I make myself happy. An ebullient optimist, I have fun every day.
Helping other people
Hugs
Love
Exercise
Reading
Laughing
Witty banter
Great sex
Hiking
Nature
Mountains
Alpine lakes
Jagged mountain peaks
Jazz
Playing flute
Taking photos
Volunteering
I recall that when I was about seventeen years old I read The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell. The book certainly caused me to be more reflective with regard to what might constitute happiness. It seems to me that any notion of happiness is inextricably linked to our perceptions which require a review from time to time.
"Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults."
Thomas Szasz
I think that when we are happy, regardless of why we feel happy, we seldom question the feeling of being happy or what caused us to feel happy. However, we may devote an inordinate amount of time trying to fathom why we are unhappy.
I find happiness in a glass of wine, my favorite music, staring at beauty, and a lot of simple things like that. But I haven't been through a situation like the one you are going through, so I don't know if all those things would work with an ill health, I am sorry.
Striving to put right what once when wrong, and hoping the next leap...will be the leap home! (And striving to determine beauty, truth, goodness, and wisdom. Always curious. Always curious.)
This is essentially a large part of my ongoing practice as a Buddhist. More like, Does this make me happy?
I thought I knew what would make me very happy but it took illness to make me realize what was really important to me. It wasn't wealth or position it was health not only for myself but for my family and friends and even my pets which I treat like family. I realized that without health U were unable to support your family or really enjoy that which you did have. No one really places a true value on health until it is missing.
Fifteen years of debilitating chronic pain and disability taught me this in ways that will never leave me.
@stinkeye_a Sorry you endured this pain but
I know exactly how you feel. it is going on 40 years of pain I just learned to accept as normal