what is the biggest obstacle to living a happy life [other than financial]?

Answer 1

Health and Self-Confidence

Answer 2

This is a very difficult question. Would it be possible to take your honey moon a few days later and or would the wedding cancel any and all planes for your honey moon? If the answers to these questions are no, then I say go for it. I mean, hopefully your husband knows of her past trickery so if she tries anything there it won't matter. Although you did say that your weddings are right next to each others. Basically, if the only obstacle on going to her weddings is morals (IE not involving funds or timing), I say go for it. You would be with family and she is claiming she has a change of heart. Perhaps this is all a coinceadince? So try to forgive her and go to the wedding if possible.

Answer 3

Work/Life Balance. Most people don't live out their values and allow work to take over their lives. I recommend reading the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. It has a process for making sure that you are living your life the way you think you should.

Also, some people are unwilling to forgive, and that creates much unhappiness in a person. Forgiveness is giving up all hope for a better past, and since we can't change the past, why not forgive? It's a burden that truly is useless.

Answer 4

Seeking happiness outside of yourself which is a place where it can never be found due to the impermanent nature of the world.

Peace can only be found inside of yourself by living in the present moment, accepting the impermanent nature of the world, and ceasing ego attachment to things, objects, money etc.

Happiness is always blighted by it's opposite which will always follow close behind when the thing that gave you happiness is lost or eroded.

A prime example is so called love which is really just egoic wanting, the ego using a person to fill its gaping void but when the void returns as it always does or if the person does not behave in the way we want them to behave then the ego will blame that person and suddenly love turns to hate.

True love, true peace, true 'happiness', is living in a state without want, without desire and without egoic voids which need to be filled with 'more' but which can never be satisfied as it is actually an endless hole.

That is why famous people are sometimes so weird, because they have everything they need but the ego still wants more so they seek more bizarre and controversial forms of fulfilment, prime examples are Madonna who now feels the need to adopt African children to fill the hole of her ego or Michael Jackson who built a fun fair in his garden or Kurt Cobain who committed suicide because he had everything yet still was not satisfied so he did not see what more could be gained from living.

Answer 5

People

Answer 6

Making thing difficult for yourself. Accept what you have and enjoy it rather than always comparing and wanting what others have.
Stop and think of the positive things and not the negative.
Being too self absorbed and not looking at the big picture. In 100 years time will the things that are making you unhappy have made any difference in the big scheme of things? Unlikely.
Taking yourself too seriously
Not laughing enough.

Answer 7

Having a negative or pessimistic attitude. Getting happiness is 10 percent what your given and 90 percent how your respond to it.

Answer 8

If you decide that no matter what happens in life you are not going to let it bother you, then you have achieved your goal of happiness. At the start you may be very reactive to situations, but as you go along those same situations will gradually stop bothering you.

Answer 9

Being fixated on living a happy life.

Answer 10

I think sometimes we can actually let ourselves get in our own way of happiness... like hanging onto bad habits that we know are not conducive to a positive life (i.e., excessive drinking, drugs, gossiping and causing conflict with others, etc.).