The happiness I feel now is the pain I had before.

[Kayakin]

I came across this on the internet, and wonder if anyone has any thoughts on it.

The happiness I feel now is the pain I had before.

Don’t think you can feel happiness without pain. If your life never has difficulty or pain or challenge, it’s hard to feel happiness. It’s hard to feel the joy of something if your life is loaded with it. Treats become rote and routine and ordinary if you repeat them constantly.

[sweetiepye]

This is the argument the haves use on the have nots. I don't buy it. Pam

[Kayakin in reply to sweetiepye]

Thanks sweetiepie.

Maby the writer C S Lewis agrees with you. He says the opposite of what I said I think

"The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.” ― C.S. Lewis

That is what he said when suffering from the pain of the death of his wife.

I have experienced some happiness in the past, but more pain and burden now and in the past. I wonder if there is any path to happiness by looking at the past. I think I can not recreate the past happiness because anxiety and age prevents me from doing that.

[Hidden]

Hi Kayakin. I cannot help feel that this may not be true. When you see a happy and healthy baby who is loved they do not know any different yet they still experience happiness. When you see a well treated animal who is loved they seem to show happiness too. I do not believe we need to go through pain to know happiness.

[NWGal]

Not too sure I totally agree. In my opinion emotional happiness and pain on a continuum are on either end of the spectrum. Doesn't seem rational that we need to experience pain to feel happiness. Seems to support deep feelings of depression in order to recover from it. Good karma my friend.

[BrainFog-Ninja]

Hi. Kayakin,

Hmmmm. I can hear how that CS Lewis quote can be true...in relation specifically to him grieving (ie his current pain is due to him remembering his past happiness w/his wife who died). I don’t think that really the same as applying it to life in general...

I don’t agree w/ the have to have pain to have happiness theory. Uhhh. Maybe as something to compare to....if it was necessary to quantify the amount of happiness, or pinpoint on a number scale of which pain is worse? Nothing works like that, and that doesn’t make sense bc there is not really any “comparing” happiness.

If I don’t have another lick of pain—100% sure I will know happiness and be perfectly fine!

I don’t agree that you can’t have happiness due to age, or any other factors. “Recreating” ?? Now that’s another issue. I don’t think happiness can be “re-created”, it is a by-product of being authentic, true, and purposeful. I think you have every chance to create a life, and circumstances that make you happy currently, and in the future. Of course you do.

I think happiness is like LOVE...it’s all unique and different, there are unlimited supplies, and the more it is shared, the more it multiplies!!

It is also impossible to measure, compare, or quantify....it just is what it is!

Nope—not me! Isn’t hard for me to feel the joy...bc I have too much. I know it’s joy, and bring on the over abundance of treats for me! Haha.

[sweetiepye in reply to BrainFog-Ninja]

I am playing on your team BrainFog.