I spend my life trying to understand the phenomenon of happiness and how to maximize positive experiences. Here I try to outline what I have learned so far.

What is happiness?

I think most people have a pretty clear intuitive interpretation of what happiness is. However, given the complexity of life, natural sciences are so far unable to derive the physical roots of experiences and feelings. Hence, it is difficult to get a clear definition of what we mean when we refer to happiness. I interpret happiness as the experience of an intrinsically preferred state of being. Imagine a spectrum of states ranging from unhappy to happy. I think of unhappy states as when it seems beneficial to reduce the degree of consciousness, or the wish for time to pass in the desire for change. On the contrary, happy states are those we want to experience the fullest, remember in the future, and last for as long as possible. By viewing it as symmetrical spectrum from bad to good, there should be a neutral point of zero. Happiness is of course a continuum, but for simplicity, let’s assume there are five states of being: very unhappy (-2), unhappy (-1), neutral (0), happy (1), very happy (2). The total amount of happiness is the total amount of experiences times the their respective value of happiness. The quantity unit is somewhat unclear, but for simplicity it can be interpreted as the amount of time spent in a state. What causes unhappy or happy states may of course vary, but I think people generally can relate to a spectrum from intrinsically bad to good states of happiness, well-being, life satisfaction, or whatever you want to call it.

Happiness is a conscious state. It is arises from and is limited to our subjective perceptions. The external environment does not directly impact happiness, in indirectly affects it through our reaction to the environment. One could imagine two people in identical external environments and circumstances experiencing different degrees of happiness. Sometimes the mood can shift over a couple of minutes in absence of virtually any external changes. 30 minutes ago I still had the same amount money, the same house, the same temperature, the same challenges ahead of me etc., while the degree of happiness experienced have significantly changed. Although it may be indirectly influenced by external events, happiness births, lives, and dies internally in our subjective consciousness.

I think the overarching goal of beings is to maximize happiness. This page is an attempt to outline why I think that, and discuss a variety of methods of achieving the goal of happiness.

Consciousness includes everything a being is and knows about. Nothing about what I know about life changes when I clip my nails. A being can never be certain of the existence of anything apart from their consciousness. Consciousness takes the form of states. Individuals intrinsically prefer certain states of others. Satisfying the preferences for conscious states should therefore be the overarching goal of any being.

Determinants of happiness

• Reference points
• Diminishing returns from experiences
• Ego
• Free will
• Meditation
• Awareness
• Like a dog
• Goals
• Subjectivity
• Intuition
  • As knowledge
  • As philosophy
  • As alignment
  • Happiness
• Reduce negative experiences
  • Anger
  • Stress
  • Regret
  • Sadness