The Pursuit of Happiness

Seeking happiness is not a luxury or a privilege. It is your attempt to give to the world.

It is not self-indulgent or selfish. It is the noblest choice you can make.

However it is a mistake.

Here’s why.

The very phrase, the pursuit of happiness is based on a misunderstanding of happiness.

Happiness is not a thing that can be pursued, chased or won. It can only be chosen.

And it can only be chosen by the individual who would experience it. There is nothing you can do, buy or say that will give lasting happiness to another.

The best that you can do is demonstrate happiness through your own life. This shows others that genuine happiness can be chosen. And in their own time they may choose it also.

The pursuit of happiness is based on an assumption that there is an ideal that we need to match up to before being happy.

Because of this faulty assumption, many people chase after things and experiences they believe will make them happier.

Yet in truth there are no entry requirements to be happy. You do not need;

   any educational requirements,

    any status or income levels,

anything other than the pure intention and choice to be happy. 

This is why all the world engages in the pursuit of happiness, yet few achieve more than fleeting glances at it.

All the things that we want, whether it is a great fortune or saintliness. Are all motivated, at their source by one thing…

The desire for happiness.

Even those who shun happiness, such as ascetics, do so in the pursuit of happiness. Just a different definition of happiness… and a different time scale.