The Pursuit of Happiness

Are you happy? With yourself? With what you have?

As society progresses, the people living in it seem to believe more and more in an external happiness. A happiness that is in objects and the many physical pleasures of the world. People will often say "I'll be happy when I get a better job." Or "I'll be happy when I find a girlfriend." Only to find out once they have these things that nothing has changed. They find themselves still searching for more, not yet satisfied.

And they will always be searching.

Because when your happiness lies only in what you can see, you are not truly happy. You're merely being influenced temporarily, stimulated, by an event or object around you.

Every stimulant wears off.

This is why marriages fall apart, this is why that new car doesn't make you smile like it used to. It's because you're looking for your happiness to come to you instead of providing it for yourself.

Be the light you are searching for.

You have access to happiness even in the darkest moments of your life. To tell yourself you can only be happy when you have obtained some "thing" is a terribly damaging lie to live by.

Happiness does not come from objects, only pleasure is gained.

Sure, you can be pleased by material objects and status gains, but like the stimulant it is, pleasure will fade leaving you feeling rather empty among your possessions.

Even the most depressed can feel pleasure, it is happiness they cannot taste.

Happiness, unlike pleasure, comes from within. It is the shining beacon of light that has been just a breath away your entire life. The moment you realize that happiness is a choice, an outlook on life, is the moment you stop torturing yourself with ideas of what you don't have.

If you're reading this article you're alive.

You're alive. This is something taken so hugely for granted in the 21st century. The fact you exist is one of the most improbable events to ever occur. The life here on earth is completely mind blowing and people are walking around like it's nothing special.

Step outside every morning and say "I can't believe this is really happening."

Look at the tree's and how they grow, look at the way a bird effortlessly glides through the air. Can you believe it? Is it not a cause of happiness to just be among the life on earth?

It is.

This is what the happiest people on earth have figured out. This is the secret.

The simple fact we exist here and now is so incredibly mind blowing that if you aren't constantly bogging yourself down with what you think you need to be happy, you will see all the beauty. You just have to let it in again, like when you were a child.

You had no reason to be happy as a child, but you were.

You were just happy to be here. Among the other creatures of the world, seeing the beauty, breathing in the air. You played, loved, and learned.

Nothing has changed! Really, nothing.

Well, except your perception. Perception is how you as an individual see the world you live in. As you grew up in a media driven society, where expensive objects are often shown as the biggest causes of happiness, your perception changed to believe this was so. This was an error and to experience true happiness you're going to have to do some rewiring.

The problems of the average man are erased at the same time he stops thinking about them.

On the pursuit of happiness, you must realize that it is very likely that many problems you face are self-created. You believe you require certain things to be happy, thus happiness is always a step or two away.

True happiness is right now. In this moment. No matter what you do or do not have, you can have happiness. It is not a luxury of the upper class, in fact, much of privileged society suffers horribly from depression. It is time to believe in your self once more. You have the power to give yourself purpose.

You have the power to give yourself happiness.