What would it take for you to be truly happy?

Well, in my personal opinion, there are many reasons for someone to be happy in life. In my case I can say that I am happy because I do have my loving family with me. They are my priority in life. Second, I am happy because at last, I manage to successfully finished my studies and got a degree, actually I just passed my board exam three weeks ago and furtunately I will just be working for my license this thursday. And hopefully next year i'll be having my job and earn money to help my parents. Money is just a material reason for a person to be happy. :-)

I am happy that my family is all alive and well..that we have food to eat, a house to live in, clothes...Happiness depends on how you see life...Money is not the answer to happiness but it can take part in it. Since money can give you anything you want. I will be truly happy if we are stable. We are not poor but we are not rich either. I have a good paying job but my salary wont fit our needs. I am happy when others are happy as well..I am happy when I see a face of a child or a baby..For now my life is burdened with so many problems yet I don't feel sad. I try not to think much of it. When I am sad I look for ways for me to be happy. Even at my crying moments I learned to shove it away.

I would ask What would you give away to be truly happy.... i mean what exactly does it mean "happiness"... if we put it into a mathematical equation.... it means the lesser we are worried about something the more we are happy... in other words the less we care about something going wrong the more we be happy... Instead of drawing onto too many things and expecting them to be perfect and all...what one can do is stay away from majority of things in life or atleast try to expect less or nothing from people connected or related to us...this helps us to stay free of all worries and probably will make us happy thanks Sid

I'm really happy now. I have someone that truly cares for me and of course I feel the same for him. I also have my friends and family around me.

god!

In my opinion,the true happiness is doing the work you like and living the life you enjoy!

i already have great family n friends, but our finances r what is making me very unhappy! i think that being financially stable would make me happy, i'm willing to work for it too, but with this bad economy no one is hiring and i can't seem to find a job.

Hi! I am sorry for whatever difficulties you are facing now . here are my thoughts on the subject-as far as I am concerned having my members of my family hale and hearty and seeing them happy would make me happy.If I do not have anypainful, severe, health problems then I would be happy.As such I am happy and my answer to your question would be the following When a person has all the faculties right and there is no God given misfortune by way of illness to self or close members of the family then setting your expectations within your limitations , engaging yourself in some activity that gives you joy and would not require another person's resources or participation, having basic needs like food , clothing and shelter provided for, finding joy in the simplest beauties of nature around you , deriving pleasure out of small things would all make you happy.Most of it comes from within and depends on your mental make up[barring unforseen , unpredictable misfortunes cast upon you from above-say an accident or illness, abject poverty that deprives you of basic needs and inability to move your limbs etc[caused by illness],,, or something over which we do not have control.

[i]Hello shamsta19, It makes me happy if I have a secure job and some money in the banks. With the current world wide economic crisis my job is not secure and my livelihood is in peril. I don't know what will happen next year and tried to be optimistic. If I can reach that certain stability, I think I will be happy. Money still hold a part of happiness. Maybe if you are single and without family, happiness will be much more different because even if you don't have money I think you can still be happy. Regards.[/i]

Hi friend,According to me there is nothing a person can be satisfied or happy with.Because our wishes are endless.When we think that it is money which would make us happy ,only after attaining that money we would be happy for sometime .Later in the long run again we would be thinking about something else which would make us happy.So it is endless if you think in that way.True happiness lies within us and not in money or something else.We only have to realise the happiness within us.If we want we can find true happiness in everything we do and from everything that happens to us.Attaining true happiness depends on our own mentality. thanks for sharing.happy mylotting.

I must admit that i am not 100% happy.. i have dilemmas in life that i can't solve by myself.. if i could just turn back time, i'd like to change some things.. one thing that can make me happy would be complete healing/good health.. my health is restraining me to do things that i used to do before..i'd like to work and help my family, travel abroad, etc..

Many people believe they can solve all their problems by just having money. They however fail to realize that money itself has its attendant problems. Money cannot solve all problems. Most people never think properly. All through their lives they are like race-track greyhounds running after a rabbit decoy. When the chase ends, all excitement disappears. This is very much like the nature of sensual happiness in the wonderland of materialism. As soon as the desired object is attained, the happiness ends and new desires arise. Getting the object appears not quite as satisfying as the chase itself. Or when we lose something, remember the following advice:- " Say not that this is yours and that is mine, Just say, this came to you and that to me, So we may not regret the fading shine, Of all the glorious things which ceased to be" Wealth is not something for you to accumilate for craving's sake. It is intended for your welfare as well as of others. Try to make the world around you abetter place to live in. Use your wealth wisely to reduce the sufferings of the poor, the sick and the aged. Fulfill your duties to your people, your country and your religion. When the time comes for you to leave, imagine what peace and bliss they could bring as you recall the past good and selfless deeds you have done. To seek wealth through gambling is like expecting a passing cloud to shelter us from the sun. On the other hand, to aspire for prosperity through diligent work is as secure as building a permanent shelter against sun and rain. " Your prosperity will remain when you die. Your friends and relatives will follow you up to your grave. But only good or bad actions you have done during your life- time will follow you beyond the grave." Fulfilling dreams of riches may sound magical, but fear and worry always lie in wait for such magic to wear off. A rich lifestyle brings its share of mental disturbance. With an abundance of ill-used wealth, simple things in life like friendship, trust and confidence which are taken for granted in humbler circumstances become impossible to attain. When a lifestyle begins to create insecurity, it requires wisdom to put oneself on the right track again. Riches have their trade-offs; the happiness of owning them is diminished by as much fear and worry about losing them. For our personel happiness we should aquire wealth righteously. Happiness cannot be long-lived and meaningful if wealth leaves sorrow and suffering in its wake. Wealth flouted arouses envy; but wealth well-conducted earns respect. Ultimately, it is bliss to know that " happiness is perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself." The world may not be what you want it to be but you can tune your heart to find happiness within it. It is only when you have suffered for doing good that you can rise above others in understanding and personal happiness.

