You don't just feel like @#%# or surprisingly happy? Those are the sort of things that we can hope to trace the causes for.
No. I can feel that way about particular events or situations, but people seem to be describing a free-floating pervasive mood that goes up and down without their knowing why, and that is not something I experience. Maybe I'm naturally in some sort of Buddhist or Stoic state of enlightenment, but it doesn't feel like it. Or maybe it comes from the personal development courses I took a long time ago.
I can feel that way about particular events or situation
I think that is a representation of your emotional state.
To me it's the nature of the unforced content of thoughts that flow through your mind. These are being selected out of a vast universe of possible thoughts, thus there is meaning in which ones are chosen. We examine facts about the world and rotate them in various perspectives and when we're happy they take on more positive characteristics.
...Oh my, look at my coffee mug, I've had this thing for 10 years. It's like my good buddy still standi
Track your happiness using your iphone:
Seems like a no-brainer to use this to me, at least if you have an iphone. For those with a droid, according to their twitter feed:
Despite being a really cool app for managing your happiness, this is just a great idea for doing research. Now I want to take advantage of the large iphone/droid user base to learn about people in some way. Any ideas?