Happy memories

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I know there may be no definition of happiness. Happiness is happiness and probably everyone has experienced some intense happiness, very likely when he/she was a kid. I think nature, the blind watchmaker (as someone called it/him/her, the architect of life) made us in a way that at some moment some release of absolute bliss happens; and then, all your life, you tolerate suffering, drudgery, misery and agony, thanks to these memories. They have been a incredible promise for you and you go on thinking that there should be a repetition. It’s like a door on some heavenly kingdom had been left ajar and you were made believe that you could reach that heaven in the future again, or again and again, and then you march in your life with this perhaps unreachable star before you. But sometime it’s not even a mere promise: it’s the real thing, it’s the full plenitude, no need to look for something other.
Most of these memories were tied for me to my life at the seaside. There we went on trips on the flat sea on these two-hulls boats (they were called “skates” in the Tyrrhenian sea), and we oared and swam in a perfect silence and peace. There is no definition for this kind happiness, it was so rich and thick that you could cut it with a knife.
And then there were the long walks in mountains to reach a top, woods with the particular smell of a wood and bare fields with cicadas doing an incredible uproar…

Happiness is:

Sitting in the backyard with my kitten in my lap...

Reading about black holes, and finally understanding time dilation...

Spending time with my first real friend, a red-haired girl with ADHD who loved Lord of the Rings as much as I did...

Winning the county spelling bee...

Fixing things nobody else could fix...

Finishing yet another quilt or afghan...

Getting my computer program to finally compile and run properly...

Doing calculus on a clean white sheet of paper, when every step is clear and the equation integrates beautifully...

Seeing my little sister read Dr. Seuss books at the age of three...

Drinking really cold water on a hot day...

Getting a song just right on the piano or recorder...

Biking down the road, feet pushing the pedals in a constant rhythm, going fast on a straight, even stretch of road...

Getting positive comments on a piece of fan fiction...

Writing an essay that makes sense and gets the point across...

Singing a hymn in church, making up a harmony line that fits perfectly with the melody and the pianist and the orchestra and the harmony in the hymnbook...

Knowing I'm strong enough to survive some of the craziest things life can throw at me.

Happiness:

Being able to sit with a maths challenge book for hours on end.

Being back to a normal weight and being able to go running.

My parents getting along and my father not being a complete imbecile.

My hospital admissions (x3) to have never happened and to have never set my eyes on Dr. A (both of them, there are two Dr. A's) or Dr. H.

To only know Springfield Hospital as the weird place in Tooting near St. George's that nobody wants to get involved with.

For primary school (a school for gifted children) to be a secondary school as well so I could have continued with gifted education.

FOR PEOPLE (especially in the UK) TO STOP WASTING RESOURCES I.E. WATER, ELECTRICITY, FUEL, RAW MATERIALS.

Going to Cambridge university to study pathology (that WILL happen! Just you watch me! ).

Climate change. Cannot stand it. It frightens me. A great deal.

Being alone and listening to good music.

I agree with all of you.

I could give you all a very good example of comparing and contrasting of happiness, but I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the subject matter.

Basically, I'll just say this. I think some people do express happiness in a way, but, yes, they do express happiness.

Happiness for me would be all the evil getting hurt worse than it hurt others, and the just getting compensated!

I just got off the phone with my mother who ended up telling me something I knew! It was like a nightmare at the time, and now it just seems worse! My mother said a doctor seemed to have it out for me.

I was once in an orphanage! For no reason!

On Happier notes:

real friends.

good memories and abilities.

getting the love of programming back.

getting married to a nice woman that could understand me.

being able to enjoy life.

I used to do puzzles all the time. I would like to get back into that.

I am trying to get better at math, so maybe I can finish this year by saying I am strong in math. That is also my goal for hindi, danish, german, and spanish, and possibly french. I am also trying to get a memory as eidetic as ever. That would blow my fathers mind!

btw, capitals removed for your viewing comfort.

Steve

I see joy as a “fuel”; joy as experienced and hoped for. Said this way it sounds prosaic. But, as food is nothing other than fuel for keeping the body working (I think they call it metabolism), so joy is a fuel for behaving: pushing us to fight for mates, children, some sort of success, and, eventually, for life in all its richness and complexity. Its complexity and its connection with all other forms of life, animals, plants, woods. We shouldn’t shun joy because it's part of the “machinery” of life, as we are not inclined to shun good food because it’s essential to metabolism. Joy is a rare thing, but the hope to reach some of it must be in our horizon. And happy memories keep us alive.

*reads above post*
Truer words have never been said.

