If someone told you that you could guarantee your current happiness with your life at this moment until your dying day, would you accept it, or would you say no and work towards something different?
No I would not.
Equanimity has never been my buzz word.......I could never wake up in the morning and feel "that is your lot, your present emotion of happiness would last until my dying day."
I want something, different, better, something to act as a target and strive towards.
NO............not for me.
Assuming that the guarantee is "No less than..." then, yes, I would take the offer, again assuming no small print. But if it is a fixed-rate-as-is, no more and no less forever, then the answer would be a rejection, much along the same lines as Sqad's with the realisation that it is a bit of a gamble because there are lots of out-of-control unknowns.
Does it depend on your age ? I'm 86 and I think I'm more happy and contented than I' ve ever been. I got together with the love of my life 9 years ago having known each other for 60 years. We live some distance from each other and we have health problems of course but if I could stay like this - bring it on I say x
Getting into the technicalities of such a deal with the devil/god, then the outlaying premise would be that you ensure your current happiness, you will never be feeling worse with your lot but no, you won't experience anything more exhilarating than you are currently or have ever experienced. Up to you.
I would say no, Life is about experiencing the highs and the lows, what do you learn if your life becomes predictable and 'meh'. Experiences good and bad shape our lives.
If I could guarantee my happiness with my partner and kids at this current time I would. But I know there are things that'll make 'us' happier. Impracticable though as we have to go to work...
I always live with the expectation that things can get better. I'm happy, but in a lot of pain on a daily basis. Maybe if the pain went my life would be better but I wouldn't necessarily be happier. Not even sure if this makes sense!
OP you are assuming everyone is happy at the moment. God help me if I had to feel how I feel at the moment for the rest of my life so the answer for me would be NO!
Currently there is lots of things going on in my life that I'm not happy with which are making me a bit sad and angry. I need to make some changes and the slightest change in the right direction would make me a lot happier.
I think the thought of more happiness is what keeps most of us going, isn't it?! Nobody thinks "WOW I am so happy right now, I hope I feel less happy soon" - if we are really happy, we want more of the same. We try to emulate what it was that made us happy. I look back at my "happiest" times and still am aware of trying to recapture them- listening to the same music, wearing the same clothes, watching films from that time. It's nostalgia- preferring to get the feeling of joy from the past than the present. But to answer personally. NO - there is SO much I'm not happy with right now and the challenge is to fix it before things get worse or before I die. I think most people go through life like that!