How's Your Happiness Index?

How's Your Happiness Index?

If the big bang had lasted just a fraction of a second less than it did; everything would have collapsed back in upon itself.

If the big bang had lasted just a fraction of a second longer than it did; everything would have exploded in one big fireball.

Instead, the big bang lasted the exact, precise length of time necessary to form an expanding universe full of galaxies, stars and planets.

I'm fairly happy about that.

Than I am alive upon a planet the perfect distance from a star for life to thrive makes me very happy indeed!

Everything after should be considered a bonus.

We've all known people who seem happy nearly all the time, regardless of circumstance; and others, who seem to never find so much as an ounce of happiness no matter how much of it surrounds them.

Happiness is a by-product of life.  It does not discriminate between the deserving and non-deserving; that, is a purely human trait. 

Clearly, happiness is a valued commodity in today's chaotic world, perhaps more so than ever.  As with the concept of love, happiness is often harder to define than we think it should be.  it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing; it's way more personal than that; just like love.

Love and happiness can often travel together, but not always.  Love can bring about happiness, yet happiness does not guarantee love, in every instance.

What constitutes happiness is different for everyone; what sends one to the height of ecstasy may not even rate mild interest from others; and vice versa.



Happiness cannot be commanded, or demanded...it simply is, and then after a while it goes away or changes form into some other emotion.

Is happiness the opposite or absence of sadness?
Not always, no.

Ones life may be totally devoid of sadness without having a speck of happiness to show for it.  Likewise, one may find true happiness in many things while still feeling sadness on other levels.  They are not interchangeable or mutually exclusive energies.

We're more complicated than that.

On the world web there are no shortages of tests and such one may use to gauge their happiness index on some chart or another.  That is fine for those who are happy with such things; but the simpler approach is to make sure your happiness index doesn't become your misery index.


As the human condition continues to degrade, finding happiness becomes more important than ever in the stagnant dystopian landscape around us.  The power elite certainly seem to rejoice in ever increasing regulations and restrictions of freedom, and liberty; as if they're trying to see how much repression humanity as a whole will tolerate.

While some people pursue happiness so intently they totally miss some obvious opportunities; other people find great happiness in even the smallest of things. 

When happiness catches us unaware and settles in for a while the first thing we want is more, we want to extend the happiness hoping it will stay around longer; yet knowing that it cannot be held prisoner. 

We can become happiness junkies if we're not judicious.  An awful lot of addictions are started by trying to recapture the sensation of the first time something made us happy. 
We should be smart enough going in to realize we can never duplicate the first experience of anything.  That is exactly why the first experience of anything is so special!

Stress is a primary happiness antidote and can not only eradicate happiness, but even prevent it's re-growth as well.  Reducing & managing our stress may not in itself bring about happiness, but what it does is create the space in which happiness can bloom forth.

Some seek happiness outside of themselves, as a resource from the material world, while others seem to discover a well spring of happiness within themselves without looking for it.

There is the kind of happiness you find; then there is the kind of happiness you create.

There is the kind of happiness when our children make us proud, or when we exceed our own expectations for ourselves.  Still, I think the best we can hope for with happiness is to acknowledge it when we feel it, without trying to either hunt or capture it.

Then there is the almost evil kind of happiness some people find in making those around them as miserable and agitated as possible.  Failing to find or create their own happiness they satisfy themselves in spoiling the happiness of others, as if a sport.

I am all too happy to avoid such folks.



There is the kind of happiness we feel in the successful competition of a difficult task at the end of the day when our bones are tired.

Each of us has the choice and chance to awaken each day with a speck of happiness for what the day may bring, and what we might accomplish with the time.  We can monitor our thoughts to create a fertile environment for hapiness.

We can also try giving happiness a home in our hearts.  We can open our hearts to happiness instead of closing them off trying to make happiness a full time prisoner.

Compromise seems a constant in life, and its no different with happiness.  If we want to either find or create happiness quite often some compromise is required.  The trick is to not compromise that which makes your happiness possible in the first place.

There are no short cuts to happiness, yet at the same time it can pop up in front of you when least expected, which makes a good case for knowing what you want.

Unfortunately, far too often we humans must learn the lessons involved when we attach our happiness to the emotional affection of others.  Having someone else be responsible for our happiness can be the slipperiest of slopes; especially when things get very tough.

Sometimes folks get trapped into measuring their happiness and self-worth in the esteem others hold for them, good or ill.

It gets really interesting when we attempt to balance our spiritual happiness with physical happiness in this life.  While they may seem polar opposites, they really aren't; not if you go about it the right way.  Finding that balance point is what makes it challenging.   

The average worker gets up earlier than they'd like, rushes thru the rote morning routine  to fight traffic, to get to a job they hate, being around people they dislike, then grinds home thru still heavier traffic . . . hard to find happiness in that rat race agenda.  That's the whole point!


There is the false happiness of dime-a-dozen-divas, and other brightly colored fast moving objects which are created by our false economy and false society to keep us distracted... for a while longer.  We see these diversions for what they are, entertainment for the lower chakras; but we don't mistake them for real happiness. 

That ocean side home with the magnificent view certainly brings happiness...and high maintenance in a never ending battle with salt and corrosion.  Life is compromise.

Most people think of money straight away, when happiness comes to mind; despite the ages old wisdom that happiness cannot be so cheaply bought.  Indeed some find happiness of a sort in the possessions money can buy; yet so often in the end they too late understand the true definition of possession. 

Happiness may also be found in the experiences that money can buy.  The accumulation of experience certainly serves us more than the collection of things...depending entirely of course on the kinds of experiences one seeks out. 

Fulfilling, or destructive?

Top astronomers estimate that nearly 90% of the material needed to make new stars is gone.  After just 14 billion years and already we're in the grip of entropy.  Experts have long held that the rate at which the universe is expanding from the big bang is slowing down; and that it will some day eventually collapse back in upon itself, with the entire universe ultimately consumed in one all-consuming black hole.

One cosmic breath,
an exhale followed by an inhale
with all of creation come and gone between the two.

I figure that leaves us all a few billion more years to let some happiness find us!







Posted by Chautauqua at 3:15 PM

Thanks to: http://augureye.blogspot.com