Through My Eyes

Traditionally, people tend to see happiness as a greater thing than being miserable. We pursue jobs, which we enjoy because they make us happy. When some people are miserable they do almost anything to be happy again, like drugs, alcohol, etc. What makes happiness so desirable and misery something that we all wish to avoid?

I do believe that one pursues the idea of happiness, one desires the idea of happiness from the position of being, in fact, unhappy. When I am happy, I am not pursuing anything.

The English word "happiness" is related to the prefix of words like "happenstance," "hapless" and "haphazard," which implies that happiness is tied to chance: If you're lucky enough to have the right kind of life or the right kind of possessions, you're more likely to be happy. In fact, if you ask a group of people, "What do you think is most likely to make you more happy?" the number one answer is usually "more money."

The 20th-century halachic sage the Chazon Ish captured the existential element of well-being when he said, "For one who knows the light of truth, there's no sadness in the world."

Life is intrinsically and unconditionally meaningful in all circumstances, even the most challenging ones. Every moment in human existence holds a call for meaning, each situation in life is an opportunity to discern meaning.

Someone once said that our level of well-beingis determined bywhat we choose to focus on and by our interpretation ofexternal events.Do we view failuresas catastrophic orlearning opportunities?

To be a good person and live the intrinsically good life, one has to become a philosopher. Thinking about happiness is important because it involves thinking about the meaning of being human, the purpose of human life, the best social order, the role of religion and the content of education. It forces us to reflect on these aspects in order to understand our own tradition and its relevance to contemporary life.

Unfortunately, pursuit of the idea does not produce the fact, rather it is the negation of the fact. Once one sees very clearly that the pursuit of happinessisunhappiness, then it is apparent that there is no escape from the fact of oneself, and that the attempt to escape is the perpetuation of unhappiness.

Lets be straight, happiness is a choice. Most humans don't choose. We get distracted by pretty things, comparisons with others, our thoughts about how life "should be" or the possessions we "should" have. Instead of choosing to be happy, we let our judgements choose for us, and they mostly choose that life isn't good enough or we aren't good enough, or something's wrong with the world, leaving us in an unhappy state.

We're generating thoughts constantly, mostly inaccurate, mostly simplistic generalisations, and creating emotions consistent with these thoughts. If you want to be happy, don't give significance to your thoughts. Don't empower your attachments and emotions. Enjoy them, they're yours, but don't believe the "reality" they seem to reflect.

If you could always be happy, would you choose to be? Always? I don't think so. It's nice to be happy when you want, but why fight normal emotions? I intervene when my thoughts and emotions get in the way of what I'm up to.

The whole question of "what makes us happy" leads us down a false path, a wild goose chase. It seems like some things make us happy, but it's not true. What makes a relationship work? What makes life fulfilling? What makes us happy? What creates a life of love? The answer is all the same, being responsible. Not for your choices or behaviour, but for how you're being and who you are intrinsically. So choose to be happy and you will be.