HAPPINESS

Definition of Happiness:
The state of being happy.

Synonyms of Happiness:
Content, cheerfulness, merriness, joyfulness, high spirits, etc.

These notes are from recovery in AA and/or related 12 step programs.
Readers are encouraged to click external links for more detail.
We hope you find them helpful.

Love in fellowship.

If you are Not Happy Today?
Then What Day are You Waiting On? –Unknown

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis. –Margaret Bonnano | More…

Happiness depends on conditions being perceived as positive. Inner peace does not. –The Power of Now/Eckhart Tolle | More…

Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. —Og Mandino

Long-term happiness is not the by-product of short-term gratification. We will find happiness when we learn to get quiet and listen to our inner selves. –Each Day A New Beginning/Karen Casey | More…

Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy. We must get outside of ourselves and focus on another’s joy or sorrow.  –Each Day A New Beginning/Karen Casey | More…

The happiness that comes from knowing who we are and how our lives fit in the grand design of the Creator, never eludes us. We are one of a kind.

And there is no other who can offer to the world of friends just what each of us can. We are needed, and knowing that, really knowing it, brings happiness. –Each Day a New Beginning/Karen Casey 04/06 | More…

With the Creator in our lives, we are everything. Without the Creator, we are nothing.

When the Creator is in our life, suddenly the impossible becomes possible. The extraordinary becomes ordinary.

Things we thought could never happen start to happen.
Talents we never knew we had, start to blossom.

Resources appear. Help arrives to give us guidance and direction.

We become happy. We have peace of mind and confidence.  –Elders Meditations/White Bison | More…

The happiness that comes from knowing who we are and how our lives fit in the grand design of the Creator, never eludes us. We are one of a kind.

And there is no other who can offer to the world of friends just what each of us can. We are needed, and knowing that, really knowing it, brings happiness. –Each Day a New Beginning/Karen Casey 04/06 | More…

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. -–Oscar Wilde | More…

Our expectations are not always grounded in reality. Reaching the level of childhood bliss is usually either impossible or fleeting.

My experience is that we usually have a set-point for happiness. We learn to accept our life – just as it is, today, now –One Day At A Time 05/05 | More…

Happiness is our birth-right. The decision to be happy is ours to make, every day, when confronted with any experience.

Happiness lies within. We must encourage it to spring forth. But first we need to believe that happiness is fully within our power.

Life is a gift we are granted moment-by-moment. We can marvel at creation for a moment and realize how special we are to be participants.

Happiness will overcome us if we let it. We can best show our gratitude for the wonder of this gift by smiling within and without. –Each Day a New Beginning/Karen Casey | More…

It’s thought that Abe Lincoln once said, “We’re as happy as we make up our minds to be.” In other words, we decide to be happy. Bad weather, broken plans, even angry friends don’t have to ruin our own happiness unless we let them.

 We’re always in control of our own thoughts and feelings, and happiness is a feeling we can choose even when others around us have chosen to be angry or sad. Even when the day is gloomy and none of our plans are working out, we can still be cheerful if we decide to be. –Today’s Gift | More…

We can all learn to change our lives so the child within each of us can live in balance with the people we have become. We learn is that it doesn’t take much to make this child happy – even today. We keep our own happiness safe inside us to call on whenever we need it, as long as we keep a healthy relationship with the child within. –Today’s Gift | More…

When we are down, when everything seems to be going wrong for us, that’s when we probably notice that for some time our attention has been on ourselves. It’s trite to say that we can get out of this painful self-absorption only by helping someone else, but it’s true.

Helping others is a way to help ourselves. It is a spiritual principle, and our program is based on this principle of love for one another. –In God’s Care/Karen Casey | More…

If only…, we’d be happy. It’s an old and unfortunate habit that we look around outside ourselves for happiness.

We can never be sure of it if we count on certain conditions to guarantee it. However, we can always be sure of happiness if we carry it with us wherever we go.

The happiness habit can be developed, with practice, just as surely as good piano playing or accurate pitching. We can control our own thoughts. The decision to make them happy ones is ours to make. –Today’s Gift | More…

We can take joyful moments and treasure them until they accumulate into happiness.We have the choice to treasure them or to allow them to disappear in our lack of gratitude and appreciation. Every day there is joy that we miss because we aren’t looking for it. –One Day At A Time 08/08 | More…

Happiness is rarely achieved by pursuing it. So where does happiness fit in?

Paradoxically, when happiness is no longer our goal, we have more of it. In You, there is joy. –Food For Thought | More…

We can change our bad patterns by looking carefully at the people and situations we seem to attract. Without resentment or condemnation, we can part company with any problems these have been bringing us.  –Walk In Dry Places/Mel B.| More…

We deserve to be happy. If happiness is eluding us, we may be using unhappiness as penance for our past wrongs. Thinking and living rightly is a path to happiness. –Walk In Dry Places/Mel B | More…

Our happiness is not a present someone else holds in his or her hands. We will see that, all along, our happiness and our well-being have been in our hands. –The Language of Letting Go/Melody Beattie | More..

