HAPPINESS
Definition
Noun
1. The quality or state of being happy.
2. Good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.
Synonyms:
1, 2. pleasure, joy, exhilaration, bliss, contentedness, delight, enjoyment, satisfaction. Happiness, bliss, contentment, felicity
imply an active or passive state of pleasure or pleasurable satisfaction. Happiness results from the
possession or attainment of what one considers good: the happiness of visiting one's family.
Bliss is unalloyed happiness or supreme delight: the bliss of perfect
companionship. Contentment is a peaceful kind of happiness in which one rests without desires,
even though every wish may not have been gratified: contentment in one's surroundings. Felicity is a formal word for happiness of an especially fortunate or intense kind: to
wish a young couple felicity in life.
Happy
Adjective
- Characterized by good luck; fortunate.
- Enjoying,
showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy.
- Being especially well-adapted; felicitous:
a happy turn of phrase.
- Cheerful; willing: happy to help.
-
- Characterized
by a spontaneous or obsessive inclination to use something. Often used in combination: trigger-happy.
- Enthusiastic
about or involved with to a disproportionate degree. Often used in combination: money-happy; clothes-happy.
Happiness is a state of mind or feeling such as contentment,
satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.[1] A variety of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches have been taken to defining happiness and identifying its sources.
Philosophers and religious thinkers have often defined happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this older
sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. In everyday speech today, however, terms such as well-being or quality of life are usually used to signify the classical meaning, and happiness usually refers[citation needed] to the felt experience or experiences that philosophers historically called pleasure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness
Happiness is something everyone wants
to have. You may be successful and have a lot of money, but without happiness it will be meaningless.
That’s why I’m excited with this month’s theme of Happiness. We will discuss this topic all month long and I’m sure we will learn a
lot. But, before we move further, it’s a good idea to get deeper understanding of the word happiness itself.
Understanding what happiness is will give us good ground upon which to build our discussions.
Let me start with an official definition. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, here is the definition of happiness:
- a state of well-being
and contentment
- a pleasurable or satisfying experience
This definition is a good starting point and we can dig deeper from it. The best way
to do that is to consult some of the greatest minds in history. So I researched what these people say about happiness and
found 10 essential definitions. Each of them has deep meaning. Take your time to absorb it.
Here they are:
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi
Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.
Ayn Rand
Happiness is something that you are and it comes from the way you think.
Wayne Dyer
Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or
reservation.
William H. Sheldon
Happiness is not a reward - it is a consequence.
Robert Ingersoll
Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing.
George Sheehan
Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
Aristotle
Happiness is not something you experience, it’s something you remember.
Oscar Levant
Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
Margaret Lee Runbeck
Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.
Denis Waitley
