How to be happy ?

[old bob]

Hey everybody,

In our daily life, we have moments of happiness and of sadness. The blogs are full of such moments and the possibilities to share them with friends are some of the reasons we participate in GA. How often I thought in such moments

Edited December 5, 2007 by old bob

[Benji]

Hey everybody,

In our daily life, we have moments of happiness and of sadness. The blogs are full of such moments and the possibilities to share them with friends are some of the reasons we participate in GA. How often I thought in such moments "If I could I would" and dreamed of a fairy or a witch offering me a choice between different gifts to "enlighten" my life. As we know from the fairy tales, these gifts have positive and negative sides. Think of it!

Suppose you meet such a fairy, who gives you just one choice and only one between the possibilities above. It wouldn't mean that you would lose your chances about the others (you don't know in advance what life can bring to you); it would just mean that the choice you make brings you with 100% certainty what you want in the matter.

What would your choice be?

Not so easy to answer

Old Bob (who couldnt yet make his choice )

 

 

...........Actually Bob, I found the choice rather easy since "healthy" was mixed in with youth.

[SonoLuminus]

...........Actually Bob, I found the choice rather easy since "healthy" was mixed in with youth.

 

Same here. I would be satisfied with just that part, even if I continued to appear to age.

[The Reaper]

power fo sho....super powers i hope

[FrenchCanadian]

geez, I hesitate between 2 (youth and wealth). I'll chose wealth, not cause I never wanna work or stuff like that, I know that money doesn't buy happiness (and all that crap they say, lol) but because I do have friends from a little everywhere,, and having that wealth well I'd be able to visit them without thinking,, can I afford it.

[Benji]

geez, I hesitate between 2 (youth and wealth). I'll chose wealth, not cause I never wanna work or stuff like that, I know that money doesn't buy happiness (and all that crap they say, lol) but because I do have friends from a little everywhere,, and having that wealth well I'd be able to visit them without thinking,, can I afford it.

 

 

.............Try that answer in 20 years LOL

[Demetz]

I was going to vote for love, but what's this not forever business?

 

If I can't have lasting love till death, I'll settle for being sharp and young forever and move from love to love.

[JamesSavik]

With wealth, one can obtain any of the others.

[Benji]

With wealth, one can obtain any of the others.

 

 

..........Youth.....to preserve your body and your brain from wither, illnesses and age

I don't know if Wealth can't buy this

[JamesSavik]

..........Youth.....to preserve your body and your brain from wither, illnesses and age

I don't know if Wealth can't buy this

 

Wealth can afford those elective procedures that most peoples health care won't cover.

 

Granted, you might end up looking like Michael Jackson but that is a matter for taste and good judgement.

 

Besides for plastic surgery, there are procedures that fix eyesight, keeps weight off, tightens skin, etc.

 

Wealth is NOT the fountain of youth but it helps to be able to afford the type of care that your typical middle class person can not..

[Hylas]

ugh... i voted for love. then immediately regretted it. Why does it not have to be forever? If it was at least until death then I'd have chosen it happily over everything else. but... since it is...

 

should have voted for youth too.

[viv]

The selfish part of me wanted to vote for Youth, but in the end I went with Freedom. None of the others seemed worthy to me, or in my mind, followed another and by default you would have it anyway.

[franticity]

I went the youth route, in the style of Dorian Gray. Although, maybe I should have finished reading the book before deciding...

[Ieshwar]

I went with Wealth and agree that it can buy all of the things above.

 

Yay for Wealth!

 

Boo for never having enough!

 

 

Ieshwar

[FrenchCanadian]

.............Try that answer in 20 years LOL

 

LOL, you gotta learn to love your body

 

I was going to vote for love, but what's this not forever business?

 

Ya the "not forever stopped me,, the true love being not forever,, that's just setting a depression after it ended...

[BeaStKid]

Me?

I chose wisdom. And I hope Bob, that by life and death, you meant about most of the things.

 

One can have wealth with the knowledge and with the wealth, one can have 'youth' as James pointed out.

