Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

What is happiness? Merriam-Webster defines it as a state of well-being and contentment, but I am not sure that when I think of happiness that is what comes to mind. To show why, one must look further at the definition of happiness. Well-being, defined again by Merriam-Webster, is the state of being happy, healthy or prosperous. Contentment means the quality or state of being contented - and contented means to appease the desires of something. I take this to mean, just enough.

So now we realize that the definition of happiness, in the strictes form, means to be healthy, or prosperous (because happy is a circular definition), and having just enough of what you need to feel settled for a minute or two.

I am by no means prosperous at this point of my life, and lately I am unsure of my health. But it seems to me, that if we have a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, food in our tummies, and someone to lean on when times get tough, then we should be content. So why are we constantly looking for something more?

More, in this day and age tends to be directly related to the pursuit of material goods. Some people (unfortunately not as large of a population as the material people) find "more" in church or sports or whatever it is that makes them want to wake up in the morning.

But what if you don't know what you want to be your "more?" A boyfriend is nice, but you must never put 99% of yourself into a significant other for that can only end in despair. A book seems to work for most, but like life, all good things must come to an end. - Furthermore, finding that jewel of a book can be difficult. So what can we tell about this "more?"

More can be constantly changing. More can be something stable. More can be anything you want it to be. All you have to do is find your more, and be content with it. If you have your more, and you have your basic needs, you must be happy.

So here I am, all the makings of happiness. I have my health in such a state that I am free to move around, I am mentally sound, and I have the ability to be prosperous in life. Furthermore, I am relatively content with my life, although some minor improvments are definately necessary within the realms of my five-year plan. My mores include tennis, snowboarding, my family, my friends, myself. By definition, I should be happy.

The problem is, I'm not. It occurs to me, that the only reason I am not, is because of my own self. My own ambition, being, and self. There seems to be a part of me, that is not happy unless I am doing something that is obvoiusly perpetuating me forward, with a plethora of opportunity and brightness on the horizon.

What ever idea that was put in our heads as a child, that dictates
that we must live our lives in complete happiness must have come from the land of make-believe. None of us live in complete and utter "happiness". What we need to do is develop being content. Once you have the 4 basic needs, a few mores, and a few dreams, you should be content just moving towards them, living your life, and being.

It's time to let ourselves be happy with who, what, and where we are. It's time to grow up. It's time to take the time to breathe.