I believe true happiness is a fleeting state not meant to last long. But I have felt perfectly balanced before and I remember that time fondly. I knew I could face anything that came my way and I faced each and every day as a positive new beginning. That's my goal...is to find that place again.

Maggie- don't even feel like you are not beautiful. I have always struggled with my weight and appearance but I have learned these past few years that what matters is what you see when you look in the mirror and that doesn't mean the outside, but the inside. I used to hate looking at myself, I would just see an ugly face. Now when I look in the mirror I try to see the beauty inside of me. If I look at what's on the inside, the kind, caring person, then I see a smile come to my face. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you aren't beautiful. No one can make you feel bad about yourself unless you let them. I'm sure you are very pretty and maybe you just can't see it yet. I struggle with that too. As for what happiness is for me- I see true happiness when I look into my boyfriends eyes. His smile lights up a room and I can see the alive he has for me in his face. He is what saved me and so I would have to say that my happiness is him and his unconditional love for me. I know that with him I will be able to break free from all of this and be happy.

For me to stop caring what others think about me and the wrongs they commit.

I was a pretty genuinely happy person up until a few years ago. Fucked up, but pretty happy. So the difference, for me, would be to shift the balance in my brain so that the fears, thoughts and negative shit are less than the good. So I go out and worry about it, but I actually go out. If that makes sense. Living with the crap but not being controlled completely by it.

I think I mentioned this once in regards to goal-building. This is a good question to ask yourself, because the answers are the concrete goals you may want to pursue. For example, instead of saying "My goal is to be happy," you might say, "What would it mean for me to be happy?" Maybe it would be losing weight, finding something you love to do with your time, and feeling like you're giving back to the world. Then your goals could be: "Lost [specifically] 10lbs, go to 5 evening classes on underwater basket-weaving, and volunteer at the local daycare." These are much easier to accomplish because you know what you need to do to accomplish them, rather than the ambiguous and free-floating concept, not reality, of "being happy."

That said, happiness for me would be peace. Pretty ambiguous, huh? :P

Happiness for me would mean being able to find contentment within myself long term. Being able to find self-sustained positive emotions.

I find more and more that I never really experience self-sustaining positive emotions. There is always an outside force, be it an individual person or comment that makes me temporarily happy. The positive energy never comes from within, it always comes from external factors.

Happiness would be finding the joy within myself, and maintaining it long-term.