Six individual “types” of happy

Happy is a somewhat vague term. So, here are some more specific definitions of happy which will help you clarify what it takes to be happy. One could say being happy is having one or more of the following types of good feelings:

pleasure/pleasured … pleasure-pain, pleased, comfortable, pleasant, secure, beautiful, life of enjoyment
interest/interested … flow, entertained, involved, engaged, stimulated (variety), fun, life of engagement
success/successful … satisfaction, proud, accomplishment, curiosity-satisfaction, completed, finished

connection/connected … relationships, friends, sharing, love, caring, rapport, more info, more power, companionship, affiliation, life of affiliation
meaning/meaningful … important, respected, self esteem
growth/growing/learning … actualized, being all you can be, fulfilled

notes

* Each cluster of words (types) is grouped together into related general feelings.
* These are fairly orthogonal components which cover most of the important ways to feel good.
* Breaking happiness into one of more of these clusters makes it easier to recognize why and when you are happy (your destination). Knowing the exact destination/type then makes it easier to determine how to get there.
* The ranking of these types is different for different people. E.g., someone who is more driven by success may be willing to sacrifice family time.
* At different times different types come to the forefront. E.g., during an athletic contest success may be most important, while later on when eating enjoyment may be most important.

Six individual “types” of happy

notes

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