What is Happiness?

Happiness is something people are always searching for. Happiness in others, happiness in things, happiness in their jobs, happiness in their families. True happiness isn't something you can achieve relying on people, things, your family, or even your career. True happiness starts within. I didn't realize that I was responsible for my own happiness. The world we live in, advertises happiness as being this fictional personage, and if you don't have it all together, than you can't be happy. In my past relationships, I use to look to my partners to make me feel happy.

No matter what they didx, I was never satisfied. As a child, I thought if I had toys, new clothes, and shoes, then I would be happy. True happiness is rare. People depiction of what happiness is becomes construed from their surroundings. That is why when people are financially stable, they feel happy, but if their car breaks down, or they lose their job, they become unhappy. True happiness is being satisfied, no matter the circumstances. I found myself going on a roller coaster of emotions, I was happy one day, and mad the next. My circumstances were ruining my happiness.

Looking to others, to help me cope, when I should have been looking to myself. I am my own motivator, and my happiness depended on it. Happiness is defined as, the state of being happy. Contentment, satisfaction, joy, and cheerfulness are all characteristics of happiness, but I wasn't exhibiting them when I allowed my surroundings to depict my emotions. I realized that true happiness doesn't have to be defined by my circumstances.

Once this became evident in my life, I was able to look at things differently. It's hard trying to be happy every day, life isn't always pleasant. Happiness doesn't come to mind when you lose a love one, lose your job, or when you feel sick. When these things happen, it makes it tough to get through life. Life can be extremely hard, but sometimes we make it harder than we need to. I was watching a movie called Trolls with my children, and the characters thought if they ate a troll, they'll be happy. It's just like society, telling you if you do this, or buy that, you'll be happy, life doesn't work like that. You are in control of your happiness, no matter what, happiness starts with you.

Learn how to be happy, no matter your circumstances. There might be times in life when we feel like giving up, but we can’t give in, we cannot allow life to take away our happiness. When I started taking control over my life I gained my happiness. My life changed completely and I loved it. There are going to be some bad days, and some good days in our life, but every day we wake up, we have a choice. A choice to start over.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

- Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness