Do You Deserve to be Happy?

A recent lunch with a friend brought this subject to light. In our conversation, I detected that our views of happiness differed so I asked. The conversation followed this thread…
Me: Do you deserve to be happy?
Friend: Deserve connotates that you did something to deserve, that you earned the privilege to be happy.
Me: Let’s rephrase – do you have the right to be happy?
Friend: Meaning this is a natural right. I am not sure if there are natural rights.
What was uncovered in this and the ensuing exchange were very diverging views of happiness and how often one might expect to experience it. You might gather from knowing me or reading these posts, that I am a mostly happy person. Sure there are days that can be truly rotten for a variety of reasons. Lack of sleep and eating poorly are two big factors that impact how I view the world. Events can also transpire that might cause one to question the goodness (or lack thereof) in the world. Yet for the most part I am happy.
Others are mostly not happy and have some level of discomfort, unease or longing for things to be more or different. Is it a result of upbringing, the chemicals (natural and otherwise) in our bodies that color our outlook on life? Is it that we view others as always having more or better that we feel a level of dissatisfaction?
Does our outlook determine what we are capable of? I’m not sure there is an answer for this, yet I have a few more thoughts to share on this subject. What do you think about happiness?
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