I Am Learning Self-respect, Self-care, And Self-love

@OlderDude In most of the cases forcing yourself to feel happy for a longer period of time will make you feel happy...
Isn't content almost equal to happy (or ''a little bit happy'')?

It is, but you can be content and not be happy. Happiness is a choice, being content is a state of mind which is a much more true place to be. Its a peaceful feeling.

@OlderDude Happiness isn't always a choice and being content isn't always peaceful.

It's a peaceful state of mind to be content, even if things are in chaos.
And happiness is a choice, in any situation, you can choose to be happy, mad, sad, or angry. That depends on how you are choosing to see the situation.
Being content is allowing yourself to see your blessings, and being at peace with where you are in life at that particular moment

@OlderDude With all due respect, I disagree with most of that. Can you be content if there's a war because it's a state of mind? Can you choose to be happy if there's a funeral but it's about how you see the situation so if you see it as ''well, he was sick anyway'' you'll be happy and won't experience sadness? We aren't robots and we can't choose our feeling. Of course, there's a difference between being how you perceive situations but you can't always choose it.

Ok.

@OlderDude Uhm, those weren't rhetoric questions.
I know it sounds harsh but we can't always control ourselves and our state of mind. Sometimes, *things* happen that make us lose ourselves and no matter how peaceful we feel because [i]that had to happen at some time[/i], we won't be at peace. We may do a decent job and be content with it but it won't always make us happy. It's not black and white and I think it's wrong to look at it that way.

Yes, we can control our state of mind, in fact it's by choosing to see any situation in a different light then we may instantly react to. This is a major factor in addiction and anger management courses is reframing a situation so you react to it in a different way.
We are in control of how we behave and how we react.
No, we are not always at peace, but if something happens where you lose yourself, which is totally real, you still have the capacity to pull back and regroup, and approach it in a more calm manner. And if you are having major, lose yourself events often enough to be of concerne I would suggest changing your situation.

@OlderDude And how is that different from denying what we don't like? If you have anger problems, won't suppressing it just cause it to burst at some point?
You can't always change your situation. That would be nice, but it's not always an option.

..sigh...I never said suppress your emotions. Please re read my comments.
And never deny your emotions, but we can choose how we react to them.
The problem is, that makes us accountable for our actions, and people these days dont like being accountable for how they behave

@OlderDude Suppressing anger, not emotion. I never said that I quoted you...it's a logical conclusion. You said it's a "major factor in {addiction and} anger management courses" but if there is any emotion it has to come out...
We can't always choose them. And I'm not trying to justify anyone's actions but you can't always fake a smile or a straight face just because that's what you should do.