The Bar is Called Heaven

[snafupants]

Are you happy? How often? To what extent? I would say that I generally sport a wry smile but, when I get depressed, I can become suicidally despondent. The latter happens less frequently nowadays. Anyway, I'm curious about the rest of you. What gets you off? Are pleasure and pain commensurate? If the former outweighs the latter, is life worth living? What makes life worth living for you? Since you are here, answering my questions, I assume there's some sliver of joy keeping you kicking on this orbiting hunk of shit. What is it? Then again, you could be too craven to off yourself. Hm, for me, life is about sidestepping suffering rather than maximizing pleasure.

 

[snafupants]

Can happiness prove maladaptive? It can certainly prove deadly. Back to the initial question, I notice extreme happiness is a bedfellow with melancholia in much the same way as anxiety and depression are etiologically linked. Maybe the solution is maintaing focus and not seeking happiness. Could curbing unbridled joy be psychologically adaptive? How are happiness and unhappiness linked? I expect the empiricists to say the limbic system but come on.

 

[redbaron]

I'm perpetually content.

Not sure what other information I can give that is relevant.

 

[snafupants]

I'm perpetually content.

Are you challenging yourself?

 

[redbaron]

Are you challenging yourself?

Just in general?

I challenge myself constantly at work and in recreation, to be improving over an extended period of time. I guess because I tend to view things in terms of five or more years, so having a 'bad week' is inconsequential to me.

Realistically everyone plateaus in anything they strive to master, so I think it's important to take into account where you were say, three years ago, where you've progressed to now, and then how much further you'll have progressed in another three years, if you assume that you'll only progress half as much over the next few years as you have in the previous three.

That said it's not like I don't ever get frustrated or annoyed, but these generally lead to greater understanding or achievement. Even fabricating perceived sleights to push through a plateau is useful.

Not really sure if this is what you're referring to, I guess it's just how I view 'challenge' and how I approach challenging myself, which I think I do in everything I undertake, even if does bore me.

 

[Cognisant]

Are you happy? How often? To what extent?

In general, no, it's not that I'm unhappy, I just think I could be happier, but I try not to dwell on that thought because it makes me unhappy.

I don't think happiness is mandatory, one can be contentedly not happy, even contentedly unhappy, it's all a matter of lifestyle and what you're willing to accept as the proverbial par for course, and there's advantages to being content with less, obviously it's easier to achieve/maintain, and if life is likened to a rollercoaster the highs will seem higher and the lows won't seem quite so low.

Also there's a kind of peaceful, subtle beauty to the world when you're depressed, I remember feeling detached, the cruelty of the world didn't bother me so much when I looked at it from afar, like how watching waves break upon a rocky shore is very different to being amongst them, the detachment came form being ready to die, and yet from this detached perspective I couldn't quite bring myself to do it, I was enjoying the view too much.

If the former outweighs the latter, is life worth living?

Depends what you're living for, if you're living for yourself and not enjoying it then it seems pretty pointless to continue, although it could be said any measure of happiness weighs heavily against the oblivion of death, but on the other hand life's indignities can rob happiness of value, in any case if you could always live for someone or something else.

What makes life worth living for you?

A fanciful dream I hope to make real.

*goes behind the bar and starts pouring the drinks*

 

[Mabuse]

Are you happy? How often? To what extent?

Happiness is a climatic emotion, not a norm. The ability to be content is the default desired emotion, for the sake of continuity and physiological health. But in regards to climatic happiness, I go months without experiencing it. It is often very brief, but enough to tide me over until the next time. I think it is because happiness has the ability to saturate quickly; when I encounter happiness, I can feel it for a few hours afterward, and I can return to it vividly for the next few weeks and invoke those same reactions.

The longest I've ever gone without this kind of happiness is about three years. I noticed the difference when I realized I hadn't laughed-until-crying since then.

What gets you off? Are pleasure and pain commensurate? If the former outweighs the latter, is life worth living? What makes life worth living for you?

A desire for difficulty, without the pressure of others to pursue such a thing. Pain can only lead to pleasure, because pain is less desirable, just as happiness can last a long time between moments. Pain provides the notion that an award may occur. And if there isn't one, you can trick yourself into believing that you have one.

Living is important because nothing trumps experience. You can understand the first few meanings of something, but experience allows you to have something to return to and analyze over and over again, and to teach and allow yourself to see that experience in different ways. There is too much to do in life. I used to think that it was knowledge that was too much, that that was the reason to keep living. But experience has layers of knowledge, some of which can only be uncovered by time. And I'm patient.

Since you are here, answering my questions, I assume there's some sliver of joy keeping you kicking on this orbiting hunk of shit. What is it?

