is happy, he is happy. Like seriously, the feeling of happiness, no matter how small it is, its is there and it is not like pain, where if the pain is too much the person will be worse off. Like if a man wins a lottery compared to a starving homeless man got donated food, both of them at that moment, would be feeling happy as a good thing happened and there’s honestly nothing to compare as the feeling of happiness is just there. If one opts to compare happiness one would just lose the happiness they hold in search of “better” happiness.

Now that happiness is not being judged or compared, I would like to talk a bit about short term happiness. This would most likely be under what philosophers called the state of mind as mentioned above. In this case, the feeling of happiness would usually come from a cause which results in the effect of a happy state of mind at that very moment. You could be grieving but when you went out with your friends and you feel happy, you might think that the happiness you were feeling is fake. At that very moment, the happiness you were feeling is without a doubt real. Even though it is very likely such happiness would not last and you would soon revert back to your previous state of mind, learn to enjoy it while it lasts or as people say, be in that moment. Never doubt your own feeling of happiness even if it’s fleeting.

The second kind of happiness is what I would call long term happiness and it’s a constant kind of happiness that lasts. You just might not feel it all the time as it might’ve gotten buried under other emotions or you just weren’t paying attention to it. Such happiness I judge usually comes from what you put your stake in. Everyone has something that they put their stake or stakes in. It can be family, friends, material objects, knowledge or all of the above. It is something that holds great importance to the person even if the person does not consciously admit it. When the person has his stake or stakes with him, that person would be in a position of what I call long term happiness, a state of constant happiness as long as he has it. Such happiness is not in the moment and exists as long as you search for it or if it's not being overshadowed. While it might not bring as much stimulation as short term happiness, its constantly there and can bring joy to your life.

In the end, wether it is short term or long term happiness, remember that whatever happiness your feeling should not be used to compare, you should not ever doubt the happiness as it might result in the loss of such happiness, and be careful in your so-called pursuit of happiness as the happiness you already have may end up being lost during such a journey.