Here’s a good quote i recently read which does point out the subtle but very important difference between happiness and pleasure. It’s good thing for me to think about as i cruise through life:
If there is no opportunity for joy. If we never find some activity that leads us into flow, or if that flow is shut off by spiraling self-doubt – the we’re likely to settle for pleasure instead: the sterile comforts of the television of the bottle or the slot machine, which offer no challenge, no room for growth, but only a kind of vacation from boredom or from worry.
Or we will work harder for extrinsic rewards, to accumulate some tangible feedback for our existence. Status, power, and money are signs that one is competent, that one is acquiring control. But these are secondary rewards that matter only when the primary enjoyment is not available.
– Csikszentmihalyi
