Destination Happiness...

Everywhere you look, you see people looking for this elusive feeling… happiness. Nobody will ever say: “Oh no! I don’t want happiness, forget about that, I want to suffer… ” So even though, everyone wants happiness and is continuously searching for it, the ironic response above is actually more accurate than any of the so-called searches, because it often feels like we like to struggle.

My take is that we don’t really want happiness; we’re just trying to avoid being unhappy. We’re trying to avoid all sorts of problems by looking for superficial things to make us feel better. Look around and notice how some people act, how they run from themselves, how they expect things to happen fast and no matter what they do or obtain they’re still unhappy because they always look for something else… something more.

There’s no GPS arrival sign saying that we reached happiness.

We won’t find this feeling somewhere in the future and what’s more interesting is that the more we look for it the less chances we have of finding it. There are some people that go to a cupcake store and order “a happiness cupcake” but all they really get is a normal cupcake that simply confuses their senses for a little while. The sad part is that cupcake stores are not the only places where we run from ourselves.

Whenever someone has a problem, the mind tends to run from the present issue by creating the illusion of a future happiness (somewhere…sometime) and only when we stop combatting with the present moment and we appreciate our current position, resources and what we can do now, that happiness will no longer be in the future but right now in the middle of the storm.

It’s important to realize that happiness is not something large and looming on the horizon ahead but a consequence of what we do in this moment. The smile of someone we love. The warm sunset. That moment when we listen to music and we get so caught up in the lyrics and sounds that we just start humming and our bodies just feel the need to dance. Or even that moment when we work really hard at something we love that we no longer realize the passing of time. Every day there are countless moments where we experience this condition, sometimes we don’t even notice it, being too busy focused on that compelling destination but you see, real happiness is simply the consequence of the small everyday joys that give you meaning and purpose in the moment.

I learnt that we’re unhappy every time we focus on what we’re not, what is not working out, or on what is missing from our lives to reach that state of happiness. Luckily we can change this situation, choosing to see what you are and what you can do right now. When you focus on what you already have, without pretending to be entitled to more, you will notice that life gives you tremendously every day. Instead of looking for happiness in the future, just live every moment with purpose, without selling bits of you. Realize what you experienced and what you already have and so when you raise your eyes toward the sky you’ll do greatness because your feet are always firmly planted on the ground.