The quest for eternal life brings happiness, but the quest for happiness alone misses eternal life. –The Upper Room/ May 24/1939 | More…

There is no happiness; there are only moments of happiness. — Spanish proverb Moments of happiness, like creative thoughts, pass before us all the time.

If we want to enjoy them, it’s up to us to reach out and take them when they appear. The opportunities are boundless, and they all come dressed up like other people.

No one has ever been happy for long in isolation.
We are not, by nature, solitary creatures.

God gave us people to be with. And as an incentive to be kind to one another, God made each of us a source of happiness for others. –In God’s Care/Karen Casey | More…

We are working the Steps of the program, better and better as the abstinent days add up. We are free from past behaviors. And we can be free from our negative attitudes too.

Making a decision to look for the good in our experiences and in our friends and acquaintances frees us from so much frustration. It ushers in happiness, not only for us but for the others we are treating agreeably. Happiness is a by-product of living the right kind of life. –Each Day A New Beginning/Karen Casey | More…

Feeling happy is a by-product of life experiences. Happiness comes and goes. We welcome it but cannot capture and hold it, nor can we create a recipe for achieving happiness.

We will lead far more successful lives pursuing other values which we do have control over, such as honesty, respect for others and ourselves, seeking loving relationships, and making a contribution to the well-being of others. We can accept unhappiness and difficulties without struggle when we know we are doing something that has greater meaning.

Our Eleventh Step helps us focus on God’s purpose for us. We can have an inner sense of joy knowing we are leading meaningful lives, even when we aren’t having a particularly happy day. –Touchstones 17/12 | More…

If only…, we’d be happy. It’s an old and unfortunate habit that we look around outside ourselves for happiness.

We can never be sure of it if we count on certain conditions to guarantee it. However, we can always be sure of happiness if we carry it with us wherever we go.

The happiness habit can be developed, with practice, just as surely as good piano playing or accurate pitching. We can control our own thoughts. The decision to make them happy ones is ours to make. –Today’s Gift 02/08 | More…

We can lose our sense of self and only feel complete when we’re with the other person. We need to remember that we can be a good partner in a relationship only if we feel complete within ourselves. Being ourselves means bringing our own world to meet the world of our loved ones, rather than depending on them to make our world. –Today’s Gift | More…

Happiness is such an elusive state. How often is my search for happiness a boulder in the path of growth for another, or even myself?

Seeking growth through humility and acceptance brings things that appear to be anything but good, wholesome and vital. Yet in looking back, I can see that pain, struggles and setbacks have all contributed eventually to serenity through growth in the program.  –Daily Reflections | More…

The way of A.A. is the way of sobriety, fellowship, service and faith. We cannot build any kind of decent life unless we stay sober.

The only way to be truly happy is to try to do God’s will. In these times of meditation, we seek to get guidance so that we can find God’s will for us. –24 Hours | More…

Happiness comes from following the spiritual voice found in each of us. Sometimes, the voice tells us to do things we’re afraid of.

For Example, if we’re lonely and the voice tells us to call someone on our phone list, we may make excuses to not do it. Again, the voice may say, “Just make the call. It will be okay.

If we follow the voice, we will find happiness. The spiritual voice inside us speaks of care and love.

It will never tell us to hurt others or ourselves. It’s our Higher Power’s voice . It’s what Step Eleven calls “conscious contact.” –Keep It Simple 29/11 | More…

My creed is that; Happiness is the only good.
The place to be happy is here.

The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy is to make others so. –Robert G. Ingersoll

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply,
to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. –Storm Jameson

It is the heart that makes a man rich.
He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has. –Henry Ward Beecher

Everyone has a song to sing.
This song is the reason we are on this earth.

When we are doing what we came on this earth to do, we know true happiness.
How will we know our song? Pray.

Ask the Great Mystery, “What is it you want me to do during my stay on earth?”

Ask. He will tell you. He will even help you develop yourself to accomplish His mission. –Elders | More…

The only way you’ll ever be happy is to be happy with what you have.
You can be happy this very instant if you’ll simply be happy with what you have.

Being happy with what you have doesn’t prevent you from creating more.
In fact, it puts you in a powerful position to add new value to your world and your life.

When you’re happy with what you have, you’re deeply in touch with life’s abundance.
Within that abundance is every good possibility.

Be happy, and thankful, for the way life is.
It will open your eyes to the best possibilities for the way life can be.

There is great value in whatever you already have.
The way to see that value, and to make full use of it, is to be happy with what you have.

