Happiness Can Break Your Heart

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Spectrum
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Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Spectrum »

It is often stated in many books, articles and by persons, one of the purpose of life is to seek happiness. Some insist on maximum happiness.
'Happiness' can actually be negative and a potential liability to one's life.

Note this research findings;
  • Happiness can break your heart:
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 204459.htm
    Happy events can trigger a heart condition known as takotsubo syndrome, according to new research. Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is known as 'broken heart syndrome.' Now, for the first time, researchers have systematically analyzed data from the largest group of patients diagnosed with TTS worldwide, and found that some patients have developed the condition after a happy or joyful event; they have named it 'happy heart syndrome.'
So in future do not insist the purpose of life is to seek happiness or maximum happiness.

Happiness is merely an emotion where its limitations must be understood and one should seek happiness optimally rather than maximally. Note the 'Middle-Way' of Buddhism.

Views?
Not-a-theist. Religion is a critical necessity for humanity now, but not the FUTURE.
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Phenomexistentialist
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Phenomexistentialist »

Spectrum wrote:It is often stated in many books, articles and by persons, one of the purpose of life is to seek happiness. Some insist on maximum happiness.
'Happiness' can actually be negative and a potential liability to one's life.

Note this research findings;
  • Happiness can break your heart:

    Happy events can trigger a heart condition known as takotsubo syndrome, according to new research. Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is known as 'broken heart syndrome.' Now, for the first time, researchers have systematically analyzed data from the largest group of patients diagnosed with TTS worldwide, and found that some patients have developed the condition after a happy or joyful event; they have named it 'happy heart syndrome.'
So in future do not insist the purpose of life is to seek happiness or maximum happiness.

Happiness is merely an emotion where its limitations must be understood and one should seek happiness optimally rather than maximally. Note the 'Middle-Way' of Buddhism.

Views?
I think this makes some sense. I like your nod to Buddhism's middle way. In general I think we want to be content with our lives and ought to strive for this. However, life is most rich when we experience the broad diversity of emotions, especially the ones we consider negative emotions like sadness, fear, and anger.
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LuckyR
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by LuckyR »

Spectrum wrote:It is often stated in many books, articles and by persons, one of the purpose of life is to seek happiness. Some insist on maximum happiness.
'Happiness' can actually be negative and a potential liability to one's life.

Note this research findings;
  • Happiness can break your heart:
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 204459.htm
    Happy events can trigger a heart condition known as takotsubo syndrome, according to new research. Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is known as 'broken heart syndrome.' Now, for the first time, researchers have systematically analyzed data from the largest group of patients diagnosed with TTS worldwide, and found that some patients have developed the condition after a happy or joyful event; they have named it 'happy heart syndrome.'
So in future do not insist the purpose of life is to seek happiness or maximum happiness.

Happiness is merely an emotion where its limitations must be understood and one should seek happiness optimally rather than maximally. Note the 'Middle-Way' of Buddhism.

Views?
Well, since 90% of folks with this rare problem are postmenopausal women, I am not personally going to change my personal outlook on the universe. Secondly this only very recently described problem (1990) mimics a heart attack but causes NO long-term heart damage ie it is a way better diagnosis to get than a real heart attack.
"As usual... it depends."
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Burning ghost
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Burning ghost »

Something I used to do for years was ask "Why am I happy?" and try to figure out what it was that brought me to be happy. Obviously once you do this you tend to fall out of the "happiness" state.

I think the "middle-way" is no less destructive than pushing to polar extremes. Also, it seems pretty obvious that if we are to find the "middle" we need to understand where the higher and lower reaches are. One persons "middle" may be another's "extreme". Then there are the binaries of life where there is no "middle" there is only a Yes or No choice, an active or non-active action. Passivity may be useful on occasions, but certainly not all.
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GraphicsGuy
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by GraphicsGuy »

"There is a price to be paid for every increase in consciousness. We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain." - Alan Watts

We cannot constantly be happy. It is not possible to remain perpetually in a single state of emotion and if we continually strive for happiness we will ultimately open ourselves up to greater and greater pain.

I feel that the best we can do is attempt to maintain a feeling of "peace" or "satisfaction" within our self.

I think the only way I could ever be regularly happy would be to be hit on the head and forget everything I know. :D
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Ranvier
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Ranvier »

It would be helpful to define "happiness" first, as it often means different things to everyone. Most people are actually unable to define precisely what exactly is the state of happiness.

It took me my entire life to produce my own definition of happiness as HOPE. Therefore, happiness can't break my heart :)
Spectrum
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Spectrum »

Ranvier wrote:It would be helpful to define "happiness" first, as it often means different things to everyone. Most people are actually unable to define precisely what exactly is the state of happiness.

It took me my entire life to produce my own definition of happiness as HOPE. Therefore, happiness can't break my heart :)
One can hope for happiness [in whatever form] but happiness is not hope.

All the brain activities are based on semi-independent modular programs.
Happiness is one of the primary emotions [as with sadness, anger, etc.] which are supported by their semi-independent modular programs.

