A Futile 9 to 5 Pursuit of Happiness

When we were little, we did not learn how to become happy. It was an emotion we grew out from. So why does it become harder to express this inbuilt emotion as we become older?

The problem is, as we grow older, we begin to lose touch of our unique inner personalities and become focused on external individualities.

We become less proactive and more reactive to life and people when exposed to the smiling faces on tv and the superficial lifestyles of faraway individuals on the internet.

We learn of the word ‘success’ but with a flawed description of it. Mistake it for ‘happiness’ and conclude if they are happy, it is because they were first successful.

So we make happiness a goal, hoping to achieve it through success, forgetting we experienced and still own this most sort after emotion.

What we go in search of in the fields of daydreaming and night outings is lying right there in our subconsciousness waiting to be set free once again.

The harder we pursue happiness, the farther we get from it. We begin to devise means to become successful so that we can become happier by denying ourselves sleep and pleasure, cutting down trees to build mansions, and destroying the earth just in search of happiness.

And as we arrive at success, we discover it is as empty as the 46-bedroom mansion we built for our family of 4.

The equation is Happiness ->Hardwork ->Success

NOT Hardwork ->Success ->Happiness.

Happiness is difficult to create later in life when it is not present at the beginning. It is what spurs you into action in the first place.

To achieve happiness, we need to go back to our childhood to understand how we once created happiness. We were contented with what we had and made the best use of our toys and the relationships we had with other kids.

Hardly was there a quarrel that lasted a day. Every day was a new day packed with new and exciting challenges.

We knew who would bring the football, who would bring the whistle, who needed to go secure the space etc. Everyone knew their strengths and proudly used it.

Combining all efforts, we created unforgettable moments we still point to after over 20 years. We appreciated everyone for who they were, never recognized our deficiencies and only recognized and encouraged our strengths. 

When you are genuinely happy with the little you have, and what you do, you unexpectedly begin to spend more time with that activity.

These consistent efforts are what everyone calls ’hard work’ and which inevitably leads to success.

Success is tangible proof that you have built the capacity in an activity and that that activity has helped you better express your happiness, which has now become a source of happiness to someone else’s life.

Discover those that share the same level of excitement with what you love to do and start building those relationships. Positive relationships with people that have aligning goals and aspirations with yours is a prerequisite to self-fulfilment.

As you pursue your goals and aspirations, never mistake success for happiness. Happiness is the state you bring to the journey and not the prize at the end.

If your happiness is dependent on an external unassured end goal or expectation, It means you can’t have a stable or assured state of happiness, because goals and ambitions can be very volatile and can easily go beyond your control.

-AD

#whatinspiresme #bestadvice #happiness #motivation

How do you see happiness?