Now far be it from me, and forgive me for asking, and I don’t mean to pry but if I may just ask you: WHAT IS HAPPINESS TO YOU?
It was a boring Saturday at home so I decided to watch a movie. As recommended by a friend of mine, I watched Hector and The Search For Happiness.
The movie is so timely. Why? Because I myself is searching for happiness. Authentic happiness. Can I call it bliss? Joy?
No, this is not a movie review. It may be one, but it really isn’t. I have not come visit my blog to do a movie review. I just want to write about the phrase “The search for happiness”.
My friend, are you searching for happiness? Are you in pursuit of it? Or is happiness pursuing you but you don’t allow yourself to be immersed by it?
I have been searching for happiness all my life. You see, I am twenty-four and for some reasons, I still do not know the real meaning of happiness.
Well, dictionaries say that happiness is (n) the state of being happy. But what is happy? According to the all-knowing Google, happy is a (n) which means feeling or showing pleasure and contentment.
Ah, pleasure and contentment. Let me repeat that, pleasure and contentment.
We should concern ourselves, not so much with the pursuit of happiness, but with the happiness of pursuit. – Prof. Coreman
I want to do the same things that Hector did in the movie which include the following:
- Travel alone — in a very distant, foreign place.
- Meet strangers — good or bad (but I prefer meeting the former) Haha! I do not want to be kidnapped and threatened because as Hector noted, FEAR IS AN IMPEDIMENT TO HAPPINESS.
- Know a portion of their lives.
- Keep a travel notebook and take a lot of photos.
- Laugh and cry upon realizing great things and recalling happy memories.
UNHAPPY?
To answer my own question, what makes me unhappy is the thought of suffering… of pain… loss… fear… anguish… and honestly, death.
Well, just the thought of them.
Further than those enumerated, it makes me unhappy when I see other people suffering from poverty and injustice and I can’t do anything to help them. I feel unhappy when I see kids being forced to labor and not being sent to school. I become unhappy when I see people cry in extreme sadness and pain.
To overcome unhappiness, I guess, what we can do is filter the things that we want our minds to process. We have the power to control our minds, thus, our feelings, our state of being. No, I am not a psychologist (a psychopath, most probably haha). But I believe that we have the power to lead ourselves towards happiness. Yes, happiness depends on other people as well, but NOT all the time. Happiness comes from within ourselves. Happiness is us.
So as we search for our own happiness(es), I encourage you do the things that make you happy. As told by Prof. Coreman, we should concern ourselves, not so much with the pursuit of happiness, but with the happiness of pursuit.
We can choose to be happy as we search for it. Make your search as happy as it can be. Happiness is just around us because happiness, itself, is us.
We are wired to be happy.
Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6
Happy weekend everyone. Remember to be happy today and always.
The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. – Psalm 118:24
JHONN ROBERT 