How Happy are You?

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaHa I'm just pretending to be docile. Ha

[FinallyRetired]

Quote:

Originally Posted by janeeyre 1. Happiness is an attribute of the soul, not of inanimate things or the pursuit of inanimate things. 2. Happiness can, therefore, be had in the soul only, 3. For getting real happiness, you must look within, to know our own being, for our happiness lies in ourselves. 4. Happiness is not to be possessed or pursued, only to be experienced

I don't think those things apply to boaters.

[donheff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by janeeyre To summarize, below are a couple of his discoveries in regard to happiness: 1. Happiness is an attribute of the soul, not of inanimate things or the pursuit of inanimate things. 2. Happiness can, therefore, be had in the soul only, 3. For getting real happiness, you must look within, to know our own being, for our happiness lies in ourselves. 4. Happiness is not to be possessed or pursued, only to be experienced

Sounds like a self help book writer, not a scientist.

[Rustic23]

I’m doing the snoopy dance!

Retired for a year.
Married to the same wife for 40 years and Happy about it.
Designed and built our dream home
Have twice the income we need to live
Don’t have anywhere we really ‘Need’ to visit
Have two great kids and two great grand kids.
Live on a lake, and golf course
Zero dept
At peace with our religion
Have several good friends
Nice social life
A couple of computer forums I can always start an argument in

Life is good! Oh, found over 400 golf balls on the course in the past two months!

Anybody see the thread about ‘telling the truth’ on this board?

[FinallyRetired]

Way to go Rustic, here is mine compared to yours:

Retired for a year <-- > semi retired for 5, but can retire any day I get fed up
Married to the same wife for 40 years and Happy about it. <-- > 45 years Check
Designed and built our dream home <--> Check, but sold it and downsized
Have twice the income we need to live <--> Mmm... sort of, but spend all we get
Don’t have anywhere we really ‘Need’ to visit <--> Check
Have two great kids and two great grand kids. <--> 3 and 2, Check
Live on a lake, and golf course <--> Check and check (but don't golf)
Zero dept <--> Check
At peace with our religion <--> Ahh... well I'm Catholic so there's the guilt
Have several good friends ... <--> Check
Nice social life ... <--> sometimes yes sometimes no, to many friends still working
A couple of computer forums I can always start an argument in <--> Check, and been booted off a couple, check check

Downside: We still have two aging parents that I have to worry about

[Moemg]

I'm kind of nervous about being too happy .The last time I remember Thinking about how happy I was was shortly before my life went to pieces.I lost my husband and my son within a few years .So happiness makes me nervous but I'm pretty okay with my life .

[14thMed]

Happier than I should be,with one son in Afghanistan and another going to Iraq next fall.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg I'm kind of nervous about being too happy .The last time I remember Thinking about how happy I was was shortly before my life went to pieces.I lost my husband and my son within a few years .So happiness makes me nervous but I'm pretty okay with my life .

wow moemg. tough to put feet down after you've had the rug pulled out so many times. i guess, visually, the trick is to hit the carpet running. but i'm not sure how that translates into real life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14thMed Happier than I should be,with one son in Afghanistan and another going to Iraq next fall.

i think it is a buddhist saying that once you have children you will never know complete happiness, because at least a part of you will always worry for them.

good luck to you and your children.

[REWahoo]

I voted "mostly cheerful" earlier today, but I need to change my vote. Just got a phone call informing me that my only surviving brother was diagnosed with lung cancer today.

I can sure relate to what Moemg said about being nervous about being too happy...

[thefed]

i vote lousy! relationship problems,customer complaints,deadbeat tenants,sinus infection, burnt hand, broken finger, sun burnt, nagging cough, the list goes on...

[bbbamI]

Rewahoo...I'm so sorry for you and your brother.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo! I voted "mostly cheerful" earlier today, but I need to change my vote. Just got a phone call informing me that my only surviving brother was diagnosed with lung cancer today. I can sure relate to what Moemg said about being nervous about being too happy...

Damn, I'm really sorry. I can relate to this as my only brother retired at 50 and seemed to be happy. But at 53, a cancerous tumor appeared on his back. I hope your brother has better luck than mine did.

As you know, I just retired and I am excited about playing golf daily but I definitely fall into the 'nervous about being too happy' camp.

[haha]

Wahoo, very sorry. I hope your brother does well.

Ha

[JPatrick]

Very sorry to hear about your brother.
Many "ups and downs" ahead for both of you.
It is quite possible that the ups will out number the downs--and that is my wish for you.

[REWahoo]

bbb, Dog, Ha, JPatrick...thanks.

[donheff]

Sorry ReW my brother (56) got diagnosed with lung cancer about three months ago. He is level 3B which is bad but chemo seems to be shrinking his tumors so he may get more time than he expected. He appears to have a pretty positive attitude given the outlook.

[REWahoo]

donheff, glad to hear your brother is doing well. I've had four (now 5) people relatively close to me become victims of lung cancer and only one was fortunate enough to have reasonably good results from chemo/radiation treatments. He got a couple of good years after his diagnosis and I hope your brother does even better.

[saluki9]

ReW - Don't give up the fight before it has begun. My mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer 2 years ago which is almost always terminal. Two years later she is healthy, active, and other than holding her breath during her 3 month scans she is living well.

As for me, I have a roof over my head, a wife who doesn't totally despise me, an awesome dog, a job I don't hate going to, and some decent savings.

I can't find a worthy reason to complain. Things aren't perfect, but the fact is they never are. I also think that your outlook on life is shaped so much by your family growing up. My family is full of optimists. My father has never complained in his life about ANYTHING. For him things are always getting better, and that is how he sees life. He passed that on to me. My wife's family despite their financial success sees everything from a "glass half empty" perspective. I've never understood it. Life is too short to live that way.

I'm now trying to "fix" my wife from her upbringing. After 10 years of being together it's finally working.

[REWahoo]

Saluki, yeah I realize I'm spreading the black paint around pretty liberally. I'm normally an optimist and I'll work through it.

Your mom is a very fortunate lady to be doing so well. Nice to hear some positive news.

[linkerbink]

"If you are really pleased with your life, what makes it so grand?" I'm FIRE'd!

I, too, lost my husband (15 years ago) during a time I was feeling that life couldn't be grander. But as a result, I decided to move back "home" and became closer to my siblings than I had been in years, and was also able spend 12 quality years with my mother, which probably would not have happened if my husband were still alive. So, no matter what happens in life, you can usually find a silver lining out there somewhere. And FIREing just adds luster!