“Happiness cannot be traveled, possessed, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living each minute with love, grace and gratitude. -- Denis WaitleyMany people believe that happiness is simply a state of well-being; for me, happiness is much more complex. Absolute happiness is anything that brings feelings of pure happiness into an individual's life. Happiness can be found from the simple pleasures of life, such as receiving a kiss from a three-year-old, to advanced pleasures, such as a happy marriage or a successful career. Dr. Seligman, a well-known psychologist and proponent of positive psychology, identified three types of happiness: a pleasant life, an engaged life, and a meaningful life. Although Dr. Seligman states that the ultimate forms of happiness are a “meaningful life” and an “engaged life,” I believe that the happiness of a “pleasant life” is equally important. One type of happiness is known as “engaged living.” The happiness of “engaged living” involves exploring and exploiting one’s strengths and talents for the benefit of oneself and society. I experience the happiness of “engaged life” when I play the piano. As soon as I touch the smooth, ivory keys, I feel an intense surge of joy, and everything around me seems like a blur; the music soon invades me and I lose myself in a world of Beethoven, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. When I am in front of my piano, all my worries and doubts seem to disappear, and my life seems, in that solitary moment, to take on its full meaning. Music is my life and my soul. Another type of happiness is a “meaningful life.” The happiness of a “meaningful life,” according to Seligman, is the most authentic form of happiness. It is the quintessence of life; the point where one feels completely and utterly satisfied... middle of paper ... and the happiness of a “meaningful life” are truer forms of happiness than the happiness of a “pleasurable life ", I remain firm in my conviction that the simplistic pleasures one obtains from the happiness of a "pleasant life" are just as powerful as the joys one obtains from the happiness of an "engaged life" and a “meaningful life”. My blackberry picking outing allowed me to not only get buckets of delicious blackberries, but also to spend precious moments of the day with my family, and that, in itself, makes me truly happy. Works Cited Stockley, Derek. “Positive psychology and the three types of happiness.” High Performance Report Card. November 3, 2006. the web. June 29, 2010. Quote from Denis Waitley. Wisdom Quotes. “Quotes about happiness”. Wisdom Quotes. June 29 2010.