With all due respect to the founding fathers, happiness isn’t something you pursue. It’s something you choose to enjoy while you’re pursuing other things.
We’ve been conditioned to postpone happiness and see it as something to obtain. We tell ourselves we’ll be happy when we:
- master the violin.
- find our soulmate.
- lose twenty pounds.
- quit our job.
- have our iPad delivered.
But why wait? If you intend to be happy then, why not intend to be happy now?
Instead of pursuing happiness, maybe we can allow ourselves to experience the happiness of pursuit. That’s where we’re going to spend the majority of our time, anyway: in some pursuit.
As soon as we get what we’re after or reach our destination, we’ll set off for something else. It’s human nature. We’re wired to make things better.
We might as well learn to enjoy it.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Ken ~
I keep recommending this book to anyone who will listen. One of my all time favorite books. The prologue to this book had me laughing out loud. A very satirical, yet rational study into how we are so irrational when it comes to knowing about what will make us happy. Hilarious.
Sounds like you’d enjoy Barry Neil Kaufmann’s “Happiness Is A Choice”.
Hi Ken,
I think this is so true and applicable especially in the American society, where the endless pursuit of the American Dream leaves many feeling empty.
I recently wrote a post on perfectionism and how it ties in with our desire to improve or perfect our lives, if you have a moment please check it out; I’d love to share insights on the topic.
Cjk
Amen.
“The dirt track of journey has more to offer than the verdant fields of A or B. ” A friend wrote that in an address book for me about 15 years ago.
jed´s last blog ..a short one (snigger!)
I am slowly (darn, too slowly) enjoying “the happiness of pursuit”. The process of making my cartoons is what I want to experience the most joy in; that keeps me cartooning. Not worrying about whether anyone would like or buy my creations just keeps me frozen, not working. Learning to do some kind of cartoons daily un-freezes me. I like un-frozen!