Quote: So what you are telling me is... you really feel that 'happiness' is something over which you have no control? It just shows up and goes away, depending on your day?
Yeah, that's it exactly. Happiness is just something that's *there.* Or not. It's kind of like my internal weather. Some days it's cold, sometimes it rains for weeks, sometimes the sun hurts my eyes, sometimes I can't see anything because of the fog. But I can't predict it. And I certainly can't control it. And (it seems) that nothing that happens in the real world can change it much.
Quote: Would it be a fair statement to say that the 'external' world governs your internal state of being?
No, it's almost the opposite. It's as if the external world very rarely has any influence on my internal state of being.
