A Post on Happiness

Happiness.

Yes, I'm talking about that elusive, abstract noun that all of humanity either seems obsessed with finding and holding on to, or are convinced it does not truly exist.
Happiness.


Good question, Charlie. ^^
So... what IS happiness?
Well, actually... who knows??
(Yes, happiness largely consists of the chemicals serotonin and dopamine in our brains, but I suppose I'm talking more about the philosophical nature. :P )
It differs from person to person, and everyone thinks it's something different... as elusive and invisible as those pixies that live in your garden...
A strange analogy, I know, but I'll get back to that. ;P



But, the fact is, we've all been sitting desperately searching for some way to be 'happy' at some point in our lives.
...so how does one become 'Happy?'
Is it something magical that just happens?
Is it something magical that just floats into our life?
Is it, as the ancient Greek (I think it was Greek, but it could be Roman.) Empire thought, a god-granted luck to be happy? (They believed that you were either born to be 'happy' or to have good fortune in your life, or not. In fact, 'hap' is derived from a word meaning 'luck', so words like happen, happiness etc all have something to do with a certain amount of 'luck'.)
Is happiness something that needs to be earned? That you need to prove you deserve it through trials and tribulations?
Is is just being oblivious to all the negative, sad and terrible things in the world?
(As the saying goes, "Ignorance is Bliss")
Is it a choice?
Is it any of these things? All of them? None of them?



Here's the thing I believe.

Happiness does not actually exist.


Wait, take a moment to absorb that.
...
Now, before you start yelling at me that I'm obviously a terribly pessimistic person who has obviously never been happy, let me first stress that there is a difference between being happy and having happiness,

Yes. I would indeed describe myself as a happy person.
Why?
Because I am regularly happy.
But the thing is; people seem to see having happiness, as having a point in our lives where we are perpetually not-sad, or perpetually not-stressed. Where everything is going just right.


The thing is, that being perpetually in a positive emotional state is actually physically impossible.
Our brain notices that it's getting way too many 'happy messengers' flooding it, and it goes something like this:
(In our brain)
"Oh, gosh. I'm so happy!! :D :D"
*a little while later*
"Yeee! I'm still so happy!~"
*A little while later again*
"...Wait a second..."
"Why am I still happy??"
"There must be some chemical imbalance within me!! D:"
"Quick! Drop the joy levels! This isn't how it should be!"
*We lose that wibbly-wobbly happy-happy feeling.*


So, yes. We actually have an "inbuilt buzz-kill' system! XP
(Note that this does not count for clinical depression/ actual chemical imbalances within the brain that cannot be fixed by the brain (probably because it's so depressed itself) and so need psychological help.)

Another thing, countries /places that are rated 'highest' in 'happiness' also have the highest suicide rates.
But... if everyone's so happy, why is that so??
No, no. It's not the supposedly happy people that are doing this, but those that believe they're not happy because they see all these people that have obviously found happiness and wonder "what could I be missing?? D:"
And then they enter that terrible, oh-so subtle death-spiral where we slowly sink into a more and more depressed state; constantly wondering why we're not happy, (or as happy as them) and what are we missing?

(Trivia, the "Death Spiral" is actually plane-jargon meaning the downward spiral that planes can enter. They cause death not because they're impossible to get out of (they're not), but because, especially way-back-when, when planes had few instruments, the motion of the plane was actually unnoticeable. So the pilot didn't notice they were plummeting towards the ground until they saw it in front of them.)


But the thing is, as my mother's psychic guru preaches, "We should not seek happiness, for that is fleeting and unsure. Instead, we should focus on balance, peace and contentment within our lives."

So instead of wondering why you're not happy, and why is there no happiness in your life, enjoy the moments where there are no terrible things going on directly in your life at that moment.
Like, when you're eating a really good sandwich.
Or you noticed how that one cloud looks a bit like a horse with a mouse's head.

(Disclaimer: There isn't actually a horse with a mouse's head pictured here. Unless you have a really good imagination. These are just really pretty clouds.)


Also, take part in things that make you temporarily smile, or laugh, or be happy just for a moment.
Oh, rest assured, your brain will shut off the happy-vibes, but then, just be content. Or go do something else, that's maybe stress relieving etc.

So, I think, what I'm basically trying to say is... stop focusing on -trying- to always be happy, or wondering if there's something 'wrong' with you or your life because you're not!
Not to be too cliché or anything, but everyone is sad at some point. (Actually, most people, mst of the time.) Not because the world is depressing, not because we have amazing reasons to be sad, but just because our brain seems to have trouble being happy a lot.
That is all.
(If you see people who are happy all the time, they are very good actors.)


(Not a fan of expletives, but I suppose it gets the point across, that happiness is not so much a concept of hundreds of smiling people etc as what you want it to be.)

Life is stressful, hard, unfair, busy, even more stressful, sad, disorganised and basically a great big jumble of stuff. 
The trick is to, occasionally, slow down, remind yourself that, really, it's not all bad and go do something that makes you smile, even for just a minute. 
Oh, and stop searching for "happiness"
But then, there are a billion quotes online for that.






Except that these quotes have one thing wrong: happiness doesn't actually exist. When we stop searching for it, contentment appears, which makes our split-second moments of joy just seem to last longer.
Or maybe the contrast is just less.

Now, as an ending note to this post, here's an awesome picture of a person hugging a seal.

Have a fun day. :P