What is Happiness?

How often have you believed that if you had this new job, this new raise, this new house or this new gadget it would make you happy? It might bring you happiness initially, but soon enough it wears off and you end up wanting something else, something more?

Over time I have found that "happiness" does not exist as it is an endless chase for something more, something you don't have, something you want instead of being content with and appreciative with who you are and what you do have. Look at dating for example, the more you chase a potential partner, the further away they seem to get. Surely "happiness" follows a similar pattern?

To chase "happiness" seems to have the opposite effect and the more you seem to want it the further away it seems to be, while attracting distress and discontentment with your current state of being as you are unable to get to a "happy" state. To want something implies that you do not have it, so what if you changed that train of thought?

Instead of wanting to be happy and focusing on what you don't have, why not be content with what it is that you do have? Whether that is: your friends, your family, your partner or even how you spend your free time. After all, being "happy" simply means that you are comfortable with every part of you and what you do have, no matter how broken, shattered, embarassing or crazy it may seem.

How many times, when all hope seemed to be lost, were you “saved” by a friendly conversation with someone? From a state of dread and “unhappiness” to a state of calm and contentedness, even if all you were doing was talking about food or the latest gossip. Where your wish to be happy just vanished and you end up just…. being… in that state? As if it just magically manifests itself? It could be that you were simply content with being here and now and did not wish for anything else. Then again, we are social creatures and maybe you were only craving some social interaction?

Furthermore, the chase for happiness can lead people to “shiny object syndrome” where they will buy the newest and latest items. After all, if they bought older versions and it brought them joy before, then wouldn’t the new ones do the same? As Dave Ramsey once said “We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.” So why even bother? Why not spend that money to better ourselves instead of relying on “quick fixes”? if there is something bringing you discomfort right this moment, try and find a way to overcome it instead of wishing it to go away.

Maybe people have simply mistaken the word "happiness"? for it simply means being content with and appreciative of yourself right now with the word "euphoria" which is an indescribable sense of extreme joy and passion for everything at this moment in time. More often than not when people say they want to be "happy" they mean that they want to be "euphoric", for to be happy all one has to do is look inward at the here and now and ask themselves "What would bring me contentment and satisfaction right now?" or "Am i satisfied right now?"

In summary, "happiness" simply means to be content with who you are and what you have and not chasing something that doesn't exist or will only be a temporary relief. So to be happy all that one needs to do is be here and now and not worry about things they want or wanted.