Happy or Sullen? YOU Make the Call.

Happy:  Having a feeling arising from a consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, such as comfort, peace, or tranquility; experiencing the effect of favorable fortune.  (Ed. Note: it's interesting that the concept of happiness is found in the etymology of many languages and almost all of them reference "fortune."  As in "it's the luck of the draw."  Not exactly a ringing endorsement for any efforts personally to be "happy" because it seems to me to be a matter of luck, at least to a certain degree.)

Fortune:  Destiny, especially favorable.  (Ed. Note: OK, that's a little better, the implication being that although your happiness is random destiny but at least it tends favorable.  Still the connotation is that happiness is tied to shit out of your control.)

Destiny: A predetermined fate. (Ed. Note:  OK, that hurts.  Back to a complete assurance that happiness is totally out of my control.)

Sullen: Having a brooding ill temper; gloomy; dismal; foreboding.  (Ed. Note: I threw that one in just to be a dick.)

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  It is founded on our thoughts.  It is made up of our thoughts.  If one speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows one, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the wagon.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  It is founded on our thoughts.  It is made up of our thoughts.  If one speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows one, like a shadow that never leaves.

(Dhammapada 1-2 

The Dhammapada is the earliest known collection of the Buddha's sayings.  I know I spend a lot of time writing (and thinking) about happiness.  It is so ingrained in my being that it's hard for me to quit thinking about whether or not I'm happy and how happy am I and what can I do to get really happy and omigod! what if my happiness goes away?

Good thoughts are so important.  Thoughts of others, not of myself and my own circumstances.  

The First Truth is that suffering, pain, and misery exist in life.  The Second Truth is that this suffering is caused by selfish craving and personal desire. The Third Truth is that this selfish craving can be overcome.  The Fourth Truth is that the way to overcome this misery is through the Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths, baby.  Take that.

As a general rule happy people make me nervous.  You know the type - always smiling, bubbling even, giddy, giggling, ready to go out and have some fun, some fucking fun.

Give me a break.  Go have fun somewhere else.  Give me a deep, brooding, intense person any day of the week.  More problematic from time to time but a lot more oomph to the personality.  Much more interesting.  

Man walks into a bar with two chickens, a running chainsaw, and a copy of Franz Kafka's "The Trial." -- "Charlie, give me two double scotches and call the police."