Mind Mastery

Happiness is not only short term instant gratification from eating delicious food, having sex or scrolling social media. 

All these things may make one feel happiness, yet they may not overall be happy.

Happiness is a state of being. 

It is a temperament. 

It's less of a feeling and more a way of feeling.

Happiness can be natural to some people, others may have to work very hard to achieve it.

It is a way of life, a way of interacting with the world, however it is chosen, whether through effort or ease, it's a choice to be in control of ones emotional state.

If anyone in the world could click their fingers and magically make themselves exist in a happy state, most people would.

Why?

Because happiness is a most desirable emotional state of being.

Although, happiness is not everything. One may be happy, but incredibly stupid, leaving them open to be taken advantage of and manipulated.

It is just the emotional everyday state of being one chooses to live in, as opposed to depression, anger, anxiety etc..

Happiness should not be the goal, it should be the beginning point with which to achieve all goals.

Achieving goals can help one to be in a state of happiness, but one should take care of this as early as possible in their life.

If one could choose to live their life happy 50% of the time, 20% or 80%, what would they choose?

Obviously the higher the better. Thus it is wise to become happy early in life by setting and achieving realistic goals and making the choice to be happy by controlling ones mind.

It is unreasonable and counter productive to be happy 100% of the time. Such as when a loved one passes or one has a legitimate reason to be angry or afraid etc..

Whenever it is contextually appropriate to be happy, to feel happy, one should.

Happiness is a state of contentment. It is not joy, excitement or ecstasy.

It is a stable mental and emotional state which helps one to achieve the goals they want without clouding their mental judgment.

Happiness can be considered as the neutral emotional point. Clear headed and in touch with reality as it really is.

Happiness is not a state of perfection where there is nothing else one wants or wants to do.

Happiness is a calm state of "I'm ok, I've got this, this is alright, though I do want more".

It can be said to be a middle ground, an overall state of general satisfaction with ones ability to cope with the world.

When one lives daily in a state of happiness, it becomes their homeostasis point.

They can shoot up from this neutral flat line to feel excited when they catch up with a friend or experience something else pleasurable, or they can shoot down to be sad or mad.

These fluctuating emotions last for a short period and then one who has attuned themself to being happy will return to their homeostasis level.

Happiness is an optimal way of being, although other emotional states can also be useful when achieving goals.

One may be angry and focus all their energy into becoming the best boxer they can be.

Or one who is hateful can direct that energy into creating a solution to whatever is causing them to hate.

It is not wrong to feel these other emotions, but it is wrong to build a temperament around them.

One who is happy can still hate, still be angry, still be sad. Yet their overall temperament, their colour tone and feeling is one of happiness.

Happiness is what one should strive to achieve as their dominant state. 

Some find it very difficult to be happy in such a dark, depressing and evil world.

This only means that they do not have control and power over themself.

If one is still free enough to enjoy daily pleasures and comforts, they have no excuse not to hold the reigns of power, the reigns of happiness.

If they are being oppressed or are locked in prison etc. then they can descend into a still highly esteemed state of peace.

Happiness is a state of peace with a note of pleasurable feeling associated with it, whereas peace is the absence of all feeling or emotion, contentment with aware emptiness.

Peace is contentment with having nothing, happiness is contentment with having something.

One's emotional state of mind is internal, it can be controlled from the inside.

Ones internal state of being and ones outer perspective and opinion of the world are two different things.

Many ask how to be happy in a world which is repulsive and evil. 

Sure, it may be ignorant and naive to exist in a constant state of joy, but happiness is not joy, it is contentment with ones ability to control their state and the way they feel.

One can move from happiness to joy when they experience the correct subjective experiences. 

But it would be out of touch with reality to exist in a constant state of joy in this world, as this world does not provide an environment to be constantly joyous about.

To be constantly joyous would be to exist in a protective bubble of ignorance, ignoring all the evil and the fact that other people and their lives affect your life and there is hardly a thing you can do about it. It would be childish and foolish to set joy as your state of being on earth.

Happiness is a reasonable and context appropriate state of being for one to exist in while on earth.

It is reasonable to aim for a joyous state of being while living in this world, yet one must acknowledge it is not possible, unless they wish to trade part of their intellectual awareness for a feeling.

True happiness comes from ones ability to handle ones self's reactions to their environment and reality as a whole in the way which they have chosen.

---

“Happiness is a state of noncontradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction.... Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.”

The pleasure of using one’s consciousness properly, and the “pleasure” of being unconscious, are not the same—just as the pleasure of achieving real values, of gaining an authentic sense of efficacy, and the “pleasure” of temporarily diminishing one’s sense of fear and helplessness, are not the same.

For the rational, psychologically healthy man, the desire for pleasure is the desire to celebrate his control over reality. For the neurotic, the desire for pleasure is the desire to escape from reality.

- Ayn Rand