HAPPINESS ......an elusive commodity

What is happiness?

Is it warm, fresh, Crispy-Creme Doughnuts . . . that are free have no fat, no calories, and you can eat as many as you want without throwing up!
Is it generally something that single people think married people have; married people think single people have; working people think retired people have; retired people think working people have; employees think bosses have; bosses think employees have; poor people think rich people have; sick people think healthy people have, young people think old people have, old people think young people have, and so on.

Every day, we humans are in the pursuit of happiness, but have we ever stopped to consider the definition of the pursuit of happiness, so what is the pursuit of happiness?

Consider for example, I want to pick up this book, I don’t need to pursue it, it’s not moving, so I simply reach out and pick it up but on the other hand if someone stole my bag I would chase after it, pursue it actively, pursuit then means actively working to reach a goal.

I define happiness as contentment with ones daily life, hence the pursuit of happiness is ‘actively working to achieve daily contentment.

People sometimes assume they would get happiness, if they found the perfect guy, or got the perfect job, or married the best, or got the best marks…people expect that, but we fail to understand that by waiting for life’s big events we often miss out on the small yet meaningful events in life, when was the last time you woke up early to watch the sunrise? Or drove to a garden an admired the beautiful flowers. So the trick to achieving happiness here is to appreciate the finer things in life.

Today in the modern society we live in, we are so tangled in our own day-to-day activities, that we completely lose ourselves in our business, school, and social lives. That we don’t stop and take time of, yes we are busy…but it wouldn’t hurt to go for a movie, pick up a book at the bookshop, or buy a bunch of flowers for you! Do what you enjoy, make time for me-time…put a smile on your face, because remember it takes 50 muscles to frown but just 13 to smile… so show those pearly whites and start smiling here and now.

There is a cliché that’s about seeing the glass as half-full or half-empty, unlike other clichés this one is true…its what you choose to do. How often do we find ourselves saying “ I am so stressed with all this school work” be grateful you have the opportunity to go to school or “ my parents are driving me crazy, I jus can’t take it anymore” be glad that you have parents and you are not orphaned, and left to live life on your own. Happiness is seeing the glass half-full all the time.

There is a saying in the English language that says, when you complain about your shoes look at the man who has no feet, by thinking about other people, we are put in perspective to who we are and how fortunate we really are, so by doing things for other people and involving yourself in caring for the old, or looking after a disabled person…makes one realize how lucky we actually are. We are put in check about other people’s worry and our little problems in life often become less significant.

With the continuous development of technology, and the evolving wonderful world that surrounds us, science and psychologists have even created gymnasiums specially designed to train a person to be happy… happy people have been proved to be more resilient therefore making them live longer, they enjoy life more, they get sick less often, and good things happen to them. But not all of us are born happy but we all can learn to be positive, optimism is a taught quality, and anyone can do it, no matter who you are, or where you come from… it’s all about opening your heart to the endless possibilities, it is the start of something new.

Can we be guaranteed happiness, no this is not a car or a phone, and life has no guarantees.

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us, which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves. Wise words from Helen Keller.