The happiness of a person or community is something I think about every now and then. I've been in many groups, and sometimes I notice that one group seems happier than another, or one jokes more, or one complains less. The ages, interests, and lifestyle of each group also vary.

I wonder about myself as well --if I'm a happy person, or if I could do something to improve my mood. From what I've noticed, everyone has problems, or people they don't like in their lives, or things that stress them out, but what they do or how they think will also affect their moods or how they live their life.


For myself, I am a cynical and pessimistic person, and although I try not to complain, sometimes it slips out. However, I am also the sort of person who gets attached to something I like easily, and quality artistic subjects can quickly turn my mood around. I also am assured in areas of family, friends, and faith, so even on days when I question myself, I have at least one or two of the above to fall back on to keep me steady.

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm often unhappy, I know that in order to change myself and become more of how I'd like to be, I have to be more proactive in my life. I think about what I've done and in what ways I could improve on it. I try to set goals for myself, and look to friends in areas that I'm uncertain in. Sometimes I worry about being too burdensome or troublesome to friends (psychic vampires are the sort of folks I generally avoid --no one likes someone who's always a downer), but there are folks I know who are always there to step up for me and there are those who encourage my growth.

I feel lucky, but as of now, I'm still trying to be a better me, and trying to change my mood for the general better. I want to be the sort of person who has emotional fortitude and can be relied on my friends without coddling them. I hope I can find a way to grow beyond the general mood I'm in now.


How about you guys? Do you think about things like this? Are you happy? Do you complain a lot? In what ways do you think you can improve yourself?

I'm generally an unhappy person overall. It's more of a stable discontentment overall. I think its good to go for constant improvement though. I think it has made me apathetic and cynical.

I've always wondered how genetic it is. My dad is pretty damn happy in a high-stress environment as a software engineer. My mom, on the other hand, is a high up manager and is unhappy whether she is not doing much or doing too much. Then my older sister is only happy if she is in a relationship.

I am the happiest with a few days of solitude and a day or two with friends. In my alone time, I do homework and continue making my comic and draw pictures of robots and whatnot.

I think its an interesting thing of how people tend to organize themselves. My best friend is the happiest person I know and she picked me to basically be her number 3 (after her boyfriend) despite my chronic detachment. But shes a college dropout with 4 cats. Maybe thats her secret.

Thanks for sharing, guys.

Moi wrote:

I've gotten more optimistic over the years, but I've also started trusting people less.
I also have a lot of anger built up from not defending myself against assholes.
I also have been thinking that nothing matters anymore. Especially with death being the final stop. So why bother doing anything?

I go by nothing lasts forever. Not good times and not bad times. When good times end, bad times come, but good times will come again. So just hang on. All I can do is hang on and hope for the best.

So I'd consider myself a 5/10 or 6/10.
I know there's goodness, but I also know there's badness.
And they will always be there. For everyone.

@Moi

Do you really believe that nothing matters --or is it more on your own feelings that don't matter?

Maybe you believe in the latter, but I don't think you'd believe in the former. Otherwise, why would you try to be kind to others, or bother having any sense of justice or morality at all? Yet we still get angry when others act selfishly or hurt those we care about. We still try to be good to people who love us, even to the point of inconveniencing ourselves, and we hope that we have friends who'd in turn treat us kindly as well.

I also kinda want to add that reading up on greek stoicism helped a lot to make myself somewhat happier.

A lot of people use schools of philosophy as their own kind of religion in a sense, (existentialism and nihilism seems to be popular) but I really like stoicism for living for nature and having a clear judgment free of bias. Its similar to Buddhism in a sense too.

I took to it after having constant burning anxiety plague my life for about a year when religion (while its own philosophy) just was too much and too many rules.

I am generally a happy person. I look towards the goodness in people, things, animals and nature. This gives me an all around good feeling and keeps the spirit up. Do not dwell on the negativity of others or let it drag you down.

Hmm, I should give that a serious try.

I'm not happy all the time, but as a general mood, I think that I'm quite happy or at least content with how my life is. Sure, there will be things that grind my gears or something, but usually those are very minor concerns and do not last the whole day. I voted an 8, but honestly when I compare myself to other people, it does seem like I'm faring a lot better than they are. I don't know if it's luck, but it definitely has something to do with my upbringing, as my family is a good one.

I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, Chronic Anxiety, Insomnia, and Borderline Personality Disorder, so I had to put an 8. I am a very optimistic, perky, cheerful, and happy person in general. Due to those disorders I do risk dropping very quickly into depression if I do not care for myself carefully. I have to eat healthy, exercise, sleep well, surround myself with healthy people, and avoid unnecessary stress. But, I am very often a 10 on the happy scale. XD I remind myself that my life now is beyond what most people could ever hope for, and it's more than I ever could have imagined it being as a child.