Being bi-polar and extra depressive on top, for me, it isn't so much being happy as it is not being anxious and depressed. My meds help tremendously keeping me leveled. But sometimes I get down and can't even seem to get out of bed. A few nights back, I was just watching TV, can't remember what, nothing emotional though, and suddenly I was having wracking sobbing out of nowhere. Thankfully it didn't last long. But I have no idea at all what triggered that.

For me it's being content. I highly recommend the documentary "Happy" if you've never seen it. It looks at people from all walks of life and what makes them happy. The guy on Wall Street chasing his next million that lives in a mansion may not be quite as happy as a poor man living on the bayou in Louisiana that has pretty much everything that he needs in life. So what do I really want? I'd be happy with one of those cob homes, a loving wife, a couple kids that adore me and a job that I enjoy doing.

As someone who has had bouts of depression my entire life I know happiness as something to be attained, not something that is. I know most people don't look at it that way. I can't, define it but I know it when I see it. Which how a politition once defined porn. So happiness must be porn. ????

That was deep. My younger brother suffered from anxiety and depression, when he was in his late teens. It got much worst and my parents didn't know what to do about it. As a parent all we want is for our children to be happy so when they are not happy, we struggle. Now when I look back at what my parents had to deal with I can't image the pain they must have felt. One suggestion might be to seek professional help sooner than later. Keeping in mind this doesn't necessarily mean there is a serious problem. It may just be a stage that some kids go through.

For me happiness is relative. What brings one man joy man bring sorrow to another. How can we truly define happiness?

Knowing that people truly care about you and your wellbeing is one way to be happy.

Another is doing what you enjoy.

Happiness to me is dealing with people all day, coming home from work, being by myself and shutting off the world. But that’s just me..

My struggle with trying to be happy has caused me a lot of things. I hope a therapist can help her.

For quite a number of years now I have not wished people "happiness" or "be happy" but "fulfilment" or "be fulfilled".

To date I have not found anyone who can argue against it as a prime directive for all life. Perhaps you will?

Being Here right Now is happiness to me, low expectations (for some people) I meant to say. I learned to be happy, I taught myself how to be happy and appreciated for being here. When I had a car accident in Germany. Right before a back pay owed to me by the military was just given to me. Yet there were reasons me for not being happy. My marriage has ended and we were on a legal separation. My german girlfriend was just diagnosed with cancer and I was missing my kids and knowing we will never be a family again. I was drunk that night and I collided head on with a tanker full of gas. My boss asked me what happened? I just told him I just wanted to be happy and this is the result, it is all my fault. I know that to be happy you had to be taken apart and put back together. Your daughter need to learn again what was joy to her as a child and that is not just about material things, she need to love herself selfishly if she had to and find peace around her. Her life is just starting, everything is in front of her without a script written... make her do the script she will like to follow, what would make her happy. I heard many mothers considering their daughters their best friends. Get close to her as you can, she need to learn that you are more than just mother also best friend and that you will always be there for her. I got a daughter that is bisexual and we are best friends and former roommates I just want her to be happy too even if she choose an path in life that will make it difficult she always going to be my daugther, no less than my other children. I am always gonna be there for her. Be there for your daughter and find your happiness too, if she can see you happy, that may make her happy too. Maybe that is what she is feeling that mother is such a good person and she is not happy, how can I ever be happy? Remember children are always watching what is going on in your life. Maybe you both can find happiness together. Wouldn't that be something? Could happen.

I too just want to be happy, the closest I can get is content, mostly satisfied. I was never happy as a child, in fact consider I have been fighting off unhappy most of my life. I can't define happiness, maybe why I can't find it.

Wow, I can identify with that

I think happiness, or contentment, is our default state. If something is interfering with that, it can, potentially, be corrected.

Happiness to me is something that makes me smile,laugh and feel good in the moment.

I will try. ...Happiness is different things: Euphoria, contentment, good humor, a reaction of delight. It is a passing emotion, not a permanent state of being. One can "be happy," but one cannot be happy all the time. We are wired to experience a range of emotions, both good and bad, and we need to do so to have any sense of meaning for any of those emotions. If we were to be stuck in one emotional gear indefinitely, it would of necessity have to lead eventually to a kind of emotional numbness.

But maybe when we speak of happiness, we intend contentment. A feeling of appreciating what we have or what we are going through. Perhaps in includes self-esteem; being comfortable with our sense of who we are and confident in our ability to cope with whatever comes next.

I act happy a lot by joking around and things like that.
It helps me forget how unhappy I am sometimes.

I don't know exactly how to define "happiness." It's rather like trying to define a particular color. Describing it we can do. Defining it?