Looking for happiness

[Catherine Sarah Hislop]

Ask people what they’re looking for in life, and most would say happiness. Problem is, in a majority of cases the wish for happiness remains vague and undefined, and thus can never be achieved. When you ask people to be more precise, they say they want to earn more money, have a happy love-life, stay healthy, and see at least some of their desires become reality. The thing is, you mustn’t seek happiness if you really want to find it.

Life is full of opportunities for suffering and generating negative emotions. Many more negative things happen than opportunities for happiness in a lifetime.

I’m not saying this to be pessimistic, and I assume you’ve examined your own life at some point, and found what I say to be true, at least up to now. Like most people, you’ve gone through more hard times than favorable ones. How, then, can you imagine that permanent happiness exists, when you’ve only experienced it on rare occasions?


Happiness Is Not Eternal

Once again, let me repeat that I’m not trying to sound pessimistic. I’m just describing life as it unfolds for most people, including you.

It may seem paradoxical, but to attain happiness you first need to realize that, once achieved, happiness isn’t eternal. Happiness consists much more of being able to find solutions to your problems, not of having no problems at all.

If you see happiness as Paradise on Earth, you’ll never attain it. False hope will only cause more suffering in your life, as you keep trying to achieve something that’s impossible here on Earth: living in a permanent and absolute state of happiness, which is an erroneous concept of existence.

When you stop thinking your life can be one, long, tranquil, smooth-flowing river, with no fast rapids or sharp turns, you’ll already have taken a giant step towards attaining true happiness. More than a state of eternal blessedness, where everything is given to you on a plate, true happiness consists of the practice of wisdom.


The Unhappy Billionaire

You may not be unhappy all the time, but if you want to experience happiness more often, you need to stop thinking that one day you’ll have a problem-free life. Even people who have every reason to be happy, celebrities and billionaires and the like, have problems to deal with.

Having a lot of money may certainly help to resolve your material problems, but even billionaires eventually get sick, suffer losses, get divorced, get injured, and so on.

Data has shown that despite their small number compared to the rest of the population, rich people are more likely to develop serious illnesses than the rest of humanity. They are reported to have the highest percentage of life-threatening health problems like cancer, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, and so forth. Not to mention the stress that results from managing a large fortune, and responding to the many solicitations aimed at them. 


Be Rich Inside

One preconception that never leads to happiness is to think that financial wealth brings the greatest and most supreme form of happiness possible. Although you should always be on the lookout for ways to earn more money, you mustn’t make wealth your ultimate goal. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what most people do when they’re asked what they mean by ‘being happy.’ Instead of wanting a fulfilling love-life, health of steel, or the realization of their wishes, they want, above everything, money.

If you want to be happy, you need to give up the idea that financial wealth is the apex of happiness right now.

Remember the proverb: ‘Money doesn’t bring happiness, but only adds to it.’

Although you shouldn’t make money your primary goal in life, you shouldn’t go to the other extreme either, and neglect your finances, which would be harmful for you. Everyone needs money, so accept it!

Make wealth one goal among many. Add things like being in love, having great friendships, sharing or doing good around you, etc, to your list of aims, if you haven’t already. I know from experience that even a person who is in dire financial straits, rarely finds a solution to their problem by seeking money alone.

People who do succeed in becoming happy develop networks with other positive people, and emit great numbers of positive thoughts. They listen to others’ problems, and are not tempted to fall into evil ways since they’re usually following a dream, even one that seems crazy before it becomes real.

Happiness is a myth if you think it corresponds to Paradise on Earth. Instead, invest yourself fully in everything you do, and one day soon, without looking for it, you’ll find greater happiness than you dreamed possible.