Have you ever asked yourself if you are happy? I mean deep down, no pretense truly happy. Do you think you know what happiness feels like? How can you even tell whether you are happy or not? What does happiness mean to you? A lot of times people use the words ‘Joy’ and ‘Happiness’ interchangeably but I want to assume that they are not quite the same. My online dictionary described Joy as an emotion of great delight caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying, for instance, a mother will say that my children give me great joy. This does not necessarily mean that the said mother is happy. The same dictionary described happiness as the quality or state of being happy.
From these definitions, one could easily ask whether we are truly happy if we have a lot of joyful moments in our lives? However, it seems like while there could be fleeting joyful moments in one’s life, happiness is rather a permanent state of mind. When someone asks you ‘Are you happy’ it usually means ‘Are you satisfied with your life’ rather than ‘Do you feel joyful at the moment. Life is adept at throwing us some ouch moments of unforeseen occurrences and moments of not receiving what we wanted or hoped for so this could imply that the permanency of happiness is equally debatable.
Some philosophers have expressed that for a person to experience happiness, they must have experienced unhappiness of some sort. Perhaps there is no such thing as a state of happiness; maybe we are all on a journey to that happy destination. Who knows! My mother, being such a positive person thinks that happiness is mainly based on our perception of things. She believes that if you see the good in everything, then you are likely to be happy.
I believe that happiness is mainly – if not completely subjective. A person has to decide what makes them personally happy. What makes one person happy will not necessarily make another person happy. The society tells us that we should be happy and as a matter of fact prescribe the keys to our happiness: noble education, good job, a faithful partner, good-looking family, religion, success, wealth… the list is not exhaustive. Money certainly makes life a lot easier but I will not equate money with happiness. According to Benjamin Franklin, ‘Money has never made man happy, nor will it; there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has, the more one wants’
There is evidence suggesting that people who focus on being happy may actually be less happy. A constant pursuant of happiness could easily lead to unhappiness if the mind is unable to attain the happiness targets that it has set for itself. The essence of living is in the moment, not thinking about what has been and what will be and instead focusing on being happy at the present moment.
I have chosen to be the master of my own happiness. I make my happiness and I guard it protectively. My happiness is an overall feeling of consistent contentment and pleasure in being alive, regardless of daily situations, opportunities, and threats. Being genuinely happy for others further nourishes my own happiness.
What does happiness mean to you?
