Pleasure vs Happiness

The Difference Between The Two Pleasure is something that we derive from an object, a place or people. It is, by definition, circumstantial. For example, we may get pleasure from dinning in a particular restaurant or driving up-market car. But take us to that restaurant after we've just eaten a large meal, or put us behind the steering wheel with our naggy partner - Chances are we will experience no pleasure at all. If pleasure is a circumstantial enjoyment, happiness refers to a deeper sense of fulfillment not dependent on circumstance, and which is usually accompanied by qualities such as peacefulness, purposefulness and benevolence.

Unlike pleasure, which requires situation to be constantly renewed or upgraded, happiness is a state of mind that grows the more we experience it. Of course happiness is not a all-or-nothing condition, and most of us exist on the spectrum somewhere between the two extremes of meaningless despair and radiant realization. It's also a universal truth that all of us want to move towards the happier end of spectrum. Yet the simple reality is that we have a strong tendency to pursue pleasure believing it will provide happiness. Many of us believe the two are the same or have never given the subject much thoughts. But, it we're truthful, most of us are victims of the underlying premise that our happiness is dependent on arranging our external world in a particular way - and one that usually involves spending a lot of money. Pleasure is -  a state, in which we feel good and enjoy what we are doing. Usually, it does not last long, as the attention moves to other subjects, and because life is such that we have always other things to do, like work, cleaning the house, driving somewhere, interacting with other people, etc. usually awakened by external stimuli, and is largely physical, involving the five senses, like the smell of good food or its taste, a pleasant breeze, or of the sight and physical contact of a certain person. We can also derive pleasure from reading a book or daydreaming. emotional in nature, while happiness is a state beyond the emotions and even beyond the mind. In pleasure the emotions and feelings are active.

While in a state of happiness there is calmness and peace. Happiness does not depend on external stimuli, since it comes from within. Through training one can reach a state when happiness and peace are experienced more and more often. The more we are able to free our mind from the compulsion to think all the time, the more we are able to enjoy inner peace and happiness. How can we enjoy more happy moments in our life? Instead of waiting for external events to trigger happiness, we can bring it from inside us. Since inner peace has much to do with a state of happiness, the more peaceful our mind are, the more happiness we can enjoy. When we are able to make our mind peaceful, through various techniques, and through mediation, we enjoy more happiness.

West vs East  The Difference Between The Two Even Western psychology has traditionally been less than helpful at promoting happiness given that it's focus, like Western medicine, has been on resolving the negatives in our lives. Fortunately, just as the medical community is starting to move to a more holistic understanding of well being, so too psychologists are taking more of an interest in both the practices and philosophies of the Eastern traditions. For just the west, with its focus on the material world, has spent the last 2000 years developing sophisticated technology to manipulate our external reality, by contrast the East, with its focus on the world of mind, has spent that same time developing highly evolved method to manipulate our internal reality.