I find myself being mid-happy most of the time. As long as I am not hangry I would probably describe myself as “Happy” or “Satisfied”. Not higher or lower energy. Curiously I don’t really identify with “Hopeful” as being in between those two – that suggests something is wrong.

Why?

I think:

• NT people
  • happiness depends on social belonging and hierarchy
  • experience emotional contagion and pick up the mood of others
• me
  • no Social Salience – no social signal or hierarchy
  • no Shame (social tax), no judgment from others
  • do not pick up the mood of the room
  • Internally generated: are my needs met? Is the environment stable and predictable? Do I understand?
  • The way I experience emotions is often driven by my conscious thoughts rather than my thoughts being driven by emotions. For me emotions are more a label of internal state than a state of being. My idle position ends up mid-happy.

Additionally, my return to baseline is very quick – if I stop processing the thought that I label as angry, I am no longer angry. If I am arguing and the argument stops, I am back to my mid-happy default almost immediately.

Generally my needs are met and things are fine. Mid-happy default!