After a long quest, do you really find happiness at the end of the tunnel?

Happiness is such an elusive state that it is not totally possible to find a crisp definition for it. Let’s look at some definitions to make this clear. From a psychological perspective it is “life satisfaction or subjective well-being”.? And, for a more non-academic lay definitions some say that happiness is just “the absence of negative feelings”, peacefulness, self-actualization, or finding purpose in life.

All these diverse definitions only make things worse, as there is no given to-do list that are certain will make people happy, or at least things NOT to do and to avoid, so that our lives can be better and most importantly happier. All tips and tricks that are available online to be happy, or to lead a happy life have proven to be futile.

This is quite apparent in the suicide rate especially in the West. It is true that Western countries are not among the top ten in the world, according to the world population review, still the rate is quite high compared to less affluent countries, and even some troubled countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

In the United States, for instance, suicide rate has been 16.1 per 100,000 people in 2019. In Sweden, the rate has been 14.7 during the same period, but some say that this is due to long dark hours in Scandinavian countries in general. And in another European non-Scandinavian countries such as France and the UK rates has been 13.8, and 7.9 respectively.

Now people try to do anything just for the sake of being happy. People get married, seek jobs that they think can make them rich, entertain themselves with everything they can think of, accumulate wealth, anything, just name it. However, people tend to get unhappy all the time. And there is just one reason for this, it is their very quest for happiness.

In this worldly life total and everlasting happiness is totally impossible. There is no such thing as being totally “happy” in your life. What really matters is being contented with one’s life. Contentment is the true key to a somehow happy life, but seeking happiness itself is totally counterproductive.

One should be contented with what we do not have control over, like our color, culture, family, identity and so forth. However, one can always seek to lead a better life and to exert effort in what we can control such as social status (that can be changed), our education, wealth, or even our marital satisfaction.

We, as humans, cannot reach happiness and make it everlasting, nonetheless we can try and make our lives better and more fulfilling, achieve balance between work and social life, educate ourselves, make a real difference in other people’s lives even with a simple smile, and then we should leave everything to the will of God Almighty (Allah Subhanahu wata’la), and this is just the secret formula!

Sources: WHO, World Population Review