What Is Happiness? A Definition of Happiness
What is happiness?
Read the definition of happiness given by the
dictionary ...
... and the one given by the Personal Development Guy.
Is There Anything Better?
The the heaps of money, or the red sports car, or the slick, streamlined yacht, or the never ending sex, or the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend, or the wonderful house, or the loving family that we fantasize about - all those things are just what we think and imagine will give us the thing that we crave above all else: Happiness.
Working as a coach and a counsellor for many years has taught me this.
The Dictionary's Definition of Happiness
The dictionary defines happiness as a state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.The PD-Guy's Definition of Happiness: Short Version
My short definition of happiness is this:Happiness is the highly pleasurable experience
of our most basic nature and identity as a unified whole
- the result of 100 percent authenticity and no fear.
The PD-Guy's Definition of Happiness: Long Version
My longer definition of happiness goes like this:Happiness is one form that the experience of our true identity takes.
Other forms, other words for the same experience include unconditional love, Home, inner peace, serenity, joy, ecstasy, unity, wholeness, I AM, spiritual enlightenment and many, many more.
One might also call it: Being a unified whole (that consists of many, smaller unified wholes) which is part of a larger unified whole.
Although this highly pleasurable state of being is actually our base line, most of us are not experiencing it much in our daily lives because all sorts of fear-based things have been put on top of it, thus obscuring it. Only in the absence of fear does it shine through.
In the complete absence of fear happiness, unconditional love, Home, inner peace, etc. once again becomes our base line of experience - our normal, basic and natural state of being.
Thus happiness is hardly something to strive for and achieve, rather it is something you can relax into (by letting go of fear). You can do this relaxation gradually over a long period of time or in a split second.
Any actions taken in this naturally happy and fear-free state of being will be natural extensions of the condition and will thus tend to strengthen it. One might call this: doing what you are. Another way of putting all this would be: Being authentically you and doing it, too (which happens to be very close to the title of a book I have written which will be published soon [LINK]).
The experience of our base line happiness can last from a split second to a long period of time. In fact it only goes away when you overlay it with non-wholeness and fear (thus letting those two misunderstandings become real for you again).
The feeling of 'melding together and becoming one' that you may have during sex, plus sexual orgasm are examples of our base line condition of happiness.
Finishing Comments on 'A Definition of Happiness'
You may be surprised to read that a state of happiness and inner peace is what I define as our actual, authentic 'base line of being'. Based on your experience of daily life you may think this claim is unrealistic - or even crazy. I assure you that it is not.The thing is, though, that fear based beliefs, fear based thinking and fear based actions are running rampant in the world today, and so what most people would call 'normal' is actually pretty crazy - simply because it is based on fear and not aware consciousness and love.
What, then, about the state contentment which the dictionary mentions?
Well, contentment is first and foremost the absence of discontent which primarly signifies that you feel your needs are adequately met (please check out the middle of this page Empowerment Theory for an overview of your needs). Is this absence of discontent happiness?
Hardly, or only by a stretch of my definition, because your needs can be met for the moment, and yet you still harbor fear (e.g. that your needs will not be met tomorrow), which means you are not really happy. You are still below the base line.
Your base line state of happiness occurs in the complete absence of fear (in one area of your life or in many).
The complete absence of fear occurs if and when you let go completely of your fear. The good news is you can actually do this. In one area of your life, in several areas of your life, or in all of them. You may do this letting go process all at once (instant spiritual enlightenment) or one small step at a time, just as you please.
Whichever way you choose to do it, you will most likely encounter your fear - it comes up so that you can let it go and be rid of it.
Please don't forget that it is entirey doable. Good luck with it. :-)
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