How do you know you are happy?
How do you know you are happy?
user
Well, I’ve been meaning to look at this book called “Flow”, which discusses the nature of happiness, so I’ll do that soon.  I can also tell you what I currently think about it, but I don’t really think I can know for sure, for myself or others.
assistant
What do you currently think about it?
user
Happiness for me is not very related to money or success, although there is a correlation -- as I become more successful and acquire more stuff, I generally also feel happier.  But overall, I don’t feel that I would be significantly happier with more money, and I don’t feel like I have a huge amount of freedom to spend my time in the ways that would be more appealing to me.
assistant
How do find happiness?
user
I find happiness in connection.  I think I find it in a lot of people, the moment when two people feel a connection between them, and at that moment both feel something like:  “we are just two normal people, but there is something amazing happening in this connection that we feel.”  And the amazingness of that moment feels very fulfilling and peaceful.  For me, one form of connection is sexual connection -- just the physicality of it, the special way that different bodies communicate with each other -- but the connection I want in sexual intimacy is something different.  I don’t want just two bodies, I want something more.  To feel that connection, both the sexual attraction, but also the feeling that these people are somehow something together -- I don’t really have the words to describe it, but the connection is special.  I don’t really want to overthink it, to explore it intellectually or philosophically, I just want to feel it, and that moment when I feel that connection is very special.
assistant
I agree, where else can you find hapiness?
user