To be happy is to be content with what you have. You don’t expect more. You don’t want more.
So to know if you’re happy or not, you would first have to know how much you want. To that end I’ve identified a few areas that need to be fulfilled to achieve an environment where happiness can thrive. This environment won’t give you happiness, but it will remove your worries so you have the chance to achieve that happiness.
It’s hard to define it all at once so I’ve divided it into sections that can be focused on one at a time.
1. Physical Environment
Inner. Body, health.
Outer. Where you live. Hills? City? Island? Big house? Small house? Mansion?
2. Social Environment
Inner. What kind of person you are. Do you enjoy having people over?
Outer. How many people do you meet everyday? How many friends do you invite over?
3. Emotional Environment
Inner. How you deal with your own emotions. Are you calm? Easily angered?
Outer. When you interact with your friends and family, what’s the level of emotional intimacy? Do you express everything loudly? Or do you tease each other a lot? Do you want to keep the parent-child divide?
4. Intellectual Environment
Inner. Do you challenge yourself intellectually? Always look for the meaning behind things?
Outer. Do situations arise that stimulate your mind?
5. Spiritual Environment
Inner. What level of awareness you’re at. How you feel spiritually.
Outer. What those around you are doing spiritually. The level of encouragement or discouragement from community.
I’ll spend some time writing up about each environment. What do I mean? How does it help us thrive?
And of course, where does money fit into this?
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Wow. I can't imagine breaking down happiness into sections; I think its too abstract a thing. Have you heard of the Hagakure? It says man are contradicting creatures, never content (or something like that; a friend told me this, so this is hearsay really) but I think there's truth in that.
Is it possible to want something more than having it?
Definitely possible. They say that we can only achieve happiness once we stop chasing it. Or something along those lines. It's an old quote I heard a long time ago. Can't remember who it's credited to.
If you go over my post again in the 2nd paragraph or so, you'll see that i'm not dividing happiness into sections. I'm merely trying to define environments that allow happiness to thrive.
Right now I believe that happiness is more of an attitude. A state of mind. If you're a happy guy, it'll show in all parts of your life. Likewise if you're always a sad man. But no matter how happy you usually are, things in your environment can really bring you down. Things that you can control and that you can't.
So I say that we should spend time crafting environments to change the things you can control. With less things to make you sad, you might still not be happy. But at least it won't take away from your happiness.
I'm not sure if that makes sense to you.