Happiness is a Lifetime Achievement

Happiness.  It’s the brass ring we all strive to grab on the Merry-go-Round of life.  Some may have actually touched it, jiggled it off of the hook, maybe even think they have it but… I think happiness is something that we all strive for but never really achieve.  Yeah, some say they’re happy.. at the moment… or for now.. But what is happiness?

It’s elusive, intangible, fleeting.  It’s something we think we are but probably strive to become more of.  How can you be ‘more happy’?  If you’re happy, you’re happy.  End of story.

When someone asks me what I want to be I have to say – I don’t think about jobs or status or anything.  I think about wanting to be happy.  Wanting things to just.. fall in line so that I can be happy with my life.  Unfortunately, I don’t think happiness is attainable.  Sure, we are happy today or maybe this week.. Hell, we may even be happy for a couple months or a year but… life changes too much for us to remain happy for any given time.  I wish life was much more simple than it is to where I can sit back, pop open a beer and be happy for the rest of my life.  But I can’t.

I’m still striving just to be happy day-to-day.  I’m getting better at that, but I don’t see long term just yet.  

I think those people that say they are truly happy have either given up on life, stopped striving to become better or can’t find that next level or are just lying to themselves.  Can you really say you’re truly happy?  I don’t think I could.  Well, I can’t say that I’m remotely happy now.

What would make me happy anyway?  The next bonus check?  The new car in my garage?  The next great lay?  Three kids, a pony and some Grape Nuts?  No, I can’t say any of those would make me truly happy.  Though I know that in the next year my happiness will go up by me being more selfless, by helping others gain a foothold in the story of life and making things just a little better for someone else.  I want to donate not my money but my time, my knowledge, my compassion.  I think that would get me on the road to happiness and may make me feel better.. but it won’t make me truly happy.

Happiness is a lifetime in attainment.  It might even be the Nirvana Buddha had envisioned.  It’s not something that comes to us in an epiphany.  It’s something that, by the time we’re ready to die, we’ll finally have a grasp on.  

The next time you think you’re happy, ask yourself – could you die that very minute.. for real?  I mean, if life ended right at that very moment it’d be okay?  Because you’re happy?  I think not..  because if you are, I want to see you clutching that brass ring with all your heart.