Posted by mist on August 17, 2002, at 22:00:21
In reply to Re: How much happiness can you expect?, posted by Susang on August 17, 2002, at 19:07:18
>Contentment, on the other hand, I see (and felt, years ago) as a more earthbound experience, an every day feeling ok, waking up and not dreading what is coming, even having more pleasure than pain usually (whether on the job or at home...just in general).
I would like this kind of happiness. But I'd also like to get a million dollar check. :)
The "thrill" kind of happiness doesn't last too long though. Once I felt acutely happy because I project I had worked on had been very successful against difficult odds. No one expected the outcome to be what it was because of what we were up against and they attributed the success to me. So I felt very happy for about an hour to an hour and a half, then went back to gloom mode.
> You're right, people with that sunny sunny style never have much tolerance for us who live on the darker side. Before I go feeling smug and superior, I'll consider how afraid they must be of facing their own pain.
One of the meanest people I know towards unhappy people is someone who suffered a serious depression but is now okay and according to her "happy." I'm somewhat suspect of her happiness though since she reacts with an almost Nazi-like disgust to anyone who is in emotional pain or unhappy (including her husband).
>At one time I was much closer to being one of those Happy People (and I wasn't faking it). ... Sadly, I often don't feel that way now. Is that due to depression or just facing the realities of life?
I think maybe depression is deeper, darker, more hopeless, more sinister in a way than unhappiness or dissapointment in life without depression. But it could just be a matter of degree.
poster:mist
thread:28766
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020813/msgs/28859.html