What Does Happiness Actually Mean?

Intuitively, happiness is a feeling we get that we associate with having joy, abundance and peace.

It's the opposite of feeling depressed, gloomy or sad. Being happy is something that people will generally consider good while being sad is not so great.

But there are degrees of happiness and different people feel it in different ways.

A perfect example of this comes from the TV drama show called Everybody Loves Raymond.

The parents of Raymond were constantly fighting. Everyone believed they hated each other.

But in one particular episode, it was revealed that their behavior towards each other is how they are happy. The back and forth digs that they give each other is actually affection in their eyes.

While I personally believe that fights are just a low-consciousness way of shaking the boring, monotonous, dull routine up and spike some emotions in a relationship, there may be some truth about the fact that happiness is driven from within instead of without.

There are those who are not very good at showing emotion or those who are excellent at hiding their true feelings. They could be super excited and yet give no expression to show for it.

It's hard to read these people.

It's hard to predict their contradictory behaviors.

It's hard to know when it is the best time to bring up certain topics of conversation to them.

Then, there are people who go overboard and show excessive happy emotions. They become too cheerful and positive to a point that is kind of annoying.

To many, these people seem almost unreal as no one can be that happy all the time. They are so perky that it is hard to take them seriously. Sometimes, you may even think they are faking happiness.

Wikipedia defines happiness as "a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy."

Even this definition allows for varying degrees of happiness.

The point is, there is no right answer as to what happiness means to any person just as there is no one definition on how it should be expressed. It is as personal as any other emotion.

Most people will agree that when it does occur, happiness makes you feel good. It is something that people try to continue for as long as possible, even though it is not possible for it to go on indefinitely.

The fact of life is that you will reach a certain point or event that changes your emotions and you will lose the great feeling of happiness.

Anyhow, generally you do want to maximize the good feelings of happiness whenever it is possible, for as long as you ca because happiness has been shown to be better for your overall health.

Doctors have long believed that patients that maintain a positive, upbeat and happy outlook during serious medical conditions have a much better chance of recovery than people who are gloomy about their prospects.

Whatever your personal definition of happiness is, go live it, experience it and thrive with it today!

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