Are you happy?

[Thisnamechanger]

I don't know if this is something you ever really ask people in RL.

Are you happy?

Yes! I'm on week 16 of CBT so this is surprising and amazing!

Nope. Irreparably broken infact.

Not happy, but content.

Might just be the anti-depressants though

Yes, very happy.

No, not really. Not right now. I can't put my finger on what's up - I think I have unrealistic expectations of myself and am not my best friend. I self sabotage and can't control it.

Yes, very happy. I think having a flexible job that I enjoy is a big part of that. I’m also a positive person so tend to feel good about stuff.

Not at all.

Most days I'm a 6 or 7 out of 10.

No.

Reasonably. I'm absolute stressed beyond belief with a hideous house move, but I know that once that's out of the way I'll be be back to my usual which is 8 or 9 out of 10, although if you bet me you'd think I was 11/10 at all times. I do a good show!

**met me

No. If you ask me after a good nights sleep I will probably say yes. And nothing in my life will have changed, the same things will suck and the same things will rock.

Meh.

I'm okay.

I don't actually remember the last time I felt truly happy if I'm honest.

No, 8 week old and a custody battle makes life a bit shit.

Yes although I don't like my job. I dread it when I have to go in. I've just had 5 days off in a row and have felt happy.

No. I have a variety of emotions throughout the day, week and month.

I have enough happy feelings to be content.

Interesting replies.

I was reading a book recently in which the author hypothesised that the things that happen to you don't make you particularly happy or unhappy in the long term. I feel like I've always been about 60% unhappy - getting my dream job and my mother dying hasn't altered that outside the short term.

I saw on the news that a woman had been killed in an accident I thought "now she doesn't have to go to work anymore - imagine the relief". It shocked me

I'm going to tell them something similar in my exit interview. I heard a loud noise on the tube the other week and my knee jerk, entirely irrational thought was "Thank god I won't have to go to work".

No,far from it.
I was & I still try to appear happy at times for my son but at the moment I can't see any point in time that I will ever be happy again.

What was the book OP?

Interesting thread. Makes me think I need to think about why I'm not as happy as others.

It's horrible to see someone many others saying they also are not happy .
I hope that changes for them

Yes. I worry about money and over think things (currently obsessing over primary applications for ds) but I know that's just me and I'll always find something to get in my own head over, so it's just background noise. Doesn't affect my mood.

I have a nice quiet life with a lovely friends and family, a job I enjoy and pays fairly well (not mumsnet well though if other threads are to be believed ) and a puppy who rarely wees indoors anymore!

I'm not bouncing off the walls happy, but I'm content and can't remember the last time I felt sad.

Ah no! That was meant to be a wink, not a sad face!

Not this week. I'm bloody pissed off with a lot of things.

I think it was in Sapiens or maybe Homo Deus. Cracking reads. Also reminds me of something Tim Michin said in his famous University address, something like "man isn't designed to be constantly happy, contented Homo sapiens got eaten before he could reproduce".

I've recently been wondering (clinical depression excluded of course) if bouts of the blues should be treated a bit like the common cold, acknowledged and endured until they go away. I think Buddhists reckon the secret to contentment is being able to experience happiness without fearing it will go away and emotional pain without craving relief from it. How you achieve that I have no idea. I suspect it involves mediation.