Happiness

When are you happy?  Do you know the answer?  Happiness is different for everyone, but when you find it, you know.

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:34

Hi there, Julie Finch Scally with another episode of A World at War With Itself. This week is my 26th episode. That means we are halfway through my year adventure, and to celebrate such an event, this week I am talking about happiness. There is a song that says happiness is different things to different people. Having asked several people about the subject, I would have to agree. What makes one person happy might not have any effect on someone else, but there are some agreements on looking for happiness. Once again I am asking several people their thoughts, and the first question I asked is the obvious one. What makes them happy?

SPEAKER_06 1:14

My family.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Nowadays, I really like travel, like to see new things to be stimulated by new experiences. I like a good meal out, I like to have a few drinks every now and then, but not too much. And seeing my granddaughter, have a granddaughter, and it's great seeing her.

SPEAKER_08 1:46

I really love reading. I love watching a good British Who-Done It. Yes. I love watching a good British Who-Done It. And I I actually love my my work, it makes me happy. Movies.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, movies. Good movies and good people.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Succeeding at things that are difficult. I'd rather s succeed at something that's hard than at something that's easy.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Mountain scene or a lonely coastal beach scene and uh nature if you like, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:41

Having discovered that happiness is different for each person, the next question was do you actively search for happiness or realize you are happy when it is happening?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

More the latter. Definitely. Well, I would say both, but stumbling across it seems to be the more common occurrence of it, I think.

SPEAKER_08 3:00

I don't actually uh search for happiness. I think that it probably comes to you as a gift, and if you start looking for it, then I think you're in trouble.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

I think I notice it when it happens.

SPEAKER_05 3:16

I search for it a bit, being on my own at the moment. I do search for more family integration and communication. But there are times you just suddenly find, yeah, I really that was just a really great day time, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

I think there is a little bit of thinking, oh let's do this because it'll it'll make us happy, make me happy, make us my partner and I happy. But sometimes I find myself in the middle of things and thinking, this is pretty good, you know, this is like satisfying, which I think is happiness.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

I'm kind of both. Simply because happiness can suddenly occur to you when it's happening. You're like, oh, this is enjoyable. I'm happy. Whereas other times it's like you're you go out in order to get happy. And it varies according from person to person and it varies according to the situation.

SPEAKER_06 4:14

I don't search for happiness. I think it just happens as you are living your life, and I think living your life in happiness is good.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

To me, I don't think you can search for happiness. Happiness is just can be in the moment. People what they mean by happy, are they just sort of satisfied with the way things are at the the time, things are going okay. So you can't I think search for happiness, just enjoy the moment whether your football team is winning or whatever it might be, or or a conversation with somebody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 4:42

And finally, as happiness can be fleeting, I asked if they had the opportunity to advise a teenager about happiness, what would they say?

SPEAKER_08 4:53

I would say to them, don't think that being clever and coming top and getting a good job and earning lots of money is going to make you happy. What makes you happy comes from inside you. It's something that you develop in yourself. It's not something that you can get from outside.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

But life is cyclical. That it goes it gets better and it gets worse, and when it's worse, be patient, it'll get better.

SPEAKER_06 5:24

Well, I think that going to school, making friends with people is good, and you then again learn to interact with other people, and I think that as you grow in as a child into a and a teenager, they've got to look for the good things in people and not look at the bad. I think they've just got to. I know it's very hard with young people, because young people do stop and think, oh, that's bad, but it's not really bad. They've just got to get over that hurdle, and then they'll realize what they've been through and how much they can grow through it.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

I think it's tricky because you can you can go looking for it and you don't necessarily know what you're looking for, if that makes sense. So it's not something that you find immediately. I think it takes time and it takes life experience. So I guess my main advice would be don't put too much pressure on it, go out and explore and you will find it eventually.

SPEAKER_05 6:20

Search for the happiness, look for what you really want and what you what you want for your life, and not just for material goods, but how you want to live for the rest of your life and follow that.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Don't be anxious, just take in the m the moment, enjoy life as it comes to you, but at the same time by s searching out things in a calm measured way, you'll find a form of happiness or a satisfaction at least in that way.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

I think the most important thing is to find things that you like to do and do a lot of them and get good at them. I think that's potentially a way to achieve some happiness. Also, to have lots of friends is a good idea. You know, not everybody has a lot of friends, but to have a couple of special friends is is a good thing that you can enjoy things with.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

Don't think that you're going to find happiness through the same method as everyone else. You need to find your own happiness. And that will set you up for more joy later on, as well as now simply because you know how to find your happiness.

SPEAKER_07 7:30

I hope you have found these answers about happiness interesting. It does show that people can be happy, but for different reasons. And that's it for this week's podcast. Thank you for your support and listening to the observations on life with those people I talk to. I will be back next Wednesday with another episode of A World at War With Itself. And until then, this is Julie Finch Scaly saying goodbye.