I don't know too many people who are truly happy.
There are plenty of people who are just around the corner from happiness. And plenty more who used to be happy. Why is that?
Maybe people don't really want to be happy. Maybe happiness is a goal for people to work toward and if they reach their goal, they quit working, grow bored and lose their happiness.
Maybe happiness has it's own uncertainty principle. Do you remember that principle from your college physics class? The one that says the more precisely the POSITION is determined,the less precisely the MOMENTUM is known. Or in this case, the happier you are, the less you realize how happy you are. Which makes sense, because what happy person has time to stop and realize they are happy? If you have to stop and think about it, you just lost it.
Which takes us back to where this started. Am I truly happy?
D'oh!
7 comments:
While I think it's good to ask ourselves occasionally if we are happy and assess where we are headed buy I don't think we should go around asking this all the time. I realize you're not saying that exactly but in a way you are by wondering if happy people know they're happy. I agree with LJB and would like to go another step in saying that Happiness is not a destination, it's a journey.
Sorry I meant LBJ not LJB :o
Good comment Aline. It wasn't just LBJ who said that, or even LJB.
Boston sings that "It's not where you can be, but what you can see, that takes you there. Your destination."
As for what Betty said, about being happy and sad at the same time, I just finished reading "The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe", which talks about that very thing. Good comment.
So, maybe then, assessing our happiness to much isn't what takes away our happiness. Perhaps it's the other way around. We tend to ask ourselves the happiness question when we've already lost it.
Or in other workds, asking "Am I truly happy?" is a course adjustment, not a stop sign.
Happiness is just fleeting moment. You blink and it's gone and you're in pursuit again.
I don't think we were meant to be happy most of the time, that's what keeps us in pursuit, which is the essence of life.
Uncle David, I can't help but disagree. Happiness is far greater than fleeting moments in our existence. The whole point of our existence is happiness. Few people in this life will acheive it 100% of the time, but more than half people I know have it more than half of the time.
Here is the quote I was originally going for.
The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue
happiness you'll never find it.
-- C. P. Snow
I just had to find it, that's all.
This one works good too.
Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of
temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something
that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better
stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your
own brand of unhappiness.
-- Robertson Davies
Post a Comment