Live GR: What is happiness? 2nd of December, 7:30pm AEST

[WheresMySquishy]

Time for our next question!

How important is happiness to you? Have your views about happiness changed throughout your life? How do these attitudes affect your daily life?

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

It's not as important to me as it once was. I'm just sort of getting on with things and taking it a day at a time without forcing myself to feel a certain way as much. I suppose this influences my daily life because I'm more accepting of things I can't control, I can't compare myself to others or to what could have been because this is what I have. At the same time I can't keep feeling bad about feeling bad, and not being grateful enough for what I do have. Everyone feels things, everyone struggles with things, so what's the point in invalidating ourselves

[Saltwaterdreamtime]

Sorry guys I’m going to have to head off for a bit but might catch at the end otherwisw catch up later

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

That's okay @Saltwaterdreamtime thanks for coming to the chat Feel free to answer some of the questions later on!

[Hozzles]

How important is happiness to you? Have your views about happiness changed throughout your life? How do these attitudes affect your daily life?

Completely agree with @Lost_Space_Explorer5!  Just another emotion I'm open to feeling, there's no real point in actively chasing it! There can always be more to do, or things to be done or go wrong... but living in the present is important! I definitely think I've been more open to happiness lately, apparently the fear of happiness is called cherophobia (like the singer Cher? weird...) but as weird as it sounds I think I've struggled with it at some points. I've always had a feeling that if I was happy, it wasn't going to last long or things will ruin it. But now I'm happy to just to feel it and move on! 

[Saltwaterdreamtime]

Thanks @Lost_Space_Explorer5 @bit of a mad house here 

[WheresMySquishy]

How important is happiness to you? Have your views about happiness changed throughout your life? How do these attitudes affect your daily life?
Happiness used to be important to me growing up, but now it's not the most important thing for me. I think you can feel content without necessarily feeling happy and that's something I'm okay with. You can also not feel happy about something, but it can be something that you can learn to accept and tolerate. I've also heard people say things like 'find a job you'll love and you'll never have to work a day in your life'. But I've heard lots of stories about how people pursued their passion and turned it into a job, only to find that they ended up not enjoying it as much because it ended up feeling a chore. I think it's best to try out something first and if you don't like it, then it's okay to keep it as a side hobby and find something else to do. I thought I had to be on track and that I would be doing something different at this stage of my life. But just because my life took an unexpected turn, it doesn't mean that it's necessarily a bad thing.
When I became a carer, I became more appreciative of the little things. When your life has changed, you can find yourself missing aspects of your old life and not realising how happy you were back then. As I got older, I also came to realise that nothing is really good or bad but your thoughts about it can make it seem good or bad.

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

omg I still get that a bit @Hozzles, feeling like there's no point in being happy. I'm trying my best to just appreciate it as it comes and goes.

And that's okay @Saltwaterdreamtime I can imagine! Is your little human giving you some trouble ?

[featuringme]

Hey everyone! Sorry I'm a bit late  Loving the chat so far, a very important topic to be talking about!

How important is happiness to you? Have your views about happiness changed throughout your life? How do these attitudes affect your daily life?

To me, happiness has always been an important part of my life. However, my views on happiness have changed. I've learnt that people feel happiness in different ways, and that there is no one way to experience it. And they are all valid! For example, as an introvert, I am happier when I've got time to myself. I've also learnt that we don't always need to be happy, and that this is also normal. These views have been really helpful, since I feel as though I do not need to bottle up my emotions and true self.

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

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@WheresMySquishy wrote:

As I got older, I also came to realise that nothing is really good or bad but your thoughts about it can make it seem good or bad.

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So powerful