Happiness to me is peace of mind, character and soul. Happiness is to bring into our remembrance that there is good in a person or the world. Without pain and sorrow we would not know happiness or joy. We should never, ever suppress happiness. It should be displayed for the whole world to see. The trouble with mainstream media is that they cater to the evil and wickedness and sorrow in the world. Its not wonder people are depressed. When happiness is showed to me I return in kind. Happiness breeds happiness. The way I get happy is doing what I love. I find the beauty in things with a childlike wonder. I put aside all fear and prejudice to see beyond the glare. A long time ago someone told me "do what you love and love what you do." For years I sat and wallowed in my mire of self-pity, thinking that just across the fence was true happiness, yet, just out of my reach. I began to reach for the happy things in life. I surround myself with good things. Happiness is not a destination its a journey. The other day I went for a walk in the park with my son. I listened to birds sing, the bees buzz, the wind blowing through the trees. I stopped and not only smelled the flowers but beheld their beauty. Happiness begins with just being grateful for the little things.

I have no idea what happiness is.
I think I feel happy when busy cleaning and cooking and shopping for family. But that is from childhood where I had to be busy helping mommy to be "good".

I think I am happy when caring for my plants. I love plants. They grow even if I am very sad or angry. They don't care about that at all.

While on this retreat, I've been experiencing a lot of different emotions, lots of stuff I'm holding in that's could be described as 'negative'. But dealing with it all is necessary. I bring it up because when it calms down and I'm content; or when we have lively Shabbat services, or a funny thought cuts through the din and I go from sad to smiling for even just a minute - these are examples of Happiness.

Happiness is such a great feeling! And for those of us who've known so much sorrow, it's incredible when you feel it. I don't know about you guys but it's a drag for when it goes and there's the return of the sorrow-to-work-on again.
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I don't think that any emotions need to be suppressed. I do think that we need to be present in our emotions and deal with them head on. There're millions of choices in how to do this. I think, that having to suppress anything separates the self from the Self.

Happiness makes me AFRAID.

Someone is sure to notice.

We have discussed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder triggers in this group before, and we will likely discuss them again, but here's a thought: The feeling of happiness could have triggers just as well.

For example, when I watch a good show on television, I feel in a better mood. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often, because most of what they put on television presently is unwatchable garbage. I wish they would put more 'feel good' shows on television, because such shows could be a trigger for happiness.

Another thing that can trigger happiness in me is when I go to the cashier in a store to make a purchase and they say, "Hi," back to me when I say, "Hi," to them. It's a small thing, and for many of you, maybe it isn't rare, but for me, living in San Diego where most of the cashiers don't say anything at all to me, it's a big deal. It's sad, but people don't seem to speak to each other as much as they might have in the past. Or maybe it's just so in this part of the country.

Does anyone know of some good triggers for happiness?

I learned early on that happiness is situational. Joy is permanent. My spiritual relationship with a loving God gives me deep-seated joy no matter what is happening around me.

However, since I have been on SSRI medication for the last four years, I have enjoyed a daily feeling of well-being like I have never had in my life. Well being is the feeling I have always wanted and now have. Therapy has helped, too, in being able to live out a stable life without sabotaging. My spiritual life is sweetly consistent in not having so much chaos for me and God to have to deal with.

Wednesday night I went to a meeting of the Socrates Cafe, a group that gets together to discuss ideas, very much like the symposia the ancient Greeks used to have (for the curious, it's on Wikipedia). Until recently, I didn't even know there was such a group. We spent a couple of hours talking about whether we'd rather spend a week in the past or a week in the future. I didn't talk much, but needless to say, I argued for the future.

This is a big step for me, BIG, since I used to be a recluse and have a very hard time being around people, particularly groups. Six months ago, before I joined DS, I couldn't have done it. But now, I went and had a good time, and my hands didn't shake much and I didn't stick my foot in my mouth or say anything bad. So I'm going back when they meet again in a month.

While I was driving home (about 2 hours) I got this strange feeling inside. I had to laugh when I realized I was happy. And nobody came along and tried to take it away from me, either.

Congrats, Booklady2! And thanks for sharing that with all of us. Yours is the second post today that has made my day! The magic of healthy connection is working, so let's keep coming back.