They keep telling me that I only use 10% of my brain. I want my 90%.

Can happiness prove maladaptive?...Could curbing unbridled joy be psychologically adaptive? How are happiness and unhappiness linked?

I am quite sure that anyone who displays overt happiness is hiding something sinister or avoiding a situation/state of mind. I believe that the act of denying ourselves happiness is derived from the subjective nature of happiness; happiness truly can be found in all places. All you need is contrast material.

If I am to continue with my thesis that happiness is a merely a height of emotion, unhappiness does not really exist for me. There is just a lack of that excess energy, or something that displaces it, like anger or fear.

 

[Hawkeye]

They keep telling me that I only use 10% of my brain. I want my 90%.

 

[Polaris]

Are you happy? How often? To what extent? I would say that I generally sport a wry smile but, when I get depressed, I can become suicidally despondent. The latter happens less frequently nowadays. Anyway, I'm curious about the rest of you. What gets you off? Are pleasure and pain commensurate? If the former outweighs the latter, is life worth living? What makes life worth living for you? Since you are here, answering my questions, I assume there's some sliver of joy keeping you kicking on this orbiting hunk of shit. What is it? Then again, you could be too craven to off yourself. Hm, for me, life is about sidestepping suffering rather than maximizing pleasure.

Happy is an extreme value. Intermittently, yes. It is usually dependent on the situation and people I'm surrounded by. So perhaps not too often, but that doesn't bother me...I am fairly content. If I'm happy it is more an experience of deep joy...most of the time I have a pretty neutral feeling about things.

I have been despondent in the past, but realised this had more to do with work, relationships and all the stuff that weren't quite fine-tuned. I was still finding my own way to contentedness...although I kinda knew all along what I needed to change. Procrastination was getting the better of me; the effort of changing my life so radically was a hurdle too great at the time. Now I tend to just jump straight into things with the knowledge that I have absolutely nothing to lose.

What gets me off....well, challenge. Problem solving, exploring new ideas and concepts and attempting to understand things I regard as highly complex. The greater the complexity, the more intrigued I get. Studying science satisfies this need for me at the moment, but I also take an interest in understanding people who intrigue me. Music is a very important part of my everyday life as well as finding new and interesting topics to distract me on the interwebz.

Conversation with close friends, walking in nature, swimming....or just laying on the floor staring into nothing while I listen to music. While am down there I may even attempt some Yoga poses

If pain outweighs pleasure...well I guess it depends on the level of pain. Extreme pain in small doses can be enough...vague pain taking up more than 50 % of one's preoccupations can seem quite 'normal'. I don't know, it is a difficult question that is better left to each individual to answer. Personally, whenever I have experienced pain as a dominant sentiment, I have attempted to change my situation radically...so I have had a few radical changes. I guess I have always had hope that things can get better if one just gets off one's ass. I think in that way, depression is a symptom of something that has gone wrong, or even just a deeper form insight acting as impetus to change; depression can be positive from that perspective. It is a matter of being able to see oneself from outside.

I think life is worth living for me personally...at the moment. But I understand when people decide that it isn't, I won't judge. Pain is different for everyone.

I don't intend to maximise pleasure..then I won't have the enjoyment any more. I take it as it comes...if I don't push it it may even come to me...which is something I have experienced.

Bleh, I can't change the Snafu-font

 

[Reluctantly]

Are you happy? How often? To what extent? I would say that I generally sport a wry smile but, when I get depressed, I can become suicidally despondent. The latter happens less frequently nowadays.

I have a much better understanding of myself now. For some reason, my happiness depends a lot on that.

Anyway, I'm curious about the rest of you. What gets you off? Are pleasure and pain commensurate? If the former outweighs the latter, is life worth living? What makes life worth living for you? Since you are here, answering my questions, I assume there's some sliver of joy keeping you kicking on this orbiting hunk of shit. What is it? Then again, you could be too craven to off yourself. Hm, for me, life is about sidestepping suffering rather than maximizing pleasure.

"What gets you off?" - Enjoying myself. Entertainment, sex, alcohol, adrenaline release, cars/motorcycles, video games, creating music, etc.

"Are pleasure and pain commensurate?" - There's no pleasure without pain, at least the two can't exist without an understanding of the other.

"If the former outweighs the latter, is life worth living? What makes life worth living for you?" - Worth is up to you to decide; I want to believe that if it isn't worth living, it's worth it to try and make it worth living, at least, for me. In a way, I find the belief itself a little funny in its irony, so I suppose it serves its purpose no matter what happens.

"Since you are here, answering my questions, I assume there's some sliver of joy keeping you kicking on this orbiting hunk of shit. What is it?" - Excitement and interest. Take that away and I really would off myself.