I want to, too. However, it doesn't always work that way.

Have you seen someone about your depression? It sounds clinical to me, though gods know I'm not a mental health professional. I can only go from my own experience. PM me if you need to talk to someone who's been there. Who is there.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

So what is his hourly rate?

__________________
Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I believe that you have got it absolutely correct!
it can truly only come from within, and for some people that is very hard to do.
no one can be totally happy all of the time, you just have to learn to back up and re-analyze yourself ,or your situation, to overcome the thoughts that keep you from bieng happy, or you will become totally miserable, depressed, angry, or a host of other emotions that are not beneficial to your self.

One thing for sure, its OK to be angry at times, anger is better than fear or sadness, as long as it doesn't go to far unchecked.
life is an up and down roller coaster ride, and it is like a box of chocolates, you never do know what your going to get, but think of it this way, you always get to eat the candy, be it bitter or sweet, and things will always change each time you make a choice, there is the beauty of the whole thing we call life.
just my opinion, but thats how I keep myself sane and happy when things are not going well.
Dennis

"I want to be able to tell my brain to release the right chemicals to make me happy."

Yes, I would love that too... The ability to feel emotional without having to swing off the edge either way. I'd be a much better artist!

When people ask me about my state of "happiness", I ask them to define the word, because unless they just read that Wiki definition, I'm not sure they know what they are asking.

I'm happy when I hear my kids laughing together, it provides me with the satisfaction that I have done well as a parent, one of my biological and percieved social roles. Other than a chemical imbalance, and the hinderances it has cause in my life, I have no reason not to be happy.

My hobbies make me happy, and sharing my knowledge and talents with others makes me happy.

A nice motorbike would make me happy too.... but not before the kids' college tuition is paid up!

I think that feeling needed and wanted, having a sense of belonging, is crucial to inner happiness. Taking from society, and giving back... and maintaining a balance between those states.

I would add that the opposite (sadness comes from within) is also true.

This lines up with my beliefs that emotional states are all self-created, that self worth based on outside sources is a very unhealthy approach to self worth, and that if validation from others is an important part of a person's life - they are in big trouble.

It's a setup for sheeplike behavior, for being highly vulnerable to peer pressure, for engaging in boatloads of unhealthy behavior, for constantly seeing yourself as the victim of others or of circumstances, and on and on.

If there were only one skill I could give to my children, it would be the ability to self-examine on a regular basis. Ask who you are, where you are going, how will you get there, what do you believe, will my beliefs lead to behaviors that meet my needs, etc. Do this regularly and honestly, and life becomes an adventure instead of a task list.

__________________
Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I was lucky enough to have a mother that taught us that,her credo was "Only YOU can make YOU happy".

I have a sign in my music room:
NO WHINING
$10 FINE

__________________
"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

One of the things that makes me happier is getting sympathy from friends when things are bad.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Sympathy is alright, solutions are much better.

Really? Solve my problems, then. Bring my boyfriend home and fix my brain chemistry. Sometimes, there aren't solutions; sometimes, the solutions would cause more problems. I mean, one of my friends could kick her obnoxious roommate out, but she'd be stuck paying his share of rent until she could find a replacement for him, and she can only mostly afford to pay her own!

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Lots of things can make you happy but only
one thing makes you unhappy. Other people!
But you have to make an effort. People working
together achieve great things.

One of the things that makes me happier is getting sympathy from friends when things are bad.
__________________

It is happinesss also but only temporary. Sometimes we need those to clear our brains from feeding sad messages and re-think of the solutions .

That's not true.

Look, people, I'd love to just be cheerful all the time. But I can't blame my unhappiness on other people, or even concious behavior on my own part. And again, there is no solution to some of my unhappiness--even that which isn't produced by random chemical interaction in my brain.

Graham is in Iraq. Graham will continue to be in Iraq until at least summer. He's not in control of that, and neither am I. There is no solution. But it's nice to have my friends be sympathetic to my plight. Is being sad about it whining? And how am I supposed to rethink a solution when there isn't one?

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

The solution to your whining .. dont dwell on it. Its your choice whether to be sad or not.

I myself ,have the same situation as yours .
At least for you , you know when he will come back.
Mine, I dont know. But I am happy because I choose to be happy.

I'm genuinely sorry, Whirlpool, but it's a bit too late in my night to come up with a tactful way of saying this: You really don't know what you're talking about in this matter.

I'm willing to give you the benefit of some doubt and assume your not intentionally being offensive, but you need to understand that your statement is the moral equivalent of telling an amputee to "just walk it off".

[Edit to add: I'm omitting the rest of what I'd like to say as unnecessarily hostile.]

__________________
In Fallout 3, 'happiness' is a warm junkyard dog and a loaded gun. It's mostly the loaded gun.
- Moose's one-line review.

"your going to regret that one. You are now a colonoscope...
- Chrissy, corrupting PraedSt's wish.

Those who are autistic or sociopathic would appear to embody
this aspect of your philosophy perfectly. The most salient
feature of both conditions is that the people afflicted don't
care anything about what anyone else thinks.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

I am generally very happy - happier than I have in a long while.

I am living a dream being here in Japan and teaching IB Physics - the hard work (not luck) has paid off.

Getting to travel and see, experience and witness sites and events brings me happiness - as does music and good movies

__________________
Damien,
International Baccalaureate Physics teacher
Optics, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Instrumentation Major
Admin: Pacific Science and Art

Thank you for being tactful, Moose.

I dont have intentions to offend, I may have overlooked the moral effect.....

I apologize Gillianren..

And for the case that I dont know what I'm talking about in this matter....

I very well do...

Being happy or being sad as the opposite, are very well depends on our choice .

its like this ...
" Im craving for brownies today, but mom baked cookies instead of brownies... will I be sad? Yes .. bec I choose to be sad that I'm eating cookies instead of brownies....but on the other hand.. I can choose to be happy....accept that .." Hey.. cookies are good to.....brownies can wait ...Thanks Mom!"...

Its a matter of how you look and deal with life...

I may sited a simple example but I hope you see my point....

No. You don't know what you're talking about.

First of all, look up "bipolar disorder." Go. Do that, then get back to me. I was diagnosed with it in seventh grade. I am currently taking Effexor, 150 mg, which isn't helping yet but might. Or might not. If it doesn't, we start over. Again. Like we did after the Zoloft, the Paxil, the Celexa, the Wellbutrin, and the Prozac. The Wellbutrin, by the way, gave me mood swings that lasted exactly twenty minutes--while I was trying to be professional at ren faire.

Second, perhaps you didn't get this. My boyfriend is in a war zone. He could die at any time. Even if he doesn't, he's away. He left in May, and he gets back in summer for two weeks--probably--then back for good in November--probably. If they don't extend his tour. Which they might. He wouldn't be the only person they've done it to.

"Choose to be happy"? Try "suppress my true emotions." I'm not happy. I'm lonely. I miss him so much it physically hurts. He misses me, too. I go on with my life, and I enjoy spending time with my friends. I go to movies. I watch DVDs. I talk to you guys. And I take my pills every night, because maybe someday, they'll do some good.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"