The Pursuit of Happiness

Good day,

What exactly is happiness? I have been in a mental war the last few days trying to answer this question. I have been asking all my friends and each answer I get does not satisfy me. Why do we say Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary? Where does happiness come from? What makes us happy? Can we be happy everyday?

Does this sound familiar:
Who stole my happiness? Isn’t that a thought? Perhaps someone moved my happiness? Like you know when you leave your phone in one place and you find it in another? Ya well it’s that OR I misplaced it. Cos I cannot find what people call happiness. Could it be that I am searching for it in the wrong place? But then again, how do you know when you have found happiness when you don’t even know what it looks like?

I found fulfillment, I found inspiration, I found love, I found satisfaction, I found peace, I found joy, I found bliss… But where is happiness? What is happiness?

After hours and hours of pondering, I have the answer.

Happiness is.
That’s it. You can’t find happiness because it is everywhere. Sort of like you asking the fish “hows the water?” and getting a reply, “what water?”
You either feel happiness in everything you do or you feel it not at all.
Happiness is a very individual and personal thing. Unlike love which can be experienced through certain actions, happiness is cannot be guaranteed by specific actions.
Eating an icecream in summer may bring you happiness. Eating an icecream in the middle of the Antarctica may not bring you much happiness. So happiness is something specific at all!
No one can take your happiness away. It’s a strange because neither can you give it away. It cannot be found or lost or even stolen.
Happiness is a present moment emotion experienced through any action or inaction for that matter that makes you feel like you swallowed the sun and you are beaming. Is happiness a by product of gratitude? I would say yes.
Happiness is really whatever you want it to be.

So here are 5 things that make me happy:

1. Writing
2. Teaching and shifting people
3. Loving
4. Serving people
5. Eating ice cream.

What makes you happy?

Love,
H