"Hope" [a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.] is another semi-modular program established later than the primary emotions. The 'hope' program facilitate survival in progressive mode [in general] and it generate optimism. The 'hope' program is the one that is responsible for humankind to advance to the current stage of development.

When expectations are met, then the happiness program is triggered and the person feel happy.

When a person feel happy [or other emotions] it often set off a range of other activities [from different modular programs -subroutines]. If the secondary activities are too intense the person may even die of happiness if his/her physical state is weaken somewhat.
Feeling happy? Don't be too smug as chances are you will die young
Happiness can kill, claim scientists, after discovering that people who are too full of joy die younger than their more downbeat peers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... young.html
So does this mean that if one if full of hope all the time, one will die younger and thus 'hope' is detrimental to health in some ways.
NO, happiness is not hope.

As with any emotion [thus happiness], here is a good advice from Aristotle;
Anybody can become angry - that is easy,
but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quot ... 32211.html
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by -1- »

TTS was first discovered in 1990 by Japanese researchers, and since then it has been linked mainly to negative emotions like stress, anger, fear, or sadness. In fact, researchers have found a correlation between an increase of the syndrome and major natural disasters around the world. In 2014, a study found that broken heart syndrome cases rose sharply following Tropical Storm Irene in affected states in the U.S.

In the latest study, the researchers used data from the International Takotsubo Registry at the University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland to examine the emotional events that triggered TTS. A total of 485 patients had an emotional trigger for their TTS; some four percent of these experienced a happy event before the heart condition occurred. These happy events included birthday parties, weddings, or surprise parties. The majority of cases — 96 percent — were triggered by sad or stressful events. Interestingly, 95 percent of people in the emotional trigger groups (whether sad or happy) were women, shadowing past research that has found the condition mainly occurs in older women.

The researchers also found there was a physical difference in cases triggered by happy emotional events; “happy heart” patients were more likely to experience an expansion in the mid-ventricle compared to the left ventricle in "broken heart" patients.


The condition is reversible.

It occurs mainly when a sad news reaches the patient. Out of a hundred cases, only 4 are due to happy events; 96 are due to very sad news.

I don't see any risk in being happy because of the chance of TTS. I'd rather still be happy. Each to his own, I guess. You, OP, be as miserable and unhappy as you wish. Just don't pull me in it out of some good Samaritan effort.
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Ranvier
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Ranvier »

Spectrum

What makes you happy?
When would you be most happy, before a party, during the party, or after the party is over?

All the brain activities are based on semi-independent modular programs. You got my attention, I would like to know more.

"Hope" [a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.] Our definition of hope differs in description. For me, hope is neither expectation nor desire but anticipation of future unknown in belief that it will be better than now.
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

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Ranvier wrote: For me, hope is ... anticipation of future unknown in belief that it will be better than now.
I don't get it, Ranvier. To you hope is anticipating something which is totally unknown to you, and believing it will be better than now. (What is "it"? What does "it" refer to? What is the antecedent of "it"?) I parsed your sentence with inserting a comma in this fashion: "anticipation of [a] future unknown, in belief that it will be better than now."

Parsing your sentence a different and yet completely allowable way, seeing the lack of punctuation in the way you originally wrote it, you said this:
"anticipating a future, unknown in belief, that it will be better than now." This means that you expect a future will come, but your belief is not known to you, whether it [sic] will be better than now. In other words, you are oblivious as to what your own belief is.

You are not talking about the future being better than now, because then you wouldn't have used an "it", because then the "that" after the "belief," would have been a pronounal connective, instead of the connective of a subordinate clause. So the "it" does not refer to the future; if you had wanted to express that the future would be better than the present, you would have written, (not bothering with the "belief" part for the time being) this:
"expect a future will come, that will be better than now." Here, "now" should really be "the present", as "future" is a noun, "the present" is a noun, and "now" is a not a noun, but an adverb. It is bad form to compare a noun with an adverb.

I know I got carried away. Waaaaay away. I am a bastard. (Don't let my poor mother hear this. She does not know.)

Arriba!! Arriba!! Andele-andele, YEEHAW!
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Ranvier
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Ranvier »

Wow, lol. You definitely bring joy to my life... how about this:
anticipation of unknown future in belief that future will be better than now. Is that better? I hope :)
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by -1- »

Ranvier wrote:Wow, lol. You definitely bring joy to my life... how about this:
anticipation of unknown future in belief that future will be better than now. Is that better? I hope :)
That's grand!! This was ab-solOOtely awesome. Atta boy.

Now please kindly check out my mangling of your post in the BB thread (I think it's there... I can't remember)
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Larrylarry
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Re: Happiness Can Break Your Heart

Post by Larrylarry »

According to Buddha we should seek to become content and to not use our minds more than necessary. In this case we would not have happiness or sadness we would be completely content. This is very hard to become however. You can not have happiness without sadness however so if you are happy you are bound to become sad again. Its the roller coaster of life. Everything will catch back up to you
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