Each person has their own meaning for happiness. For most people happiness is something someone does that makes them content or something they enjoy doing. Many would say happiness is being with friends and family, while others are happy when they are alone with their thoughts. Because every person has a different idea of happiness the definition isn't specific and can have many variations. A common misconception of happiness is materialism, most people believe money can bring happiness because with money they can buy whatever they want to make them happy. For some people materialism brings a false sense of happiness that only lasts a short while and once it's gone they end up buying something new to keep them happy. There have been a few shows and documentaries over the years based on following the lives of lottery winners. To most people's surprise the shows were quickly canceled all because these lotto winners quickly went into depression. Now you're probably thinking how could someone with so much money be so depressed? These shows pointed out that once someone has this much money they end up losing sight of what's important to them things like what they want to do with their lives. All of these shows ended quickly and didn't show a very glamorous life as most people would expect lottery winners to have.
Happiness is based on emotion and how a person feels but can happiness be measured or truly defined? Both measuring and defining happiness is an elusive concept considering how diverse the meaning of happiness can actually be. For example someone who is mentally unstable could consider happiness as self harm, while a mentally stable person would completely disagree. This is why defining happiness is next to impossible; in order to define it you would need an agreeable parameter to what happiness is and what it is not. Because of this happiness needs to be defined individually.