Saturday, June 9, 2007

Just some thoughts

Help me out.  I'm in one of those moods that make me question everything.  I don't think I'm exactly depressed, just more bored and wondering (about happiness) is all.  So, please take a moment and share your thoughts with me.

What is happiness to you?  How do you know when you're happy?  How do you handle the open spaces inbetween the happy moments, like when you stop being happy until you start being happy again?  What do you think is "normal"/"abnormal" about it?  Is being happy important?  What (if anything) is more important than happiness?  Are there different types of happiness?  How do you measure it?

Okay, that should do it.  So, whaddya thinking?

****Update as of 6/10/2007

Well, no one has responded to my questions, so I thought I'd try to reword a couple of them, or explain a little bit about why I'm asking them.

I think I am naturally predisposed to be negative.  I fight it but I think the negative emotion/thought is the recessive/dominant gene, or trait in my personality.  I think I come by this naturally--my mother and grandmother are/were both negative people.  I think my father's side of the family is/was less so, but some negative qualities exist and when they combined with the plethora of maternal negativity, it resulted in me.

Both of my kids also have it.  We are on a little trip right now, enjoying a few days away from work and getting to spend time with each other (including new little Brianna).  We got here yesterday and Shane and I were able to have a conversation about some things and it got me thinking, resulting in this blog.

As soon as we arrived, everyone went to sleep, except me.  I was excited to be here so I went and walked around.  Then I got mad.  I got mad because everyone else wasn't as excited as I was and that they all preferred to sleep.  Now, I know that is immature and unreasonable, and somewhat spoiled, but nonetheless, that's how I felt at the time.  Then I started questioning myself, and I wondered why I was not focusing on being there with my loved ones and enjoying that, as opposed to being negative and unhappy with them for not feeling the same way I did.  Which then led me to thinking about the idea of Happiness.

I guess I want to know at what degree does happiness become a determining factor in decision making, and likewise, at what point does the lack of happiness drive a person to act.  And, furthermore, should happiness even be a factor when deciding whether or not to act--for example, when it is juxtaposed to Duty.  If something is someone's duty, does/should happiness play a role in the decision-making process?

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