In my opinion, people find moments of happiness and fulfilment, during the journey of looking for it. Maybe it is important to subclassify this theme into 2 parts:
The first part might be about the “happiness and fulfilment” which one can find as an end of a long journey. Maybe you will get this happiness after learning how to balance “thrownness”, “projection”, and “falling” (how Heidegger says).
And the second part might be about the “happiness and fulfilment”, which come across during your journey until one will or won’t find the happiness and fulfilment at the end of the journey. This interpretation of “happiness and fulfilment”, as an occurrence during the journey, is in my opinion very important. Mostly these moments of happiness are limited in time. It means that one can also loose one’s happiness very quickly and become sad.
Maybe this falling down to sadness is important to sense happiness completely. This process of up and down, of reaching happiness and losing happiness make it possible to live our life more intense, cause we gain more experience by changing our situation with the possibility that it could be worse.

I think that to find an end and finally to find your happiness and your fulfilment one has to change his situation/lifestyle from time to time, even though he might be afraid of the circumstances of change. Maybe one can find out faster what happiness and fulfilment is for himself, than someone who does not change his situation. Even if one is standing still and not changing his situation of life, his situation will be change automatically by the environment. Because the world is turning and we can’t jump that high to get out of its circulation.

To get back to the point…the journey to happiness and fulfilment is already a big part of this final Happiness and Fulfilment which might in future be discovered.

I believe every person can make decisions which influence the course of their lives (and in turn their levels of happiness), or what Heidegger refers to as “projection”. I also think people can decide more or less how happy they are by how way they react to events in their lives, or as Heidegger suggests, by finding an ideal balance of “throwness”, “projection” and “falling”.
If they dwell on the things that have not gone the way they wished them to, then they will mostly feel disappointed or unhappy. I feel that there are definitely times in life for sadness, and that it is healthy to acknowledge the feeling, but also to deal with it and move past it in order to negotiate what is yet to come. It has been shown many times that people who consciously and regularly acknowledge what is good in their lives have a greater level of happiness than those who just let life happen to them.

So I agree that there is perhaps a ‘formula’ which all sources of happiness share, and one needs to find out for ones self what it is that makes you happy without directly seeking happiness. One must also make a decision to deal with the things that you cannot change (for example “throwness”), in a way that is not detrimental to society and that does not affect one’s ability to feel happy.

The need that people feel to want to understand everything on an ultimate and absolute way (happiness and fulfillment in this case), sort of bursts my bubble when thinking about what to write about happiness.
As if the only way to say something significant about it is to pin it down. Well, then again, philosophers don’t come up with structured frameworks which accounts for all instances of individual happiness, for happiness’ sake to learn something from it on a personal level, but rather, they do it for philosophy’s sake (to gain something on a personal level). Not to, of course, take anything away from their courageous efforts as it is something altogether different (as if I could…).

Happiness is a very strange thing. It doesn’t stand still, yet it doesn’t get or go anywhere. I would say that it is something that, to a large extent, comes with age. Not because you need a certain period of time to figure out how to do it, but it’s rather a matter of becoming happy when all else fails. Sort of by default.
It’s not about changing into a state of being which is capable of happiness. Nor is it about changing into a state of being which allows for happiness, but rather, being in a state of being that allows for happiness. I’m not saying that you have to be old to be happy, but it seems to be a lesson that is learned with time
(or realizing that there is not really a lesson to be learned…with time).

I also think that happiness is somewhat overrated. The reason why it is such a difficult question is because it has become such a big one. Imagine what it would be like if no one has ever asked that question. I think people would generally be happier. It is the ideals of happiness that people generally have or get from society or whatever, that messes things up a bit. The bigger the expectations of happiness, the greater the possibility for failure. I’m not suggesting a watered-down existence without passion or intensity, but rather one of a conscious and agile (and not stupid!) stride.

We all know what possibilities life might hold. Anything is possible (and I mean anything). The highs (like passing a Commercial Law test with a sky-rocketing 63%…yeah!) and the lows (like the unexpected demise of a pet fish). These things happen. I’m not trying to take away from peoples pain, as it is a necessary commodity, although suffering is optional (as a friend who thought I needed to hear it once told me (I don’t know who first said it, but I don’t think was it is him)). The fact is, you either carry on (with or without happiness and with or without sadness and suffering (such a harsh word…)) or you don’t (with or without happiness and with or without sadness and suffering (such a harsh word…it should be banned from the face of the earth!)).
It is all very much the same.

A last point on the 3rd and last of Heidegger’s principles of happiness namely “falling”. I don’t know if anyone has noticed that in recent (or not so very recent) times, being unfashionable has become
extremely fashionable (I’m not referring to matters quite as serious and significant as the ones mentioned in the original article, but indeed to the more superficial (for want of a more expansive vocabulary) ones that are responsible for a big part of society’s acceptance and non-acceptance and the effects it has on innocent inhabitants of earth (which makes it kind of serious). If you are misunderstood and alone in your cause, there is a good chance that you might end up being the coolest person the world. To not be accepted might be the most acceptable way to be. People love to exploit this when it comes to pretty much everything.
Maybe someone in power might want to flip Heidegger’s 3rd principle around to make it more appropriate for the here and now.

I gain my own personal happiness through the people I surround myself with. I am not saying that people are the source of my happiness, but my personal levels of happiness are often a direct result of the people close to me.

Of course I determine my own success, future, failure and problems, but I have found that these topics, and most others, are influenced by the people around you, for the better or the worst. Thus I try move within the “open minded” groups of people as I find them more appealing, interesting and more open about topics that are often swept under the carpet to never be discussed for maybe they can open doors to questions with limited answers.

I gain happiness, and sadness from these people, but at least both emotions are on the table to be discussed, questioned, solved and laughed about.

My interests in life determine my friends in life, which determine my happiness in life and the other way around.

I agree that one is placed in a particular situation (“thrownness”). I agree that one can overcome this situation or become a victim of it (“project”). I also agree that one’s “project” might fall prey to conventions, traditions or fashions (“falling”). I most certainly agree that in order to achieve happiness and fulfilment, one must find a balance between “thrownness, “project” and “falling”.

Perhaps this balance might be achieved by another concept: “surrender”. Surrendering your “thrownness”, “project” and “falling” to a greater power than yourself (whatever your concept of that “greater power” might be). Realising that you are not the leading actor in your own movie, but that we are all supporting actors in the same story.

Perhaps by giving away self-importance, we might stand to gain balance – happiness and fulfilment might be the “glow” that emanates from “surrender”.

With regards to “throwness” generally whatever situation one is placed into, at that very moment in time, happiness and fulfilment are both at the greatest point they will be in life.

It is when one gets to “projection” that the influenences society has on one in terms of material wealth really come to the fore. It is sadly only a few people who can look past society and avoid “falling” in the sense of loosing there fulfilment.

I believe fulfilment leads to happiness, therefore the answer is for one to be fulfilled with there “projection” and therefore leading to overwhelming happiness.