I don't know if it is possible to describe happiness, but I could say that it does not exist without self-sufficiency. There are 7 aspects of that:

The first one is physical.

It is when our body does not limit our external freedom, when our physical condition allows us to live according to our needs.

The second is emotional self-sufficiency, when we are able to feel, understand and manage our emotions.

The third is social self-sufficiency, when a person has a sufficient amount of social connections, friends and family, if he needs them.

The fourth is intellectual self-sufficiency - when a person seeks to know the world in a broad sense and is interesting to himself.

The fifth is financial self-sufficiency - when a person earns a satisfactory amount of money for him. A sign of lack of financial self-sufficiency is permanent, usually short-term debts.

Creative self-sufficiency is the sixth, it is when a person is able to create something new, original.

Seventh - existential self-sufficiency, when a person has learned to sublimate the main existential questions - the meaning of life and death.

Have someone you know well - a friend or family member - rate them on a scale of one to ten on each aspect of self-sufficiency, and then ask them to rate themselves. The comparison should surprise you.

According to Maslow's motivation theory, there are four groups of deficiency needs physiological, safety and social - love, belonging and esteem. 

We can call these needs "Love" or "Pleasure". Let's call them "Love" because this feeling is most significant and intense in our experience. 

"Love" needs to determine us from nature, and their satisfaction is life's first, natural meaning. 

Usually, when "Love" needs more or less are satisfied, "being" or "self-actualization" needs to take the floor.

These another four come from our experience in a broad sense and a cultural environment. 

The second one is to serve. There is a typical way of doctors, teachers, military, etc. Your activity is about helping others grow, be healthy, safe, etc.

The third meaning is to research. This path is of a scientist, a man who seeks to discover the world's secrets and expand the knowledge horizon.

The fourth meaning is to create, that is, to do part of the work of god if we call god the one who has made the reality in which we all live. It is to create things that did not exist, the path of an artist, a writer, and to a large extent, any entrepreneur.

The fifth sense is to believe. When this meaning dominates, it is the path of a clergyman, a monk, when life is dedicated to what will be after death.

All of these meanings overlap, but we make choices along our life path that give more sense to our lives as service, knowledge, creativity, or faith.

If we agree that reality exists regardless of our point of view, then one of our goals in making effective decisions is to properly understand things, situations, phenomena, feelings, etc.

There are at least four aspects of cognition that enable us to approximate our subjectivity to objective reality.

The first aspect answers the question of "what". It is familiar to us to understand an object as a whole, as a thing, a phenomenon, a feeling, etc. 

The second aspect answers the question of "how", when we ask ourselves how we see the object. This is not only to understand from which side we look at it, but also, for example, to see the female person in your house as a wife, woman, friend, creative partner, and so on.

"Where" and "when" is the third aspect. We evaluate the context where we and the object of our perception are. For example, we see a house during the daytime, but at night we do not see it, but that does not mean it's not there.

The third aspect follows the fourth. It answers the question of what attitude and knowledge one has toward what one is trying to understand. This is the most complicated part of cognition, which requires a corresponding degree of attentiveness, but sometimes this aspect completely reverses our assessment and perception.

Use them all together when you are trying to understand things indeed.

Objective reality is that which exists now and everywhere, the existing state of things and phenomena, independent of the ways of perception and understanding.

In principle, there is no "past" or "future" reality. There is the "former" and the "coming" reality, the first determines the second.

We can perceive the objective reality only through our cognition, and it creates our subjective view of the world. We also observe and grasp only a tiny part of it. 

For these reasons, there is always a gap between objectivity and subjectivity. Man has invented a way to narrow this gap - that is science.

However, our subjectivity is a part of  reality - we are real and we also create objective reality.

Some believe that our subjectivity creates our reality and objectivity does not exist, but in this case they should explain how we agree on similarities of things.

Expectations come from our subjectivity, powered by our needs, and usually include predictions.

As science reduces the gap between reality and subjectivity, more experienced and educated men may have more realistic expectations.

When our expectations are faced with reality, strong emotions usually occur. If the gap between reality and expectations is too big and corresponding feelings are too strong, a man may not accept it - the gap will remain.

Nowadays in the modern world, we predict, estimate and forecast the future as a matter of course. Usually, it is part of our work - to make the right decisions and achieve planned results. Forecasting and planning induce expectations themselves.

Someone somewhere can be "here and now", in the exact point of reality, without any expectations, goods and needs. We call them yogis.

Expectations come from our subjectivity, powered by our needs, and usually include predictions.

As science reduces the gap between reality and subjectivity, more experienced and educated men may have more realistic expectations.

When our expectations are faced with reality, strong emotions usually occur. If the gap between reality and expectations is too big and corresponding feelings are too strong, a man may not accept it - the gap will remain.

Nowadays in the modern world, we predict, estimate and forecast the future as a matter of course. Usually, it is part of our work - to make the right decisions and achieve planned results. Forecasting and planning induce expectations themselves.

Someone somewhere can be "here and now", in the exact point of reality, without any expectations, goods and needs. We call them yogis.

The objective truth is reality, including the former, - how it was and how it is. 

In our subjectivity, the truth comes from our experience, beliefs, trust and faith.

