Hi, I think happiness is more than the absence of sadness, because otherwise you couldn't be happy and sad at the same time. I had twins years ago, and one of them died after a week in the hospital. The other was fine, and I had two other healthy little children. It was very confusing because I was grieving so hard and at the same time to delighted with my living newborn and little girls. That's an extreme case, but there's more to happiness than being not sad, and as Rhiannon said, there are different kinds of happiness: contentment, joy, pleasure... maybe the best way to describe happiness is that you can feel your eyes smiling.