Happiness

[Keith Wilson]

I don't normally post many personal anecdotes here, but the wrangle about the nature of happiness in the "freedom and pluralism" thread prompted this:

It snowed about five inches last night and covered up all the grey and brown. I took the afternoon off work, built a big fire, and have been sitting in front of it drinking cocoa and reading, with a cat on my lap purring quietly, watching the nearly horizontal January sunlight light up the snow on the trees behind my house, and listening to the Tallis Scholars sing Palestina masses. The book is Daniel Dennet's Freedom Evolves; it's about free will and determinsm, and is seriously difficult and fascinating. (I'm rather proud of myself that I can understand it at all, to tell the truth)

This may not be everybody's cup of tea, but for me it's about as close to perfect contentment as one gets in this world. It's what I wish for all of you. Life is good. It sure beats the alternatives, at any rate.

(Not only that, Tom Motgomery came up with a perfect rebuttal to SamF, which is just icing on the cake.)

[John of Phoenix]

Enjoy.
I'll have to go look at the rebuttal myself.

[Tar Devil]

Life is good. It sure beats the alternatives, at any rate.

For some...

[Tristan]

A couple nights ago, amidst the trials and tribulations of two teenage kids, a sick dog, a declining 80 year old mother-in-law, etc. etc. I walked out into the rather warm night air and looked up at the stars, Orion, Canis major, Canis minor, Gemini -- all beautiful in the winter sky. I stopped and, for a minute or two, forgot about the trials and tribulations. Instant happiness. Need to do such things more often.

[glenallen]

But...but.....I heard the only true happiness is contemplating God and the Hereafter!
You mean it ain't true?
I might have known I was lied to!

Congratulations for your own happiness. Sounds like a perfect way to spend an afternoon, or a lifetime.

[Milo Christensen]

Well, Keith, it sounds like you almost died and went to heaven.

I've had to shake off the winter blahs the last few days by keeping very, very active and getting some things done. But it feels good.

I just stopped in to see what condition my condition is in while the hash brown casserole is in the oven.

Sitting here, I've got that sort of extra warm kind of tingly feeling I get coming in the house after being out in the cold for about an hour -- shoveling snow and scraping ice off Marilyn's car.

[ishmael]

Jung, a sorta typical Swiss, once commented that happiness is the right work, well done. A cup of cocoa and a purring cat sounds good, too.

[Donn]

Happiness is working in the garden on a 50 degree day in mid-January.

[glenallen]

Happiness is working in the garden on a 50 degree day in mid-January.

Something has gone haywire. It's been 30 degrees with single digit windchill here all day.
Is this some kind of yankee trick?

[Scott Rosen]

The boat's covered. Can't use her no matter how nice the January weather is.

Two weekends ago, I rode my bike 30 miles on Saturday--IN SHORTS!

On Sunday I rode another 20 miles or so.

This past Saturday, I spend the day at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison. Tonight I'll watch some reruns of Monk with my younger daughter. When she goes to bed, I'll have some good books to read. It's as good as it gets for January.

[John Bell]

Getting ready to have a cup of plantation mint tea and honey (regular old tea with spearmint) and sit down with a book. Not a intellectually stimulating as Keith's mind you, but Nelson DeMille keeps the pages turning.

Everything would be bliss, but I lost my free parking for my boat trailer and it's coming over here tonight. So at a some point this evening I've got find a home for a 33' by 8' trailer in my driveway.

[shamus]

one kind of happiness I know of could be defined as "total absorption in a chosen task"

[huisjen]

...while the hash brownie casserole is in the oven...

And then I read it again and it didn't say that after all.

Dan

[Bruce Taylor]

one kind of happiness I know of could be defined as "total absorption in a chosen task"

I think I'm happiest at the workbench.

But right now...off to the endodentist for a root canal.

[hansp77]

Keith,
that sounds just about perfect to me.
I adore snow, fires, etc, etc.
Here it is 1:30 in the morning, must still be very close to 30 degrees celcius and probably won't cool down much before it heats up again tommorrow and I have to go to work up in a very very hot top floor studio.

Today was pretty nice for me too.
This morning my boss (freind who I work for) was very hung over, and with the help of another freind became easily convinced to abandon our big days planned work (in the obscene heat) and instead paddle out to my boat with lots of ice, beer and food (chinese roast duck) and swim and drink away the afternoon off my swing mooring.

Floating on my back in the water, after an icy Kingfisher (or was it six?), and a few delicious peices of duck, stretched right out, eyes closed to the sun pounding red through my eyelids with my ears underwater listening to nothing but the curious clicking and clacking of the sealife (urchins?).
Yes,
pretty close to heaven too.

p.s.
my good day was also a good day for a seagull who I found tangled exhausted and just about dead in the netting on my boat (to stop the buggers painting my boat). I cut him free, put him down in the cool cabin in a padded box with a towel over it and let him rest for a few hours. When his bites became enough to begin to actually really hurt, I let him off the back and he managed to fly away.
He would not have lasted much longer.
So in spite of hating the little buggers for what they do to my boat, that made me pretty happy too.

Now off to bed.
Gnight.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

Good friend of mine put it all in perspective for me once;

Happiness is being happy with what you got.

[Wild Dingo]

Firstly... Gidday Scott!! Long time no see mate... its good to hear from your words that things in the Rosen household are ticking along nicely good one mate!

Happiness can be anything to anyone... sorta different strokes for different folks type a thing... to me happiness in many many forms... it comes upon hearing some good news from friends near and far such as Claudia and Davids upcoming nuptials that makes me happy that two people Ive met only on here have met through here and are now happily joining their lives together... it also comes from seeing my children the dreaded hoonberrys and the love of my life the wonderous possumpoop laughing giggling and havin a good time together... it also comes at night when the house is silent and just me an her highness are sitting together quietly talking through the days events and the new days to come... it also comes when you take a nice peice of wood and without considering or really thinking of what your going to make you turn it into something beautiful... but I guess to me happiness is when a warm day is just dawning the creek is trickling and burbling the kookaburras and galahs are making their morning noises and the air is crisp and clean a nice warm cup of coffee siting under the Camphor Laurel tree letting the new days rays hit me full in the moosh knowing that soon the mob of galahs inside the house will stir and all hell will break loose but for now sitting under that tree as the new day washes over me is a happiness moment... or in the evening as things wind down the sun starts its slow march down the western horizon and into the sea when the birds have their last final hoorah and the cool moistening evening begins.

Special times happyness times