What is happiness?

"‘Happiness’ is a trap.  There is no place where it exists, no time where it appears, no form it’s built in or language it can be read.  The illusion of happiness being attainable sometime, somewhere, is perhaps the biggest fallacy humans have ever come up with.  Yet, we are all drawn, in a primal way, to some sort of wellbeing; some sort of liberation from the constant suffering.  In this way, ‘happiness’ is only accessible as an indirect result.  It must be birthed from freedom, wisdom, and compassion." -InJoy

“Since we seek pleasure all the time, we have to understand this in a little more depth to be able to live a good life. Pleasure arises when the senses come in contact with objects, situations and people. There are millions of things outside that don’t give pleasure or pain by themselves. So contact is the significant thing. Three kinds of problems arise in seeking pleasure: The pain of acquisition, the pain of holding on, and the pain of losing that thing. I will expand on each of these three below….”
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"Happiness is our original state of being, and is experienced as love. Beyond the mindscape, there is a witness/eternal presence that exudes happiness. Happiness is an inner experience and can be created under any circumstances. External events simply mirror it. This means happiness is a choice of shifting one’s awareness beyond the identification with the mind."

“”If you are talking about temporary happiness, it arises out of the context of knowing what the opposite feels like. Sadness gives meaning to happiness because they are connected and on the same plane. We ‘want’ to be happy not sad. That is how you know they are opposites. Some things make you happy and some things make you sad. These are usually external events that trigger an inner reflection in you. You are more at the mercy of your inner workings than external stimuli because the external world doesn’t move you nearly as much as your mind does. It is your inner workings that move you and present you your feelings of experience which is what you act upon. This is what you are most truly intimate with….”
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"Happiness is fulfillment.  It is an all-encompassing state of equanimity that appreciates all things equally.   Fulfillment is appreciating the dark and the light - to bear witness to the indescribable suffering all over the place, and also the incredible blessings all around us.  To be free from all attachment to this life, yet to appreciate the endless miracles that it offers each moment.  Fulfillment is to embrace the paradox of dark and light, with the love our mothers embraced us with."

"I think happiness is a term that gets confused a lot in our society today. The idea of happiness can be thought about in terms of a mental state – a state of joy, contentedness, acceptance. But it can also be thought about in terms of feeling satisfied with life, with our needs being met, feeling fulfilled. I think that this second perception of happiness carries more baggage around it, and is often what leads to the desperate seeking of happiness in our culture that, ironically, results in a lot of unhappiness and depression. Happiness shouldn’t have expectations or attachment – then it only leads to disappointment. Happiness is a state of being, like a passing cloud."

“Permanent happiness cannot come from holding on to something that is not permanent. The fallacy is that all of us live by searching for and expecting permanent happiness from holding on to impermanent things. That is the reason why we have this huge need for security and control, living all the time in insecurity and fear that it may be lost. This does not require much intelligence. Your experience itself makes you a philosopher….”
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