Happiness

I am curious about happiness.  Is it a myth?  Do I squelch it with anticipation of what is ahead (good or bad) instead of abiding fully in the present?  Can happiness be achieved by following a series of steps in a fashion similar to losing weight or starting a business?  Is our individual happiness a preprogrammed part of our personalities such that we are happy or not based on innate disposition?  Are we never satisfied?  Is happiness a constant state or something we get moments of?  Were previous generations happier?  Is my guilt in comparing my life to the children in the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” a positive tool for seeing good fortune?  

Dictionary.com offers this simple definition of happiness:

1. the quality or state of being happy
2. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy 

Those questions buzz in my mind.  I turned to books to help with the GRE, planning a wedding, getting a baby to sleep (how could something so natural be so difficult?).  So why not for happiness, too?  On this day, Amazon.com lists 1,814 nonfiction books when I search on “happy” offering advice for happy babies, happy lawyers, happy housewives, happy retirement and much more.  Type “happiness” into the search box and another 2,898 nonfiction books are listed but seem more philosophical or spiritual in approach.    

There is no notion of the long or short lasting nature of happiness in the definition.  Perhaps my mistake is wanting to arrive at happiness and never slip out of it.  I feel it is human nature to want happiness.  I also feel able to influence my happiness.  And by golly, I feel I can work my way toward happiness like any other goal.  Plot a course, design a pattern, research the teachings of spiritual leaders.  But can all of that actually distract me from the happiness potential of a moment?  What of the mention of “good fortune” in the definition of happiness?  That is something that simply occurs by no doing of our own – where, to whom and when we are born shapes a lot of things. 

There are things about my life that detract from happiness.  But I am cognizant that their absence would also remove things that create the happy, too.  Cleaning my bathrooms does not add to happiness, but having indoor facilities does!  Balancing the checkbook is a bore but having money to pay my expenses creates happiness.  Living in a chaotic home with three kids and a husband is often overwhelming but one well-timed hug from any of them can improve an entire day.  My life is connected in this way that never lets the path to happiness seem quite as clear and designable as I might like.   

Mostly today I have questions about my yen for happiness.  I suspect I am not alone in mulling human happiness.   Even Aristotle is quoted at Thinkexist.com as saying, “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”