 

Love, hmmm... Since its a moments thing, it can be obtained with the wisdom. Freedom to be oneself can also be achieved if you're wise enough to play with words.

 

Power, again can be achieved if you're a master of words, ie, wise enough.

 

just my two cents worth

 

BeaStKid

[Menzoberranzen]

I honestly don't know what I would choose, but it would be between youth and freedom with wealth a close third. I have no interest in power over people I dislike anyway, I think that being able to answer any question would be oddly depressing and love is something I can live without. I wouldn't want eternal youth, but living my allotted years youthfully would be enjoyable.

 

It's a toss up, but I think in the end I'd choose youth. Wealth can be made, and freedom can be obtained; youth is something you can't ever really get back.

 

Menzo

[rknapp]

Without freedom, the others would be entirely pointless. If you are not free to love, direct (power), or speak your mind (wisdom), then what have you got? Eternal youth is a prize of the highest order, but what good is it if you don't have the freedom to use that youthful energy (climb mountains, sail the seven seas, run marathons, etc.)? Wealth is something we all desire to a certain degree, but what good is it when freedom is priceless?

[Hylas]

Without freedom, the others would be entirely pointless.

 

who said you can't have the others? It's only a wish, once you have it, you can still pursue your other dreams, imo.

[jfalkon]

If you choose power do you get power over the fairy who gave you the power? If I could have power over the fairy I could just ask him for whatever else I wanted and he would have to give it to me. ...not that I would take advantage of the poor creature.

 

If I had to choose just one I would go with freedom. I like doing my own thing. If I could have fun and not have anyone give me crap that's good enough.

[DuffManBurns]

I'm a skirt, so I'mma vote for love.

 

I've got a reasonable amount of freedom now. I've had serious money before--it was dandy and all, but eh. Power ain't my racket. And I've lived this long despite being functionally retarded, rawkin' the drool cup and helmet, so I figure I can survive without wisdom. Youth was tempting, but I certainly don't act my age now, so there's no reason to believe I'll grow up anytime soon. Perhaps when the joints start creaking I'll be singing a different tune, but not quite yet.

 

Happiest I've ever been's when I was in love. (Wow, that's so codependent, heh.) And it didn't last forever, as these things don't, but while it did, it's the best time I've ever known. So...yeah.

[writeincode]

Youth. Forever young, healthy, motivated, beautiful, powerful and with a neverending supply of opportunities. Gotta love it.

 

Freedom- what good is absolute freedom if it removes the challenge of overcoming adversity?

Wisdom- if ignorance is bliss what can be said for wisdom?

Wealth- Well excessive wealth often comes with isolation, boredom, overindulgence and arrogance so.. no

Power- it was a toss up between power and youth but with absolute power also comes a lack of challenge and arrogance so i chose youth.

Love (for a moment)- been there done that, need not repeat. I want forever.

[Graeme]

I also went for youth, with wisdom being my other choice.

 

My view was that that was as close to a wish for immortality as you can get, and with the ability to live a long time you can take the big picture view to things like wealth -- invest with a view of decades, not years.

 

With wealth, one can obtain any of the others.

Actually, if that's your view, you should have picked Power. With others obeying you, you can ask for donations and be as wealthy as you want (Bill? I need a couple of billion dollars. Can you drop it off tomorrow? Thanks, mate!). With power you can have any freedom you want to -- because those who want to deny freedom will obey you when you tell them to get lost (or words to that effect ). Healthcare is only a request/order away. Love is trickier, but lust is easily satisfied since the object of your lust will obey your every wish.

 

However, I'm not a megalomaniac, so I went with youth....

[clumber]

Why is this poll biased against love? Its been ,ade to discourage anybody from picking it with that "only for a moment" stuff.

 

Therefore, my vote is for an option which may not have been offered but should have been offered:

 

True love till death.

 

 

 

 

Martin

[ashessnow]

Wealth. The old adage is wrong, money can definitely buy happiness.