How can you say that you are genuinely happy?
Since happiness is the opposite of sadness, people tend to define happiness as the mere absence of sadness or sorrow in order to grasp literally the entire range of happiness. Happiness flourishes at various ages for different people. The definitions, perspectives, and levels of happiness are diverse. People all over the world have a similar and different concept of happiness and can recognize it from others. Most people defined happiness as most likely to perfection. The feeling of fulfillment and the satisfaction of life that people can have is the one that can explicate happiness. It also involves pleasures, contentment, and positive emotions. Moreover, the love and appreciation from other people, especially by family and loved ones, can also make an individual feel happy. People are born innocent and have happiness within them.
As you can see, the concept of happiness varies throughout time.
Happiness is very shallow, naïve, and uncomplicated in the childhood period. In the toddler stage, whenever someone tickles them and makes a funny face for them, they laugh at it, and they can already feel happy, up until becoming a kid. When the parents gave their kid a piece of candy or chocolate, their child would be grateful and happy. Their excitement and happiness will overflow because of it. It was pure and simple happiness. Furthermore, during this era, people could do anything they pleased while being spoiled by their parents. Every mistake they made came with a second chance, no trust issues, and no preparation for the next day. In that point, it's likely that is the happiness individuals are looking for. To be able to do anything they wanted, regardless of what others thought, judged, or without even considering the repercussions.
In adolescence, many people have few things in mind when they think of happiness. Comfortable life and lots of money, popularity, leisure to enjoy, respect from society, and someone's affection but none of the things stated indicates real happiness. Those things can offer momentary personal satisfaction but can never bring genuine gratification to entire life. By accomplishing these things, people can never find fulfillment in life. The more stuff someone gets, the more desire they have to get. This constant pursuit of life leads to a continuous deficit of satisfaction. Simple happiness might turn into a complicated one. By accomplishing these things, people can never find fulfillment in life. The happiness people experience in the material world is not genuine happiness. The more stuff someone gets, the more desire they have to get. This constant pursuit of life leads to a continuous deficit of satisfaction. The individual search for their happiness on material things, attention, and love. Their happiness largely depends on material things and having the freedom to choose without too many limitations. Even if the parents still have to monitor them about what they are doing to their life. It is a never-ending chase of happiness. That is the reality that people find it in themselves. The basic and shallow happiness can satisfy others temporarily because they will always chase new happiness that can fit in to them.
Most people tend to say that the teenager stage is difficult time to find contentment. The pressure of school and exams, responsibilities and socialize life, especially parents pressuring their children. As they achieve contentment and the freedom they desired, they grow unsatisfied with their situation and continue to seek something else. They desire more and wanted something even better because it is not enough for them. The things that usually make them happy are not enough because they wanted more and more. It seems to be unsatisfying and they desired something more and something else to again feel the pleasure of happiness. The teenager is a tough phase to encounter. People do not always have someone to whom they may turn. It's an exhilarating ride. They will meet new people, have new goals and desires, and their lives will be disrupted by unpredictable emotions. What important is how they deal with it. Recognizing reality and maintaining a positive attitude may go a long way. Refusing to acknowledge present reality, particularly if it is undesirable, can never make it go away. They have to deal with the terrible in order to get to the good. Climbing the ladder is preferable to getting on a plane to the finish line; after all, life lessons are never wasted, so keep climbing and keep learning along with the journey of life.
When people reach the stage of adulthood, they become more mature and self-sufficient. Their mindset will change and usually focused on their priority and responsibilities. They have the capacity and willingness to analyze themselves, to admit errors, to improve themselves, or to accept corrections from others. The ability and tendency to put off the pleasure of one's immediate desires in favor of other values such as the wellbeing of others, self-discipline for their own sake, long-term costs, healthy desire management in a way that doesn't lead them to compulsive behavior. Moreover, adulting entails learning that pleasure is not the same as and does not always lead to real happiness and that pleasure is a relative good. Genuine happiness is more about principles, healthy loving relationships, and living as someone who can trust themselves. People say that happiness comes from within, it is not about attaining, but about the journey, people take while achieving anything. It does not take much to be contented. It is just a matter of changing our mindset, being thankful, kind, helpful, content, and loving everything you do.
Personally, genuine happiness is finding ultimate fulfillment in life and being emotionally stable, and it differs for each individual. The beauty of being human is that not everyone wants the same things out of life. People must immerse themselves in life and the world as much as possible. The fact is that only you have power over your life, and it is the only life you have control over. So, instead of worrying about what others may say, choose something you enjoy and do it. Genuine happiness comes from within, as does contentment.
-ns