16. Happiness

Dear psychoanalysis class, this post exists partially because of your influence on me. And it has nothing related to you. Or maybe something. Or someone who I wish we had discussed more.
According to Carl Gustav Jung (yes, that's the one), there are five basic factors of happiness:

1. Good physical and mental health.
2. Good personal and intimate relationships, such as those of marriage, the family, and friendships.
3. The faculty for perceiving beauty in art and nature.
4. Reasonable standards of living and satisfactory work.
5. A philosophic or religious point of view capable of coping successfully with the vicissitudes of life.

Even though I agree with these statements, somehow I refuse to accept them as strictly determined factors. To me, happiness is individual. It is not a term, and quite often I do not think of it as a feeling either. Excitement and the rush of adrenaline could be defined as feelings, but happiness I consider a state of being. And yes, it could probably change any minute just like any other state you are in - whether you are lying straight on your back or you are curled up on one side, you could switch these at any moment. And yet, I also wonder what makes a human happy? Although it is all subjective, part of our psychic is fundamentally the same. Or is it?

Here is a cool video by Soul Pancake - a kind of an experiment (or a real social study? Idk). The channel is awesome, I have personally subscribed! :) So in case you wonder what brings you happy, you might find this interesting.

This post's photo defines my general state of happiness. And it is not only directly expressed through the objects on the photo (as awesome as they are) but also through the subjects (a.k.a. the people) behind them. You are my happiness!!

Nantucket, USA [July 19, 2013]