happiness is ...

Came across this site on happiness the other day. Put out by some psychologist (ok, I'm a little wary of psychologists, but this guy's actually doing something useful - working out what makes us happy. And, presumably, how we can become happy.) He's written a book apparently, and, as I say, there's a website, which you can check out if you're interested.
Anyway, he reckons there's 5 different types of happiness: Positive emotion about the past; Positive emotion about the future; Pleasure (presumably that's a positive emotion about the present?); Gratification - and I'll give you the subtext on this one, cos it's not all that obvious: Flow, immersion, and total absorption in work, love, or play; and Meaning: Attachment to something larger.
So I was going through the list, as you do, right? And I thought, positive emotion about the past, scrub that; about the future, no, can't quite get the optimism thing yet (but I'm optimistic, right?); the present - well, hugely better than the past, but ... no, don't think we're quite there yet either (sorry, Mike) - too much baggage I guess. But the gratification one, yeah, that pushed my buttons. I thought, hey, I know that one, I'm into that. That's why I study so hard, eh? I get into my books, I get in the zone, and ... all that personal shit just goes.
I was, well, really happy, you know - that the guy, this happiness expert, included that in his types of happiness. I could think, hey, I'm happy. Well, a lot of the time. And who has more than that, right? Noone's happy ALL the time.
I think maybe I've got a bit of that other thing too - the attachment to something larger. Not religion! And not ... well, actually, I guess you could call it a cause. Not one anyone has ever heard of; probably not one anyone would approve of ... or maybe they would. Humans are a strange breed, and a lot of us aren't that fond of the human race.
Anyway, let's leave it at that, shall we? I've got a sort of a cause, or at least an attachment to something larger than me, and ... I guess it brings me happiness, too, in a kind of way. Gives me something to think about other than myself.
I guess that's the key, isn't it? Anything that takes me out of myself, away from thinking about myself, makes me happy.