Happiness

En route to fulfill the materialistic need of bargain hunting, I remembered that Rabbi Twersky was in town for the evening to lecture on the topic of obtaining the ever evasive feeling of happiness. And while his points were values and lessons that one hears repeatedly--that one repeats to oneself, from time to time, it was wonderful to hear them again, especially from such a positive, upbeat and how shall I say this ? twinkling personality.

Some things he said:
Happiness is misinterpreted by our Western society. Pleasure is not happiness and the pursuit of pleasure does not lead to long term happiness, but only a temporary feeling as we are doing that thing.

True happiness is reaching our human potential. Translated as those characteristics that separate us from other species, i.e. the ability to make judgement callls, learn from history, do things that benefit us in the long term, but that in the short term cause discomfort.

Reaching one's potential includes making the people around you happy, and they will respond likewise (I know this one doesnt always work, but whenever I try it, it helps me).

Not rocket science here, but I felt pretty upbeat when I walked out the door.

I know what happiness feels like. I still am uncertain though, if one has the ability to change who they are so that they may be happier. I don't claim to know what makes people feel happy but I would guess its a combination of feeling fulfilled and not bored, while at the same time, minimizing stress. for some reason, its the self acctualization factor that makes us truly happy, but if its done stressfully, we are done for: We will be miserable if we are stressed. What do you think?