Is Happiness & Fulfillment Universal?

[PetarKa]

I'm confused about this. As human beings, are the things that will make us happy / fulfilled / passionate / etc. the same for everyone? Or is it a highly personal thing?

Leo talks about happiness all over the place and I see mixed ideas about this?

What do you think?

[Joseph Maynor]

I think there are some universal hacks.  I am working on happiness now in my life and getting a lot of results.  I find these tips from Leo in his video "How to Feel Happy" to be really useful and I am working on getting them wired in my life:

1. Gratitude; 2. Optimism; 3. Stop Overthinking; 4. Eliminate Addictions; 5. Build Deep Relationships; 6. Savor Life's Joys; 7. Meditation; 8. Get Into Flow; 9. Goals and Life Purpose.

And then the other one I want to list is getting your triggers handled so you get your negative emotions and neuroses handled.  I have a huge imbalance between negative emotions and positive emotions right now.  I'm working on reversing that ratio, while at the same time trying to remove triggers as well.  Chase the positive feelings and de-program the negative feelings from your life.  But at the same time, paradoxically, don't need the positive feelings.  Learn to be happy just inhabiting emptiness, inhabiting being.

Another source of happiness I've found is the realization that you are causing positive growth to your life.  That you are creating positive change for the better to your life.

Edited June 13, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[SOUL]

Are you asking if happiness and fulfillment are universal pursuits or are you asking if these same things universally make humans happy and fulfilled? The answer to both is not easily stated because there are layers of stimuli and response conditioning at work in each of us but are expressed in so many divergent ways that it can be difficult to understand how they are related.

We 'like' happiness and fulfillment because they feel good to us, whatever it is that brings this good feeling may be different to each of us but it's the good feeling that is the only thing that could be assumed to be a universal trait because of the biological stimulus response in us. Although, I wonder if there are there people who don't seek out this good feeling? Are there people who don't get a good feeling from happiness and fulfillment? Are there people who get some manner of satisfaction out something other than a good feeling and/or happiness and fulfillment?

It's often said that hinging happiness and fulfillment on external circumstances is problematic and it's better to use the internal to do it. Although I find that even using internal circumstances to leverage happiness and fulfillment can be just as problematic since we aren't always "feeling it" naturally so to speak. If we happen to be feeling disharmonious for whatever reasons that may be how can we change it to have this other happy fulfilled feeling instead?

This is the reason I have inner peace, to be at peace with whatever emotional, mental and physical state I happen to be in at the moment. Being at peace with whatever I am experiencing allows me to not be influenced by any of the circumstances but also allows me to influence how I perceive them. This peaceful perception resides in my most inner being providing a well being even when the good feelings appear absent.

[FindingPeace]

On 27/05/2017 at 8:24 PM, PetarKa said:

Leo talks about happiness all over the place and I see mixed ideas about this?

I think the use of the word 'happiness' is a misdirection. It means different things to different people. And most of the time people complete miss the point of what is being implied by the word anyway.

I would rather replace the word with "peace of mind" and suddenly the contexts within which it is used, suddenly take on a whole different meaning.

What is 'peace of mind'? Neither negative or positive moods. No stress or anxiety. Just contentment. Peace. That, I think, is the truth definition of 'happiness' and 'fulfilment'.