The way I see it, happiness is a feeling and feelings are triggered by the mind – unconsciously or consciously – so at the end of the day, from my perspective, happiness is a state of mind….
Is happiness really a feeling? When you’re happy, do you say, think, and describe to someone, “I’m feeling happy”? Or do you say, “I’m happy”? Real happiness, like love, isn’t a feeling. Those states affect our emotions, yes, so we *feel* different, but the root of those goes much deeper.
My answer is yes. Happiness is a feeling – you don’t need to “say, think, and describe” in order to deeply feel something like happiness. My point is that at the root of all of this there are set of beliefs which determine our feelings. Perhaps I can illustrate with an example: I met this cleaning lady in Peru who was constantly happy. I asked her “What is your secret? How can you be so happy all the time?” and her answer was simple “Of course I’m happy, I have a job and I can provide for my kids”. This illustrate my main point: Set your beliefs right, set your happiness.
Then I think we’re disagreeing on semantics more than anything else. If the Peruvian woman was happy because she had a job and could provide for her kids, she was existing in a state of happiness. It’s not like she made up her mind to be happy because she had a job and could feed her kids. No, she just was happy; there was nothing else to “be” other than happy.
Your main point and my point in this thought are quite different. I don’t disagree with your main point, but I don’t see how it invalidates the idea that happiness is not a state of mind but a state of being.
“It’s not like she made up her mind to be happy because she had a job and could feed her kids. ” – not consciously but from my perspective she did it herself subconsciously. The algorithm in her mind was “If I have a job then I’ll be happy”. My point is that happiness IS A CHOICE and a choice is created in the mind, if not consciously – then subconsciously.
Perhaps, but the state of being happy is still a state, not a ‘thing’ (i.e., a mindset).
The way I see it, happiness is a feeling and feelings are triggered by the mind – unconsciously or consciously – so at the end of the day, from my perspective, happiness is a state of mind….
Is happiness really a feeling? When you’re happy, do you say, think, and describe to someone, “I’m feeling happy”? Or do you say, “I’m happy”? Real happiness, like love, isn’t a feeling. Those states affect our emotions, yes, so we *feel* different, but the root of those goes much deeper.
My answer is yes. Happiness is a feeling – you don’t need to “say, think, and describe” in order to deeply feel something like happiness. My point is that at the root of all of this there are set of beliefs which determine our feelings. Perhaps I can illustrate with an example: I met this cleaning lady in Peru who was constantly happy. I asked her “What is your secret? How can you be so happy all the time?” and her answer was simple “Of course I’m happy, I have a job and I can provide for my kids”. This illustrate my main point: Set your beliefs right, set your happiness.
Then I think we’re disagreeing on semantics more than anything else. If the Peruvian woman was happy because she had a job and could provide for her kids, she was existing in a state of happiness. It’s not like she made up her mind to be happy because she had a job and could feed her kids. No, she just was happy; there was nothing else to “be” other than happy.
Your main point and my point in this thought are quite different. I don’t disagree with your main point, but I don’t see how it invalidates the idea that happiness is not a state of mind but a state of being.
“It’s not like she made up her mind to be happy because she had a job and could feed her kids. ” – not consciously but from my perspective she did it herself subconsciously. The algorithm in her mind was “If I have a job then I’ll be happy”. My point is that happiness IS A CHOICE and a choice is created in the mind, if not consciously – then subconsciously.
Perhaps, but the state of being happy is still a state, not a ‘thing’ (i.e., a mindset).