What would you say if I told you that how a person looks at the world is a direct reflection of how happy they are personally?

Well, I’d say “show me the proof”. But that’s because it’s the first thing I say when someone says “what would you say if I told you XYZ”.

As for commenting on your thesis, I would say that it is not a direct reflection, but one’s internal happiness will affect their perception of all sorts of events (looking at the world, interpreting a phrase).

I’d agree and disagree. I think that’s correct for the most part.

I say there could be some truth to that. I imagine those who are unhappy see many negative things, whereas those who are happier focus more on the positive things.

DD, summed me up.

I would politely ask you, “What the hell do you mean?”

I agree with DD. I think that how you see the world is certainly shaded by your personal mental state at the moment. I also think that is a large part of why mental state is important. You collect information about the world and act on it based on your mental state.

re: dynamicduo: I agree with this part- “not a direct reflection, but one’s internal happiness will affect their perception of all sorts of events” but not the seemingly smart ass first part of their response to you.

@VzzBzz‘s interpretation of my words is exactly what I meant when saying that perception influences phrases. My first sentence was not “smart ass”, it is merely my outlook towards life, but obviously VzzBzz interpreted those words as being so.

There is a shallow kind of happiness that just looks at how things are going for me at the moment and is so focused on my little world that the pain of others doesn’t even cross the radar. To someone like this, the world looks great as long as their good fortunes last. This same person will also see the whole world in deep shades of gray when their fortunes go south.

There’s a deeper kind of happiness (although I much prefer the word “equanimity” to describe this) that comes from recognizing that life is necessarily a mixed bag, and that neither pain nor pleasure is a lasting condition. This state sees the good and the bad with equal clarity, without projections, and takes them both in stride.

I think it’s circular: how happy you are influences your perception of the world, and your perception of the world influences how happy you are. Not a lot of news there.

The useful information is that you can change your perception and thus alter the cycle.

@dynamicduo: Glad you’re around to catch that. I purposefully put in the word, “seemingly” because I figured some would get it, some would not. I interpret things from many many angles and will work them all. :D

:)

Altering your perception of the world certainly can affect one’s happiness. That is very true. But there are also factors that are often overlooked that we have no control over such as our hormones and emotional states that can cause feelings of depression, sadness, anger, etc… And of course if you are feeling those things because of hormones or other physical reasons then changing your perception will only slightly help.

I would agree completely. They are one and the same.

There is research on integrative neuroscience which shows support for these ideas it can be found at http://www.brainresource.com/science/index.php?id=68 I would say that inner perception is everything otherwise positve conditioning would be of little effect…

Amy Price PhD