how to determine what will make you happy

[chaotick42]

I have been reading through a couple of posts to the meaning of life and it seems like everyone points towards happiness which seems to me to be easier said than done. How are you able to determine what truely will make you happy in life it just seems like such a difficult question to determine? I have sat up countless nights just brainstorming about what i should do with my life which career i should pursue and although i do come up with many great ideas it seems like there are problems with all of them. Whether its the fact that only a small number of people have actually achieved what i want or just simply that i wonder whether or not i will enjoy such a career over lets say 40-50 years. Any ideas pleasee comment back thnx.

CK

[nightdiamond]

Hi chaotick42,

I'll give you my opinion and it's just my opinion, there are so many other ways to look at it than just one opinion.

Perhaps, it has to do with being satisfied. When a desire is satisfied, or in the current act of being satisfied (i.e having sex, going on a vacation, dancing, buying your dream car) then "happiness" occurs.

To add to this concept, pursuing the satisfaction of these goals can provide a purpose, which then can provide a meaning to life. For example, an activist who wants to establish a huge wildlife reserve and is working towards it, has a purpose, and from that also gets meaning to his or her life as well.

Sometimes it seems when people have an interest, or a goal they want satisfied, or something that keeps them interested an occupied, then they tend to pay less attention to the idea of whether life has a meaning or purpose...


I know because I had the same questions, and then one day I stopped to notice that whenever I had a goal I wanted to achieve, or was involved in something interesting and fullfilling, I thought less and less about the meaning of life because I was already preoccupied with something.

Perhaps, if you can know in advance if a certain career will satisfy you to a high degree, then you can determine if that career will bring you "happiness". In other words, when you finally stop worrying about the right career and finally begin enjoying it and experiencing it.

And if a certain career has some problems, then perhaps working to dissolve them can even bring a higher degree of satisfaction, plus, working toward dissolving them can bring you purpose, which possibly can also take care of the meaning of life issue, at least as far a career.

Let me know what you think, chaotick42, take care...

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by chaotick42

How are you able to determine what truely will make you happy in life

It is quite easy. Take a piece of paper and a pen. Sit down and think. Write down 20 past & specific occasions in your life when you felt very happy.

One of the points that you'll likely notice is that many (not all) of the things that make you very happy in life are in fact quite small, simple things.

[The Cloud]

Will you be content with your life if you are happy more often?

[Ralph]

Ralph Dudek’s blog » Blog Archive » Reality check

Perhaps the techniques I described in this process for finding your purpose will bypass the stumbling block you've encountered.

I wrote there about raising your vibration and realizing that you are already whole and fulfilled before you even begin to think about your life's purpose. This way you set aside most, if not all, of your conditioning that keeps you stuck at the lower levels of consciousness where life seems to have little point except keeping your mind and body satiated.