Happiness: A Pursuit, a Decision, or Both?

Is happiness a pursuit, a decision, or both?



Maybe we need to pursue happiness, but differently than we generally think about doing so. Maybe pursuing hopes, goals, dreams, success, status, etc. is just the backdrop of the story and the real story is happiness itself.

Maybe happiness is a choice, but in order to be capable of willingly and wholeheartedly making that choice, we do need to pursue certain things; things such as wisdom, guidance, connection, identity, and anything else that can contribute to creating some semblance of peacefulness or joy.

Maybe happiness is less about achievement and more about contentment. Maybe the two can even coexist, but with the emphasis being more on contentment. Maybe being content with yourself doesn’t mean becoming complacent, but rather actually appreciating whatever you do achieve, thereby opening yourself up to take more risks.

Contentment can create a safe space within yourself in which you are no longer inhibited by a fear of failure. This can mean taking risks that ultimately lead to more achievement than you could have otherwise accomplished, but also being happy with yourself, regardless of the results.

Knowing and appreciating yourself, regardless of your position in life, is key. As long as you are doing your personal best and can feel proud of yourself for that, the rest is just the white noise that we swim in every day, and can learn to tune out. The comparisons to famous people, the comparisons to each other, even comparisons to younger, “better” versions of ourselves are just distractions from the here and now, which is all that really matters.

I am in this “here” and in this “now”… so what am I doing with that? That is the only question we should ever really be asking ourselves. What is in my control is what I will choose to focus on. That is how I will move myself forward towards achievement, and the mere fact that I have made that choice is what allows me to be proud of myself and, thereby, content. The more I choose to embrace that contentment, the more space opens up in my heart, my mind, and my spirit for happiness to occupy.