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Do you think happiness and well-being are independent of lifes circumstances?

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  • 18-12-2009 4:48pm
    #1
    trench foot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 50 ✭✭


    Well what do you think? I know this guy who never shuts up about winning the lotto and he truly believes if he wins it he will be truly happy. I think if he ever did win the lotto he would be no different!


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    #2
    Joycey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 631 ✭✭✭Joycey


    trench foot wrote: »
    Well what do you think? I know this guy who never shuts up about winning the lotto and he truly believes if he wins it he will be truly happy. I think if he ever did win the lotto he would be no different!

    Id say you are probably right. Have a look at this: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

    Predominant view of happiness is that individuals have a certain "baseline" happiness level that they tend to return to after a relatively short time after any event, no matter how initially awful or amazing. The example of the newly made parapalegics and the people who win the lotto in that video above is unbelievable.


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    #3
    extrinzic
    Closed Accounts Posts: 141 ✭✭extrinzic


    Would say there are certain requirements for happiness, such as food and shelter. After that, the biggest contributing factor is your genes. Health would probably be next, and I imagine looks play an uncomfortably significant role, as your personal relations will be effected by your looks to a large degree. Intelligence probably has minimal impact, so long as you don’t regularly make very poor decisions. Irrational dreams are often just emotional and intellectual anchors, something to distract us, and motivate us. We tend to only focus on what really matters occasionally, perhaps when we realise we could lose whatever it is we really care about. Thinking about what is really important all the time will probably drive us crazy with uncertainty.


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    #4
    aurelius79
    Closed Accounts Posts: 395 ✭✭aurelius79


    "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise"

    Contentment in life and material gratification are two different thing entirely. Winning a million euros might make you happy for a short time but if your mind is full of confusion you will always be unhappy.

    True happiness is acheived by a sort of self-imposed ignorance. It is to be able to accept things as they are without trying to find the reason behind them. You will never be happy if you are constantly searching for answers because you will always just see problems. By accepting that problems are just a part of life, then you stop searching for the answers and just get on with living your life.


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    #5
    Maebh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 64 ✭✭Maebh


    aurelius79 wrote: »
    "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise"

    Contentment in life and material gratification are two different thing entirely. Winning a million euros might make you happy for a short time but if your mind is full of confusion you will always be unhappy.

    True happiness is acheived by a sort of self-imposed ignorance. It is to be able to accept things as they are without trying to find the reason behind them. You will never be happy if you are constantly searching for answers because you will always just see problems. By accepting that problems are just a part of life, then you stop searching for the answers and just get on with living your life.

    I don't know, maybe that's what happiness could be for some people, but I don't think I'd be very content if I suddenly stopped questioning life.

    In fact, I find a lot of gratification comes to me by searching for answers, and questioning things I see as being wrong, because even if I get no answers, or nothing comes of my trying to make a problem better, I at least know that I tried, and that makes me feel somewhat better than when I just ignore a problem instead.

    Anyway, as for happiness and well-being being interlinked, I would say they are, but only to a certain extent. You can't be happy when you're in poverty, or sick, but after a certain amount of well-being has been reached, more doesn't make a difference.

    If you're not living in desperation, if you're relatively well-off, then being richer won't make you happier...


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    #6
    trench foot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 50 ✭✭trench foot


    i cant believe the guy has won a substantial amount of money last weekend!


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    #7
    ConsiderThis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 230 ✭✭ConsiderThis


    trench foot wrote: »
    Well what do you think? I know this guy who never shuts up about winning the lotto and he truly believes if he wins it he will be truly happy. I think if he ever did win the lotto he would be no different!

    Happiness is a decision. Someone who is unhappy and who wins the lotto is still lunhappy, but they are just richer.

    Happiness in not dependant on money or situation, and I've met people who are very poor in Zimbabwe, for example, who are happy.


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