A Question of Happiness

'The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.'

Eric Hoffer

OK. I'm going to blog about happiness - who hasn't?

The fact is, just about everyone wants to be happy - even if they're happy being miserable. Believe me - those people exist.

There are countless quotes, books, films, websites, consultants and careers which are devoted to that seemingly elusive state of being: happiness. Some of these try hard to alleviate the emptiness that supposedly should be replaced by happiness but, frankly, I think a lot of it is good old-fashioned money-spinning.

The fact is, anyone looking for happiness is, I believe, going the wrong way about it. I don't believe happiness is circumstantial, material or even, dare I say it, emotional - and I don't believe you can find it if you look for it. As Eric Hoffer said, 'The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.'

So, what is happiness? Is it cheerfulness, contentment, satisfaction, bliss, joy, ecstasy - or just a comfortable feeling of wellbeing? An online thesaurus I dipped into offered plentiful suggestions.

I believe some things about happiness but there's a lot more I don't believe: I don't believe you can (or should be) happy all of the time. That would be at least unreal and, at most, sickening (to observers, if not to the subject in question).  

To abuse a well-known saying:

'You can be happy about everything some of the time and you can be happy about some things all of the time - but you can't be happy about everything all of the time.' (with apologies to poet John Lydgate).*

I'm not going to attempt to conclusively define happiness in this blog and nor am I going to let its secrets out (as if I knew them). However, I will try to challenge thinking about the subject and maybe put some minds at rest - and a few of the aforementioned books, websites and consultants out of circulation!

In my next blog, I will write about 'The Discipline of Happiness' (the title of the book I'm going to write one day). I hope you can drop by and contribute to the discussion.

Phil

*According to Scott Dunlop, John Lydgate's famous words were later adapted by President Abraham Lincoln:

'You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.'