How do you guys find happiness in life?

Does the job bring happiness?

Does personal relationship with your spouse give you happiness?

I am curious.

Easy... My wife. Every day I get to wake up with her and fall asleep with her. Without her I wouldn't be the person I am today. I have only one person to thank for that, and thats her.

As for my job... every day is one day closer to retirement.

I tend to operate under the assumption that you don't find it, it finds you. If I do the right things and treat people well and love my family then I'll be happy with myself and general happiness will insue.

But to put a finer point on it:

My family, especially my kids, give me joy.
My work provides satisfaction and worth (spiritual and monetary).
My home provides comfort and well-being (and an endless source of stuff to fix, which I like to do so that brings its own positive feelings)
My friends, colleagues, neighbors, school chums, clients, store clerks, car mechanics, first responders, members of the military, et al, provide companionship, support, conversation, good memories, and service. In other words they provide the things that make life both fun and possible.
My countrymen and women proffer solidarity in times of crisis be it national or local.
My elected leaders provoke, entertain, frustrate and occasionally pleasantly surprise me.
The folks on this forum educate and encourage me to prepare better, think smarter and open my eyes and mind to new ideas.
My beloved Fightin' Irish, sigh....

All the other crappy stuff in my life, like bad drivers, rude people, closed minded, prejudiced lunks, Linux, etc., etc., is just that crap and I try my best to deal with it, ignore it or flush it.

I am I giddy everyday? Hell no. But when I kiss my wife or hug my mom or take that collect call from a DD Ihaven't seen in months, am I happy? Damn straight.

Sounds about right.

Another thing to first consider is what do you define as happiness.

...and on yet another note, remember that money can not buy happiness (it rents it).

right now, when I'm not in pain, I'm pretty happy (being sick sucks)

Me too. Marrying the gal who had been my best friend for ten years (and divorcing the wife from hell), gave me a new lease on life...

Part of that depends on what makes you happy. Personally, I'm not looking for much.

-to have the companionship of close friends (which includes some of my family; blood might be thicker than water, but I know which one I want in a glass), and for them to have happiness
-to be respected by my peers
-to have control over my own destiny
-to have my works be not only successful but remembered
-to be safe from the stupidity, ignorance, fear and greed of those who can't or won't see any path but their own
-to have someplace warm to sleep, something hot to eat, and to be healthy
-to have the chance to share these basic happinesses with others, even those whom I might not like very much

It seems there is no such thing as happiness, only occasional seemingly random and not altogether unpleasant interruptive deviations from the otherwise incessant mindlessness of receiving logic-based sensory input. But,...I do believe. I hope,...I think,...or something.

By watching the Patriots beat the Colts. Cold beer. Seeing the Sox win the Series, again. Having a wonderful GF helps too.

By faith,

There's nothing special about my life or what I do. I have little ambition to rule the world, or to have my name carved into the history books for an eon or more. My perspective is often quite disproportionate to the real impact I have on this world, because it is in our nature to be self-focused.

Life is too often taken for granted. Just because so many have shared it, it seems of less value taken as a whole, and each individual seems to have such insignificant impact that one would think it wholly negligible.

The fact of the matter is, life is a subscription, a serial storytelling event. Think of your favorite book, or tv series. Each flip of the page brought new intrigue, building upon the previous, connecting a line of interest that, though finite, seems to endure long after the book is done. Being in the moment, we may not see it for what it is. It is a most personal gift to each of us, something that we alone possess, for better or worse, but always and forever to remain exclusively ours. Yes, sometimes our moments involve interaction, but still the experience, the essence of what we see, hear, feel, think, belongs just to ourselves. It is our perspective that makes each and every mundane moment in our pitiful lives unique and exhilerating.

I've been through enough, as I am certain so many of us here have likewise, that I know so long as I am taking breath, I have the opportunity to continue the experience of this most wonderous gift. From the hospital gurney, to the running for your life, to the birth of my children, to the death of my dearest friends and family, nothing about any of it is particularly different from what millions of others have gone through, and will continue to go through. What is different is how I choose to evaluate the experience; to process it, to recall it over and over, with all it's thrills, terror, and joy.

Having gone through what I think are enough extremes in life now to be able to sit afterwards and really contemplate what happened, it's occurred to me that, while there is a definite contrast between the ability to recall extreme moments from the less eventful, if I focus well enough, I can still remember a lot of really mundane times as well. The next big leap, then is to realize that each of those moments has the same time-weighted value, and I have only a finite number, so then those that are to come, regardless of their intensity, all have value. Once spent, they are gone, so exchanging moments in time for memories is the economy of my life.

Happiness, therefore, in any given moment depends almost entirely on how I choose to value each one. For better or worse, each moment spends roughly the same, so if I am to get the highest yield from the commodity of my life, then I should treasure each moment. I should invest into it my greatest interest, even for those that are idle, those that are thoroughly disgusting, those that are full of rage, fear, or bliss.

I am reminded of the end of the movie "American Beauty", after Kevin Spacey's character is killed off, where he comments about having nothing but gratitude for every single moment of his stupid little life.

It really doesn't matter so much what you do, where you go, who you are with. In the end, it is all about whether you choose to value the moment, or not.