Life’s richness is yours the moment you allow it.
Be happy with what you have, and nothing can stop you from having it all. –Ralph Marston

The Elders say that what everyone really wants is to be happy and have a peaceful mind. Material things by themselves do not bring happiness and peace of mind. Only spiritual things bring happiness. -Elder’s Meditations | More…

A happy life is made up of little things . . . a gift sent, a letter written, a call made, a recommendation given, transportation provided, a cake made, a book lent, a check sent. –Carol Holmes

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result Of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. –Fredrick Koeing

Beware of destination addiction: the idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job, or even the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are. –Robert Holden

In the natural life our ambitions alter as we develop; in the spiritual life the goal is given at the beginning, the beginning and the end are the same, viz., God. The aim of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful, not to win the heathen; he is useful and he does win the heathen, but that is not his aim. His aim is to do the will of God. –My Utmost for His Highest Classic | More…

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstances but by our disposition. –Martha Washington

Toward A Different Order of Reality
Remember that your perception of the world is a reflection of your state of consciousness. You are not separate from it, and there is no objective world out there. Every moment, your consciousness creates the world that you inhabit.

Nothing is what it seems to be. The world that you create and see through the egoic mind may seem a very imperfect place, even a vale of tears. But whatever you perceive is only a kind of symbol, like an image in a dream. It is how your consciousness interprets and interacts with the molecular energy dance of the universe. This energy is the raw material of socalled physical reality. You see it in terms of bodies and birth and death, or as a struggle for survival.

An infinite number of completely different interpretations, completely different worlds, is possible and, in fact, exists – all depending on the perceiving consciousness.

Every being is a focal point of consciousness, and every such focal point creates its own world, although all those worlds are interconnected. There is a human world, an ant world, a dolphin world, and so on. There are countless beings whose consciousness frequency is so different from yours that you are probably unaware of their existence, as they are of yours. Highly conscious beings who are aware of their connectedness with the Source and with each other would inhabit a world that to you would appear as a heavenly realm – and yet all worlds are ultimately one.

But don’t confuse cause and effect. Your primary task is not to seek salvation through creating a better world, but to awaken out of identification with form. You are then no longer bound to this world, this level of reality. You can feel your roots in the unmanifested and so are free of attachment to the manifested world. You can still enjoy the passing pleasures of this world, but there is no fear of loss anymore, so you don’t need to cling to them.

Although you can enjoy sensory pleasures, the craving for sensory experience is gone, as is the constant search for fulfilment through psychological gratification, through feeding the ego. You are in touch with something infinitely greater than any pleasure, greater than any manifested thing. In a way, you then don’t need the world anymore. You don’t even need it to be different from the way it is.

It is only at this point that you begin to make a real contribution toward bringing about a better world, toward creating a different order of reality. It is only at this point that you are able to feel true compassion and to help others at the level of cause. Only those who have transcended the world can bring about a better world.

You may remember that we talked about the dual nature of true compassion, which is awareness of a common bond of shared mortality and immortality. At this deep level, compassion becomes healing in the widest sense. In that state, your healing influence is primarily based not on doing but on being. Everybody you come in contact with will be touched by your presence and affected by the peace that you emanate, whether they are conscious of it or not.

When you are fully present and people around you manifest unconscious behavior, you won’t feel the need to react to it, so you don’t give it any reality. Your peace is so vast and deep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction. Animals, trees, flowers will feel your peace and respond to it. You teach through being, through demonstrating the peace of God. You become the “light of the world,” an emanation of pure consciousness, and so you eliminate suffering on the level of cause. You eliminate unconsciousness from the world.

Raise awareness by disseminating information, or at the most, practice passive resistance. But make sure that you carry no resistance within, no hatred, no negativity. “Love your enemies,” said Jesus, which, of course, means “have no enemies.” The causal level needs to remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose, and peace your most precious gift to the world. –© The Power of Now/Eckhart Tolle p.164-169 | More…

My life is run by choices and decisions. Every choice I make today will carry with it the consequences of that choice. Every decision I make today will carry with it the consequences of that decision. The question I will ask myself today is, “Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right?” Whichever one I choose will have a lot to do with the consequences I will experience today. If today was the last day of my life, what choices and what decisions would I make? –Elders Meditations | More…

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. –Fredrick Koeing

A happy life is made up of little things . . . a gift sent, a letter written, a call made, a recommendation given, transportation provided, a cake made, a book lent, a check sent. –Carol Holmes

The elimination of selfishness is the key to happiness and can only be accomplished with God’s help. As we grow and come in contact with other people, we can take one of two paths. We can become more and more selfish and practically extinguish the Divine Spark within us, or we can become more unselfish and develop our spirituality until it becomes the most important thing in our lives. –24 Hours | More…

The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy. –Thich Nhat Hanh