Position:Home>Philosophy> Is happiness/unhappiness a choice?
Question: Is happiness/unhappiness a choice!?
I believe that it is!. Terrible things have happened to me and for a long time I was miserable because I thought if I was happy that would mean that what happened to me was excusable and let others off the hook!. That was until I realized that I was not going to give them another day of my life and I turned it around!.
I know of others who have been through trials and tragedies, but they refuse to be bogged down in bitterness!.
While some (my husbands aun't in particular) has decided to lead a lonely life filled with bitterness and anger because, as she said, "my life sucks because of so and so!." She feels if she lives a miserable life than these "others" will have to live with the fact that she is living a miserable life!. Almost like a "so there!." But at the end of the day, they are just fine and she is the one with the wasted life!.
IMO, we sometimes may not have control over the things that happen to us, but we have 100% control over our reaction to it!.
I am curious to hear other's thoughts on this!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I agree with you completely!. How I feel about something is determined by how I view it, the perspective I choose to take!. My choices on perspective are infinite, I can see good or bad or anything in between-
it's all in how I look at it!. That knowledge gives me power to decide how I choose to view ant event!.And consequently how I feel!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I believe that it is a choice!. When bad things happen, I choose to be sad when I have time to be sad, and when I don't have other things to worry about!. But all other times I decide to let the sadness go for a while and be happy, or i try to stay busy!. Sadness helps you grow, so being sad is good for you sometimes!. But holding a grudge is never good for you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Happiness comes from within!. I believe that we can let ourselves get into a state of unhappiness by the things we do and it is up to us to move forward and to find the happiness that dwells inside us!. Think positive thoughts, hang out with people who have a positive outlook on life!. And if you are truly unhappy and can't shake it, see a psychologist!. That's why they're there!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I'm with you on this!. We have to forgive people for ourselves, not for them!. We can be burned and not turn bitter, just better!. I have seen what unforgiveness does to a person physically not just emotionally!. It eats them up from the inside out and it is manifested in their health!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
To some extent, yes!. As the old song goes, "You can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy, if you've a mind too!."Www@QuestionHome@Com
Yes it is a choice and wow you practically took the words out of my mind that I wrote in my diary about a year ago!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
Happiness is a by-product!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Not always!. Some people suffer from mental or physical illnesses that leaves them sad!. They cannot avoid it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
No happiness is not your choice!.
It is all up to the gerbil king!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
No, it's not a choice!. Happiness is a feeling that just comes to us!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
in part you are right Www@QuestionHome@Com
In a sense, yes, it is a choice!. It's not a choice about whether or not to be happy, though - most of us wouldn't even have to think about such a choice!. Our choice is in what we focus on - if we spend our time focused on the bad things either in the world in general or in our own personal lives, of course we're going to be miserable!. We're not choosing to be miserable, but we are choosing to focus on those things which have hurt us or those we love!. Sometimes when you've been through such pain and hardship, it's virtually impossible to just "let it go" - but that's the choice we have to make if we are ever to find happiness!. Even then, one can't always choose to "let it go" - we really can't let go of the past until we're ready!. Not a single, solitary second before!. But once we're ready to let it go, and we choose to do so, then we can find our happiness!.
For many of us just learning to let go for the first time, it's more difficult because we've spent so long being miserable, we really have no honest idea just what -makes- us happy!. When you can only see what makes you miserable for so many years, what makes you happy can be very much out of focus and difficult to recognize even when you do see it!.
The choice we are faced with is not one of whether or not we wish to be happy, it's whether or not we are both willing and able to let go of the misery with which our souls have for so long been chained!.
Not nearly so easy as it should be, but well worth striving for!. :-)Www@QuestionHome@Com
9!. Is pleasure--the satisfaction of happiness--desirable!? Then must we live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities!.
Those God-knowing men and women who have been born of the Spirit experience no more conflict with their mortal natures than do the inhabitants of the most normal of worlds, planets which have never been tainted with sin nor touched by rebellion!. Faith sons work on intellectual levels and live on spiritual planes far above the conflicts produced by unrestrained or unnatural physical desires!. The normal urges of animal beings and the natural appetites and impulses of the physical nature are not in conflict with even the highest spiritual attainment except in the minds of ignorant, mistaught, or unfortunately overconscientious persons!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Perhaps in your aunts life she believed in a of love that doesn't exist and she sits waiting for the day her prince will arrive and save her from her virtuous thought!.
In my case, I continuously find myself in overwhelming circumstances and I will continue to overcome them!. But sometimes it's difficult!. None the less, I can't help but feel, I was meant to question and endure things that most could never endure!. I can't see any other reason!. I guess it's true, I can't sing the blues unless I lived it!. In the end, I always do the right thing!. It's just in my nature and I can't help it!. Knowing this gives me peace!. Www@QuestionHome@Com