What is happiness? Is it a process or a destination?
Seems to me that most people would describe it as a destination: After I do X, Y, and Z I’ll arrive a place where I can be happy.
I want to look at the state of being happy and examine whether or not it’s all that it’s cracked up to be. First of all, let’s define what we mean by being happy.
You might define being happy as a state free from stress, worry, and anxiety. I could respond that the state of being dead encompasses all the terms of that definition. Anyone that is not dead, is not free of all stress, worry, and anxiety, yet some living people would still describe themselves as happy. So that definition is not going to cut it.
Ask people what they want most – if they don’t answer that they want to win the lottery, they may answer that what they want most is to “be happy”. First of all, if all you want is to be happy, what is stopping you? Just be happy. Well, you might tell me, you can’t be happy because you have all these problems, but if you could solve at least some of them, you would be happy – or at least, happier.
I doubt that is true. I don’t claim that someone in a sea of difficulties is likely to be in a permanent state of happiness. Prisoners in solitary confinement, sex slaves, refugees in leaky crafts trying to cross the ocean – they can be excused if they say that they are abjectly miserable. But aside from those in desperate circumstances, everyone has problems (it’s a part of life and an essential one) and yet, some people would still describe themselves as generally happy, despite their troubles.
Me, I’m happy sometimes but I’m just as comfortable in my skin if I’m wrestling with a monkey on my back. I’m “happiest” when I’m lost in a project, inventing something, creating something. If the project is finished successfully, I’m happy about it for a moment, and then I have a feeling of loss and emptiness. It’s a natural outcome of finishing something that had completely absorbed me.
Do you think that seeking happiness is a worthy goal, in and of itself?
I don’t – not really. Yes, I do want to be happy. It’s not that I or anyone wishes unhappiness – it’s just that it is a temporary state that pretty much anyone can achieve without lifting a finger, using only the power of their mind. Yet, we don’t do it – instead we seek happiness as though it is the endpoint of a long and arduous journey, rather than a moment in our day, along with all the other moments, some of which are downright infuriating.
Question: WHY do we want to be happy?
Answer: Because it feels good. Because we don’t like stress, worry, and anxiety.
That’s life, chum.
I think everyone is after something that they will not find until they stop seeking it, and even then, just enjoy it while it lasts. It will fade but it will come again.