What is happiness? People have agonized over this question for centuries, but only recently has science begun to weigh in on the debate. When you make someone happy you really feel like you have done something good. So making other people happy makes you happier. How to make someone happy?
Completely unanswerable but fascinating question. I have been doing some research on symbolic representations of happiness and recently read 'In Pursuit of Happiness: Empirical Answers to Philosophical Questions' by Pelin Kesebir and Ed Diener (2008). The paper is a fascinating insight combining the fields of philosophy and psychological research, if you are interested in these sorts of questions.
Dear Nadar,
Happiness means different things to different people. Depending on the people involved, the way to make someone happy also varies from one person to the next.
The Philosophy and Psychology of Character and Happiness by Nancy E. Snow & Franco V. Trivigno may interest you.
https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ7AAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA298&lpg=PA298&dq=In+Pursuit+of+Happiness:+Empirical+Answers+to+Philosophical+Questions%27+by+Pelin+Kesebir+and+Ed+Diener+(2008).&source=bl&ots=rgzYU4obyy&sig=OPSHcNYr4yWctCOnPT3cEkKiYl0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0k8Tqw6HNAhUOw2MKHe9eB80Q6AEIRTAF#v=onepage&q=In%20Pursuit%20of%20Happiness%3A%20Empirical%20Answers%20to%20Philosophical%20Questions'%20by%20Pelin%20Kesebir%20and%20Ed%20Diener%20(2008).&f=false
All people want to be healthy, to be loved, to have shelter and food ... However happiness is different for each individual. Therefore we can make different people happy in different ways. If we want to make someone happy, we have to know him/her very well. Something more, we have to be on the same “wavelength”…
For some people happiness means money, power, fame ... I personally avoid such people. I certainly can not make them happy, but they can make me unhappy.
For other people happiness means to look for harmony and love, to have the feeling that they give something to the others, that they do something to make the world better. For some people happiness is to make the other people happy…
To be happy such a person needs understanding, support and love. If we have such persons around us we have to keep them. Because they are treasure and blessing.
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