Many people in life ask themselves this question, but to answer it immediately or exactly, since it contains a certain degree of reflection and subjectivity, is not easy at all. It is an effect, happiness is very difficult to define since not everyone has a standard idea of what it constitutes.
Let's start by approaching an official definition on this word. The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language defines it as:
HAPPINESS: "From the Latin felicitas, -atis 1.f. State of pleasing spiritual and physical satisfaction 2. f. Person, situation, object or group of them that contribute to make happy 3.f.No inconvenience or Trips. "
Starting from this definition or defining premises, that the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language has been changing or refining over time; It establishes certain parameters that we will analyze and will allow us to have an idea of what can be approached or constitute certain defined scales of Happiness.
In the first place, it is defined as "A GREAT SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL SATISFACTION". Here the pleasant spiritual satisfaction moves away from the physical plane, since the merely spiritual is synonymous with a sensitive person who is far away from material things; However, when the definition indicates a pleasant physical satisfaction, the non-spiritual plane comes into play here, but the material one, that is, the satisfaction of happiness for things, objects and places, among other examples; that is to say, that the idea of happiness moves away from the spiritual and is situated in the physical or material. Therefore I insist that in this definition we find parameters that are part of a happiness, or all happiness, depending on each individual.
Also the Academy of the Spanish Language indicates that happiness is: "Person, situation, object or group of them that contribute to make happy", as well as "Absence of inconveniences or stumbles."
Let us think for a moment, that these premises despite being so short in the amount of words, they contain very differentiated and broad criteria, which make us conceive the idea of happiness, as something extensive and very differentiated, as it can be all or part of that whole, depending on cultural, religious, educational, social, economic factors, and stop counting. Reaching the true definition of what happiness is is very hard to standardize.
To have an idea of the transcendental of the word HAPPINESS, we can say that this is practically studied since ancient times, since the human being is a rational being, since we are always looking tirelessly to be happy and the human being has sought the magic formula or secret to achieve it permanently or most of the time, hence the unintelligible of its objective definition.
Happiness has been studied in science, since when it is indicated that when the greatest activity of the left side of the lobe or prefrontal cortex occurs, we are in a state in which we feel happy; but when it happens that the greatest activity is on the right side of the frontal lobe or right prefrontal cortex, we feel sad.
Equally great thinkers and lawyers have defined what they consider is HAPPINESS, so we see these definitions:
"Happiness is the absence of fear" - Eduard Punsed.
"The secret of happiness is not in the pursuit of more, but in the development of the ability to enjoy less" -Socrates.
"The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends on himself, and not on others, has adopted the best plan to live happily" -Platón.
The great Aristotle, the defender of the idea of the Just Middle, maintained:
"Happiness depends on ourselves."
Other definitions, similar some and differentiated others, indicate us:
"The great blessings of humanity are within us and within our reach, the wise man is content with his fate, whatever he may be, without desiring what he does not have" - Seneca
"If you are depressed, you are living in the past, if you are anxious, you are living in the future, if you are at peace, you are living the Present" - Lao Tzu-
"Happiness, more than a wish, joy or choice, is a duty" -Immanuel Kant-
"I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires instead of satisfying them" -John Stuart Mill.-
"Happiness is life dedicated to occupations for which each man has a unique vocation" -José Ortega y Gasset-
"Of all the forms of precaution, caution in love is perhaps the most deadly of true happiness" - Bertrand Russell.-
"Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you pursue it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and gently settle on your shoulder" - Henry David Thoreau.
As we can see, the idea of happiness has different perceptions and formulas to achieve them, analyzed by humanity and by great thinkers; However, like the definition that at the beginning I transcribed nothing, they reach a unanimous agreement or a single formula to achieve it. Everything remains in the purely subjective plane. There is no magic formula or ingredients that give the feeling of happiness. What makes some happy may not make others happy. Everything depends on each individual.
So transcendent for humanity is to honor and achieve HAPPINESS, which the General Assembly of the United Nations, established and decreed on March 20, as THE DAY OF HAPPINESS.
For this reason, I consider it appropriate to mention the studies of the United Nations, as well as that of a prestigious firm, on the measurement they made to consider the happiest Countries in the world.
The International Gallup International firm carried out a recent survey (2017) where it places the FIJI ISLANDS followed by COLOMBIA and the PHILIPPINES as the populations of the happiest countries in the world, placing Latin America in countries such as MEXICO and ARGENTINA, among the first 10 His study was based on 55 nations evaluated, in the aspects of age, educational level, income and lifestyle of each country. (Information EFE) Now, the United Nations in its last World Report of Happiness, made its measure of degree of happiness and specified as the inhabitants of the happiest countries in the world to the following:
- SWITZERLAND
- ICELAND.
- DENMARK.
- NORWAY.
- CANADA.
- FINLAND.
- NETHERLANDS.
- SWEDEN.
- NEW ZEALAND.
- AUSTRALIA.
Its measurement took into account the levels of economic development, and subjective variables, among them we can mention the gross domestic product, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make decisions in life, generosity, perception of corruption, the positive affect of as to whether people laugh and the negative perception of sadness and anger.
These official references allow me to question whether the measurement method is really the right one and we must be guided by its proximity to reality. For me it is a mechanical and cold measurement, if we take into account that HAPPINESS is something extremely subjective and can not be measured in an abstract and generalized way among a group of the world population that live in a certain country or geographical area. For me happiness is not measurable because it is changing for each individual and we can not say that it can be calculated by economic conditions or certain patterns.
In conclusion, the cornerstone and importance of the human being is the constant search for happiness, which inevitably lies in obtaining a pleasant well-being, which cheers up your soul, nourishes the body and the mind. We all look for it or try to maintain it if we have it, but as it is established indubitably in the previous definitions that to a certain extent are correct; The human being has an individualized perception of his inner happiness, based on his tastes, feelings and beliefs among other things.
Personally, and as an example, for me happiness is something difficult to define or difficult to pigeonhole. It depends on each individual, each taste, each way of thinking. Happiness is of moments and circumstances generated throughout our lives; it is like a good sowing that gives good fruits; it is a moment of unforgettable supreme well-being that fills the spirit. If I start to list my moments of happiness, I would leave many things that do not come to my mind at the moment I write these lines; but I can mention among them the finding of my orange half and marrying her; the pleasant news of having 2 children, seeing them grow with their successes and mistakes; Share in family moments of union and live together the moments in which we face and leave the difficulties, that is, see the light after the dark tunnel of obstacles and celebrate the departure from those mishaps that life puts us as evidence; sing and listen to music; travel and share with friends and family; take a few glasses of wine with my wife and children, and celebrate that we are alive, even if it is not a special day of celebration, in short, live life to the fullest and face avatars in a positive way, without waiting for the future only provide good experiences and life lessons; let me never stop learning something new, and do new things without fear of experiencing them or face them with enthusiasm.
My appreciation is subjective, and we should all seek our happiness and define it in our own way, just enough to focus on analyzing what we like, what we need to be happy and adapt to our life at all times.
Friends of Steemit:
Are you happy, or in what moments of your life did you feel happy?
I would like to know your opinion and comment.