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  LiveWire / Teen Forums / The Intellectual Forum / Viewing Topic

is happiness a choice?
Replies: 38Last Post July 17, 2006 5:44pm by emmy350
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Choice Votes Percent  
yes 48 37%
no 28 21%
depends 53 41%
Vote Now! 129 Votes Cast
( midgetgrl15 )


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its pretty self explanitory.

this is geared towards things like depression and whatnot. is it a choice? should people just think positive, and that will make it all better?

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8:02 pm on May 13, 2006 | Joined Feb. 2006 | 217 Days Active
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placebo


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well it kinda depends on a person's situation..sometime people choose to think negatively and be pessimistic..other times shitty things just happen to them or they have low seritonin levels..like me hah

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8:06 pm on May 13, 2006 | Joined July 2005 | 195 Days Active
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LaxMaster


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It depends on the situation.

Sometimes when you decide what you do, that causes happiness or sadness. However, sometimes you don't have that kind of choice.

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8:06 pm on May 13, 2006 | Joined Feb. 2005 | 339 Days Active
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griefstrickengirl

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You cant always control how you feel, so i dont think it's a choice to be happy or not. Some people have really hard times at home. They can't just say to themselves, 'Oh even if I get beaten, I should be happy'. It doesn't really work that way.

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8:06 pm on May 13, 2006 | Joined July 2005 | 797 Days Active
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PHo


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It's a skill.

Happiness is all based on perception. You can see something and think "That sucks" or you can see the same thing, and force yourself to think something positive. Eventually, you think positive out of habit. Or so says my semi-hippie English teacher.

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8:09 pm on May 13, 2006 | Joined April 2005 | 526 Days Active
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Gestapo

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If you are talking about depression happiness is not a choice. Have you ever been depressed? You just can't get happy. Everything that once made you happy before depression, is just stupid.

But if your talking about not being in depression then yeah happiness is a choice. I think it is so dumb when people do not act happy. If your not happy your better off dead.

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8:45 pm on May 13, 2006 | Joined May 2006 | 29 Days Active
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chuckabanjo


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i don't think that depression is a choice, because from what i've heard its a chemicalunbalance in your brain, and you can hardly stop that can you.

but i voted yes becuase in other situations, you can chose to be happy, and chose to enjoy your life etc. but if you decide you hate everything, and refuse to consider life any other way, then you won't have happiness.

. . .unless happiness to you is hating everything which is a stupid and perverted belief.

so yeah i think happiness is a choice.


12:31 am on May 14, 2006 | Joined May 2006 | 32 Days Active
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The Samsoniteman


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Quote: from Gestapo at 4:45 am on May 14, 2006

If you are talking about depression happiness is not a choice. Have you ever been depressed? You just can't get happy. Everything that once made you happy before depression, is just stupid.

You can choose to fight and eventually overcome your deperssion. Thinking positively and seeking help are going to help for the vast majority of cases.

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6:13 am on May 14, 2006 | Joined June 2004 | 986 Days Active
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( midgetgrl15 )


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Quote: from The Samsoniteman at 9:13 am on May 14, 2006

Quote: from Gestapo at 4:45 am on May 14, 2006

If you are talking about depression happiness is not a choice. Have you ever been depressed? You just can't get happy. Everything that once made you happy before depression, is just stupid.

You can choose to fight and eventually overcome your deperssion. Thinking positively and seeking help are going to help for the vast majority of cases.


not really.

i can try all i want to think positive, but it doesnt really work. you can always fight, but you dont always win.


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1:14 pm on May 14, 2006 | Joined Feb. 2006 | 217 Days Active
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sn2006


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It's always hormones and/or outside factors, if I am looking at the corpse of a parent, you can't be happy, and as has been said, you can't be happy when you are depressed(obviously).  I would love to be happier, and more energetic as well, but I can't just wake up and say, be happy, it's hormonal.

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The Samsoniteman


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Quote: from midgetgrl15 at 9:14 pm on May 14, 2006

i can try all i want to think positive, but it doesnt really work. you can always fight, but you dont always win.

Yes, it does. If you suffer from depression, anxiety or anything else like that the best and most effective thing to do is admit you have a problem, tell yourself you will no longer be controlled by whatever is affceting you and seek help. If you've done this for yourself then you've won half the battle.

The people who really do suffer from deression/anxiety are the ones who wallow in self pity and say to themselves "I'm never going to feel better". This defeatist attitude will always stop you from recovering and recovry is always possible if you become proactive enough.

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10:20 am on May 15, 2006 | Joined June 2004 | 986 Days Active
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Just another kid

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Happiness, just like all emotions, is caused by a few biological processes inside of you. If you stick electrodes in your brain and stimulate areas of it, you'll experience happiness, in much the same way as you normally would. Now some people wouldn't call this "true" happiness, but it's exactly the same, biologically speaking. It depends on your definition of happiness.

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11:03 am on May 15, 2006 | Joined May 2006 | 601 Days Active
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( midgetgrl15 )


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Quote: from The Samsoniteman at 1:20 pm on May 15, 2006

Quote: from midgetgrl15 at 9:14 pm on May 14, 2006

i can try all i want to think positive, but it doesnt really work. you can always fight, but you dont always win.

Yes, it does. If you suffer from depression, anxiety or anything else like that the best and most effective thing to do is admit you have a problem, tell yourself you will no longer be controlled by whatever is affceting you and seek help. If you've done this for yourself then you've won half the battle.

The people who really do suffer from deression/anxiety are the ones who wallow in self pity and say to themselves "I'm never going to feel better". This defeatist attitude will always stop you from recovering and recovry is always possible if you become proactive enough.


wow. have you ever had depression? chronic depression?

1. i have been depressed for almost 3 years. i do not know what caused it, and nothing i do makes it go away. i can smile all i want, i can laugh, i can try till the moon falls out of the sky and it will not work. it only makes it worse.

2. its not self pity. its just the realization of no hope. depression brings along the lack of hope. without hope, what really, is the point? you always need hope, and sometimes it isnt in a persons power to get it.

3. I have admitted to myself i have a problem. i have sought out help. the help did not help, and i quit. my parents do not support me, nor believe me, so i am basically screwed. its not negative, its real. happy and false thoughts will only make falling harder. I am to the point where i am exhausted in every meaning of the world, and i am hanging on because of the people i love.

You cannot say it is my choice to feel like this. I have tried. I have failed. I have been trying for years, and its not working. its not my choice to tell myself i will not feel depressed today. it is not within my power, because it will only make it worse because im ignoring it, which makes it worse. i cannot have a positive attitude. i am a pessimist normally, with the depression, pessimism is a good thing. things are always (most of the time) better than what you expect them to be.

i have done what you said, and im still losing horribly.

it is not my choice. if i had a choice, it would to be happy, and mean the smiles that i give, and feel the laughs, not numbness. i am trying, i am fighting, but its not there.

to sum it up: happiness is not my choice.

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1:56 pm on May 15, 2006 | Joined Feb. 2006 | 217 Days Active
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The Samsoniteman


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The evidence is againt you. Eventually, you will feel better and the only way to begin the repair is to find something worth living for and holding onto it for your dear life. I don't need to have suffered from depression to know this.

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2:37 pm on May 15, 2006 | Joined June 2004 | 986 Days Active
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Another Idiot

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One could contend that no one has control over any of there actions and everything is already determined and as such happiness is not a choice.

B l a h   f u c k i n g    b l a h    b l a h    b l a h

One could contend that something could not come from nothing therefore happiness is not a choice.

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Thanks for helping me procrastinate.
I'm sure there is something I should be doing.


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