Happiness is good company and a bowl of soup

Or at least thats the best version of a definition I came up with (the freedom from pain and fear, and the ´name for all good feelings´were taken by Epecurus and modern physcology respectively :) ). So why the soup you may ask? Because in all my research (yes I´m doing a project on happiness for philosophy, so this blog ALMOST doesn´t count as procastinating...more brainstorming in english :) ) the thing besides friendship, etc, that is extremely important to have happiness is a basic level of living, food, water, heat and some sort of shelter. Also, soup is warm and satisfying :) (which actually isn´t part of happiness acording to most philosophers, its a source of pleasure which is like happiness only its temporary and not as good, the ´static´pleasure from being ´happy´with your life is better says everyone).

One thing I found really interesting in this study is that the one thing all the philosophers agree on is that finding happiness is the goal of living (OK, its true the early christians didn´t think that..but starting with artistotle, and what we usually refer to as philosophers ). So if the goal of life is to be happy, and now we have some idea what happiness is, how do we get it you might ask?
That depends, basically there are two schools of thought (which doesn´t actually matter in the situation most of you reading this blog are in, but for the debate whether someone dying of hunger in africa can be happy it does) one is that happiness comes solly from strong moral character and a live with a reason, the other is that moral character and circumstances (where you are born, what happens in your life, etc) effect your ability to be happy.

To put it simply, if you want to be happy lower your expectations. Really, forget the idea of having more money, that nice car, finding the perfect boyfriend, etc. If you have enough money so that you have a roof over your head, and food on the table, according to physcological studies and ancient philosophers alike more is not going to make your happy. In fact, according to Epecurus it might even through off your balance and cause you pain, which is the enemy of happiness. He also has this whole theory about how fear of death is the root of most problems on earth, but personally I think thats majorly bogus :). Back to the example and practical advice, if you have friends, and people who care about you, be thankful for it! If you spend your whole life searching for something perfect, you´ll never get the chance to apreciate what you have before you die!

One last thought, SMILE. Yes, even if your not feeling particularly happy, a smile has been shown to cause happiness. It´s worth a try at least because :
“It was only a sunny smile and little it cost in the giving but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.”

Peace to all (because tomorrow is peace day :) ),
Molly

P.S. This is a pretty darn cool video on CBS about Happiness

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=1773887n