The AI generated image of a bookshelf saying “happiness” is a type of strawman I hadn’t seen before, though.
For nearly two years I've split happiness into 3 pillars: .Mental well-being .Physical well-being .Social well-being
A truly happy day is a stars aligning event where each category has to be fulfilled.
But you get a lot more nuance in knowing your emotional happiness is not occurring with equally strong physical or social happiness.
This is a realistic way of looking at things, I would break it down personally a bit more granular level, but it is quite true. Most days I barely achieve the targets (this mostly applies mostly to my personal goals) I set out for the day but I am making peace with myself due to a really painful breakup I have gone through recently, while also dealing with some other personal troubles and I am trying to make peace with it cause I think I have come to accept the troubles I have been in the past few months and planning to do things about it.
What is missing here is any consideration of what makes people happy. Maybe not chasing shallow materialistic ambitions? Not playing lie as a zero sum games?
"huge part of philosophical and religious thought" is sweeping in the extreme.
Take for instance what a Christian would tell you about happiness -- they would hardly be saying the same thing as I mentioned above. Take a Buddhist or a Hindu -- they would probably agree with the first half of the proposition above (happiness cannot be procured permanently) but the entire thrust of those traditions has been (basically) to recognize this fact and give it all up and retire to the caves.
It is when you feel happiness requires a ton of work or big things to change that happiness is fall away and we start to despair.
If you sit for too long, it will nag you to move. It you move for too long, it will nag you to sit.
A little bit of sarcasm without opening up the PC Pandora's box. I understand why in Hinduism the life energy called Shakti, that throbs inside us, is represented by the femininity: you can never make it happy.