For me, happiness is the contentment one can have while he is living. Based on your post, indeed, money can make you happy. But money cannot make you happy for a long time.Having your family and friends can make you happy also as well as having a healthy body.All of them, definitely, can cause happiness. On my own opinion, I can say that true happiness can be found if you are with God. It can be found if in yourself, you finally found out what is the purpose of your existence. I believe that we are here on earth because of God. It is our purpose to serve and love Him.If God is within your heart, you will feel peace and contentment within you. You will follow Him and do with all your heart what He is asking of you.You will be filled with love for Him and for everyone around you.And with that, you will ask no more in life and will feel satisfaction on living.

Well, for me I don't seek happiness anymore because I have reach inside of me, a place that can not be known a place where the deepest desires are. I would love to be rich and be able to travel the world and see all its wonderful beauty. But when people are hurting and starving and living worst then some animal and know if I were to have my greatest desire I could not enjoy it if other are suffering. For me I can't be happy if there someone sad

Yes I am. I used to work full time and earning good. the job was fine but the people and office politics was draining me. When I quit we had over $ 18,000 in the bank and the only debts we had was car and mortgage. Then I started my own small business, I have it for over 2 years now. I always have to struggle to make ends meet. What we have in the bank is only enough to pay monthly bills and loans payment. I grab any chance for p/t work to earn something for holidays. I will not trade my small business for some kind of full time job anymore. there is no office politics in my small business. I know what I do and nobody else can undermine it or ruin it behind my back. Relationship wise I am blessed with a loving and responsible husband. In my darkest time he is my rock. There is no amount of money in this world can replace my small business and my husband. Nothing and nobody else can make me happier. I was born poor and came from a poor country, so those who didn't go through what I went through may not understand how I can be happy with less money. Do you think rich people don't work or worry? They do. they are not immune to rising prices, they have to maintain image and 'friends at the top' - all of this means they have to keep earning money. Relationship wise it's also unsure if they are loved or their money is loved. I wouldn't mind being rich, but if it will cost me the two things in my life that make me complete, then it's not worth it. It won't make me complete anyway.

I think it is difficult to figure that one out! I will say that it would take enough money not to have to worry about it and at this point in my life I would like to have a life partner to share my life with . I have a family........children and grandchildren who make me happy and who I love being with and spending time with, but I would like to have someone to share time with on my own and I would like each of my children and grandchildren to have fulfilling lives in which ever way it would be the best for them.

Great question...I don't believe anyone can answer this with complete accuracy because happiness is a moving target. What makes us happy today may not fulfill us tomorrow. As we mature and grow wiser we may find that we need different things in our lives, different models of contentment. So what does it take to make me happy, long term? 1. Wisdom to know when I am happy and fulfilled 2. The ability to make "good" choices for myself 3. Inner peace and the ability to accept lifes little bumps in the road 4. That those I love are settled and well loved and love themselves 5. More time to do things that are meaningful to me, like writing and volunteering 6. Enough money to achieve #5, don't need to be rich just enough 7. Debt freedom, yes this is a big one for me been on the other side and it sucked 8. The ability to travel and explore the world, happiness is wanderlust 9. Drama free life, friends and family who keep the drama at a minimum 10. To teach, this is a big one for me. Long term goal and one that I value 11. To mentor and grow the next generation - see #10 12. To be surrounded by those I love and who love me long into my twightlight years I have some smaller shorter term happiness goals, some on the list above I am close to achieving even. #7 I am three months from achieving 70% of and 3 years from achieving 100% of if I stay on plan. I would really be estatic, over the moon on this one. When I say debt free I mean mortgage, staggering student loans, everything. #10 & #11 I do some of now but I want to return to school (without loans) for my Ph.D and then retire from what I do now and teach at a university level. Then when we are ready to really retire we will return to the Bahamas. The real dream is to open a Magnet School that will partially fund itself and partially provide scholarship focused on technology and business skills, something sadly lacking in that part of the world. The goal will be to provide education and trade skills to Bahamian natives to start getting them in the market rather than having all the "good" non-service jobs going to expats. My real short term goal? Wow, what would make me really happy right now. Declutter my house! Finish painting some rooms. Get my house really clean, it doesn't seem like it ever is by the way because of my travel schedule. So that is my happiness list.

Two weeks ago I was truly unhappy. I was at a point in my life where I didn't know which way to turn. I was unhappy in my marriage. I desperately wanted to leave. My kids helped me make the decision. I am almost at happiness. I have to get my kids at the point where they know I truly did the right thing. And I did it for our happiness. I wish you luck in you quest.

I used to wait for something to come along and make me happy. I expected it to be some type of wealth or success at work, but interestingly enough it was the birth of my son. I was working on getting my masters degree and I was teaching school, and I had other plans for my life. When I got pregnant, I was heartbroken, but funny thing... my son turned out to be my winning lottery ticket. He has brought me more joy and peace than I could have ever hoped for. He gives my life meaning. I have never been so happy! I even love my husband more, after all he helped make my little angel.

We (my hubby and me) would be very happy if we had our own house. We love small houses, with 2-3 rooms and big gardens. Also, we're crazy about Beagles, we'd love to have a beagle and a Scottish Fold cat. If we had all these, we'd be very happy.