What Do I Really Need Right Now?

 wonderful wonderful article - thank you ! I'll be sharing this special piece and revisiting this message over and over and in doing so remind myself of happiness found in the moment.

  I have all need to be truly happy and it's all the simple things in life... My husband, My kids, my grandchildren and my family and friends We may not much we have each other and that's what life is about and love... - See more at: http://www.awakin.org/read/view.php?tid=954#sthash.y52vw6WN.dpuf

Thanks for the artilce..I loved it :-)  As a psychiatrist, i have seen the pain which people who touch alcohol/ tobacco and their families undergo. Hence I am working on going to schools & colleges and spreading awareness - as to why one should not touch the 1st drink or the 1st smoke. Hearing the claps & thank-yous of students and reading their feedbacks have been the most joyful moments of my life now-a-days... That makes me agree with you - yes, it is by trying to serve that i can earn true happiness for myself..

 I have all need to be truly happy and it's all the simple things in life... My husband, My kids, my grandchildren and my family and friends We may not much we have each other and that's what life is about and love...

 Happiness is like a butterfly.
The more you chase it, the more it eludes you.
But if you turn your attention to other things,
It comes and sits softly on your shoulder.
– Henry David Thoreau

truth Love, happiness (annand) , beauty, creativity etc that we seek out there are actually aspects of our being. They are to be lived not sought.
having realised this i try to be true to myself. i follow my intuition, be guided by my mind.
that is it. As simple as that.

Rather than seeking happiness, I think it is better to ask "what gives us meaning?"

 There's no doubt in mind that giving brings happiness, more often more than when we receive. However, when I delve deeper into why this should bring me happiness, I realise that it is ego-gratification. True and lasting happiness comes from discovering my inner self through meditation. The glow and the joy of such contact with my inner self carries me in total contentment through long lengths of time. I think that looking for happiness in any other place or way is misleading.

Needs are quantifiable, answerable, where wants are an abyss.
Thus Mick Jagger, "...your debutante knows what you need, but I know what you want."
Do I really want to face that abyss? The abyss between you and me even larger than the abyss in my mind....

 Excellent writing. While I was reading I was thinking that giving makes people happy. I strongly believe that and I wonder why I don't give more because I have found it makes me happy and peaceful. I have the feeling that if I strive to be happy that striving or trying does not make me happy. Just giving with no thought of return brings peace and happiness. My guess is that people of all religions, and agnostics and atheists have found that to be true over the years. My thought now is that I am getting more out of writing this then the readers who are reading it. Warm and kind regards to everyone and thanks for the opportunity to respond.

 Since I saw how selfish my depressions (from early childhood) were, and began living earnestly, fully, I began to notice lasting, constant experiences, as opposed to temporary feelings, such as happiness.  I began to find joy and gratitude which can continually be mined and realized, whereas happiness is temporary and dependent on externals.  I began to see how I could be sad or upset and joyful.  Joy and gratitude are magic carpets to the present, to timelessness.  I need to continue to practice mindfulness and presence where I find joy which needs nothing from the outside.