Talking to Tim makes me happy, too. I have never been happier.

happiness is:

swinging on a hammock wearing my long sleeved gorilla shirt on a cold fall day

hurricane katrina, country, no electricity, it's hot, i just stepped on a sharp rock that partly stayed in my foot, it's pitchblack outside, me and my sister are tired, but...the stars are magnificent and there are fireflies everywhere.

my cat lying in my lap as i watch a netflix movie after a long friday at school.

my brother making me laugh.

my old dog following me wherever i go.

writing a great poem

playing a song on the piano just right

sleeping late

being with my whole family

someone understands the point i'm trying to get apart

relaxing without a care in the world. no tests, exams, essays, or project coming up or due.

happiness to me is:

1) Looking at the stars when there are no lights around me that could be seen for miles away on a nice, cool, fall night.

2) Going to the creek that used to be by my house and watch the tadpoles, minos, crawfish and asorted insects go by doing what they need to do. But I couldn't do this as often as I like.

3) Drawing undisturbed.

4) Translating English to Japanese undisturbed.

5) Listening to musc undisturbed.

6) lying in a nice, cool, soft, fuzzy bed naked.

7) Jumping into a cage filled to the top with soft furry pillow they had at BED BATH & BEYOND. ( I did this the other day when no one was looking!! ! I was so excited and happy that I nearly lost a shoe when they were trying to get me out!!)

swinging while listening to music undisturbed.

9) Smelling something that wouldn't give me a headache.

10) Reading undisturbed.

11) Throwing water in the air and looking at the shapes it formes.

12) Being by myself during the day because usually I have to become nocternal in order to be alone but now since i'm out of school I could have the whole place to myself during the day and I never had that befor.

Resume

After the desert rain
Burst of evening sunlight
Sagebrush fragrant, damp, and glowing
Dark rainbow among distant sandstone hills
Jewels on the skin of earth

Places the deer love
Coyote song beyond the ancient dance of firelight
As wood holds two lives, trees and fire,
And each is lovely

Sound of falling water
Tumbling bubbles
Smallest waterfalls always closest to the heart
Hidden pools in shaded places

Someone lived who loved these things
Say this and nothing more.

Well, I'm going to throw a spanner in the works. The way I see it, the examples that have been given are not truly happiness. They are examples of joy, pleasure, euphoria or contentment. Happiness goes deeper. It's more about a way of life. Or perhaps an outlook on life, a way of seeing the world It goes beyond isolated instances that fade away into memories. It's being able to see a meaning in your world and in your place in the world. In this sense, a truly happy person is happy despite misfortune, because his happiness is a property of his world as a whole, transcending his individual life.

One has to try to get beyond these evanescent moments of pleasure and develop a feeling for what is deeper. This is, of course, not an easy thing to do.

Happiness is living in a world where you never have to deal with human stupidity, arrogance, greed or hatred.

In other words theres no such thing

one of the most blissful, happy moments that sticks in my mind is when I was about 10 years old at a campground in Deltaville. I was sitting on the tailgate of my Dad's oldsmobile station wagon which was parked on the shore with two cute blond girls on either side that were my best of friends at the time and the daughters of my parents friends. It was a warm summer day, but not too terribly hot and there was a really nice breese coming off the Chesapeake Bay that we were looking out upon watching all the boats and stuff go by. I had the radio in the car playing Z104 from Virginia Beach and the song "Everybody wants to Rule the World" was playing. Dad was getting our little aluminum boat ready. We were swinging are dangling legs back and forth "bumping" each other and giggling about it while passing a bag of Doritos around and drinking Mountain Dew...my favorite snacks!

I always liked camping because it was an escape from the ridicule of bulleys and the drudgery of school. It was also an escape from the noisy, chaotic suburban life to a place where things were calmer. Outside of the radio playing was just the sounds of the birds the radio playing and our laughter as I chatted with the girls making stupid jokes, funny faces, and just chatting it up about enjoying the beach, the music on the radio, and whatever. Those girls didn't make fun of me, but instead just went along in with many of my unusual quirks and enjoyments. For that moment, especially because it was summer I didn't have any homework or grades to worry about and no chores to do!

I remember that moment whenever I hear that Tears for Fears song playing as an adult. It was the most carefree moment in my life that I can remember. It especially stands out as an adult and I now have bills and mortgage payments to worry about, a business to maintain, and the closest woman in my life right now is the secretary at the office that gives me my calls in the morning and tells me what issues I need to take care of. At that time back then was the closest female compansionship that I ever had. Now, some of you NT's may want to make dirty innuendos out of this story, but the most we ever touched was just bumping our feet together on the back of that car! Instead, we chose to go swimming, boating, play games, and all sorts of fun stuff that kids normally do together, and that to me was especially memorable.

Their family, and those girls moved away to Colorado the following year, and it was just me sitting on the tailgate of that car the next summer. I had also started middle school, and was sort of the beginning of a downhill slide in my social skills, as I was tourmented unrelentlessly in middle school to the point my grades plummeted, and I couldn't even recover when at home with my family. Those girls eventually got married in their hometown, and they keep in touch on the rare occasion with an E-mail, but I can't remember any other point in my life where I felt so happy.

Happiness is hugging my wife when we're sharing a quiet moment.