Truth from experience arises in the moment of perception and after that lives in our memory and usually does not raise doubts until oblivion.

Truth from our beliefs in our subjectivity takes a place when we had experience in the past and extrapolates it as reality without our participation. 

Truth from our trust comes when we believe something. It means you do not have such experience but you trust it because of different reasons - for logic, context, reputation, sentiments, attitudes, etc. Conspiracy theories as truth are usually born from here.

Truth from faith is only subjective and does not require evidence. 

For example, if you use a mobile phone, you can prove that it works by experience and by trust, - because of logic and reputation, that Apple knows how to produce such devices.

Also, we can divide truth into factual, which answers in questions "who, where, when" and interpretive truth, which answers the question "why". Interpretive truth basically comes from our subjectivity and has much less objective truth than factual.

By the way, because of smartphones, photo and video recording has a huge impact on bringing more truth to our subjective reality.

Free will we understand as the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate, the ability to act at one's own discretion.

But If we accept that the laws of physics work, we will have to accept that reality is predetermined.

If we accept that we are part of reality, then our actions are determined and free will does not exist.

However, if we believe that we have free will, it lives in our subjective reality. 

It is difficult for us, especially in Western culture, to imagine that there is no free choice. Even neurobiologists who find no trace of free will in our minds and behavior do not convince our subjectivity to exclude free will from our picture of the world.

The laws of physics work, but we have only come to know a small part of them on the horizon of knowledge. Also we should have in mind that man and his consciousness are one of the most complex phenomena we have encountered. 

Considering this, we can meet, that it is possible that free will manifests itself in the moment of facing reality as our solution within the framework of determination of the past.

Our minds and emotions are two rails for our decision-making.

Currently, there is no consensus in science whether thoughts determine emotions or vice versa, although there is a tendency towards the fact that emotions have the upper hand.

Emotions usually arise from the gap between our subjectivity and face reality. 

The ability to understand, respect and combine our emotions with rationality has a key impact on the right decisions in our life path.

Scientists agree on at least four basic emotions - anger, fear, joy and sadness. 

Emotions occur when we face or forecast corresponding events - an obstacle for anger, an achievement for joy, a danger for fear and loss for sadness.

Extended versions of main emotions also usually include fascination, which arises from desire to merge with the object of admiration, a surprise from unexpectedness, disgust from dissociation and contempt from assessment.

If we add social and cultural impact on our personality, we can see and feel “social emotions” - embarrassment, guilt, shame, jealousy, envy, elevation, empathy, and pride.

The major impact on our lives usually has fear and guilt.

Subjectivity, or subjective reality, is an internal representation of objective reality and a base for cognition, reasoning and decision-making.

Although our subjectivity includes physiological and other factors, our "picture of the world" or “mental models” and corresponding emotions has a major influence on our decisions. 

Mental models begin to develop from the first experience and continue at different rates throughout life, most intensively in early life and stop developing or regressing in old age.

If someone is a specialist in some field, it means that the mental models of such a person are more detailed and differentiated in this field of reality. This usually allows him to make more effective decisions.

The more diverse experiences move our subjectivity to objective reality closer. Experience also includes other people's opinions, which you comprehend, assess and integrate or not into your "picture of the world". It should be noted that the same person can appear to be brilliant in some matters and at the same time make mistakes in other matters. We shape our subjectivity by choosing opinions that "fit" us.

Subjectivity  is always unique. Just as it is impossible to live the same life, so it is impossible to repeat subjectivity.

Our mental models live in the brain and according to neurobiology research the neocortex consists of roughly 100 billion neurons and each neuron can have up to 15 thousand connections via synapses with others. 

Scientists estimate that in the future every synapse possibly will be counted. Then, if we will, it may be possible for us to digitize our consciousness and “live” forever. Nowadays it sounds like a joke, but we know there's a grain of truth in every joke.

Culture and religion are two intertwined and inseparable aspects of human existence. The relationship between culture and religion is complex and multifaceted, with both influencing and being influenced by the other.

The relationship between language and culture is interwoven and reciprocal. Language reflects and shapes culture, and culture influences language development.

Also major roles in the formation of culture play geography, history, artifacts, the influence of other cultures and technology in the present time.  

Geography, the physical features of a region, such as its climate, terrain, and natural resources, can have a profound impact on the way people live, work, and interact with each other.

History, the experiences of a people, passed down through generations, help to shape their values, beliefs, and practices. Historical events can also provide a sense of identity and belonging for a group of people, and they can help to define their place in the world.

Cultural artifacts can be tangible or intangible, and they can range from physical objects to intangible traditions, beliefs, and practices.

Cultural exchange and interaction can lead to the adoption of new ideas, practices, and traditions from other cultures. This can result in the blending of cultures and the creation of new cultural forms.

Technological advancements have revolutionized communication, transportation, and access to information, which has had a profound impact on the way we live, work, and interact with each other.

For us, the most advantageous way is to understand culture as shared parts of mental models. If people have a similar picture of the world in the most significant areas of reality, it means they are carriers of the same culture.

For example, if the immigration of people of different cultures is significant, it causes cultural diffusion, as a result of which there is a confrontation between the carriers of cultures and the formation of subcultures.