happiness



What does a person need to be happy in life? 

Just go live in Scandinavia, that’s what all the online happiness surveys say. The happiest people are always found in Denmark, or Sweden, or Finland. It makes sense; Scandinavia’s three most well-known exports are Volvo automobiles, Nokia phones, and Heidi Klum. It makes perfect sense. 

What does a person need to be happy in life? 

On the surface, there is no question simpler. Yet, the more you think about it, there is no question more loaded. Happiness is not something that can be worked out with a formula; there is no one size fits all, because happiness means different things to different people. With happiness, it’s different strokes for different folks. Some people prefer basics: shelter, a means to survive, and good health. There are people, who are happy with just those 3 basic things, then there are people who have those 3 things in abundance but they’re not happy. Some people have: a mansion or three, netting what most people gross and blessed with exceptional health and great family, yet they’re not happy. This brings into play the question of living versus merely existing, which will lead you down the narrow road of questioning your own existence, which is by far the quickest way to drive yourself insane. I stumbled down this road when mortality stared me in the face; I lost someone close to me. Nothing leaves you confused like death does, in the middle of your journey everything can just stop. Then what? 

So what does a person really need to be happy? Can you even attain such a state? There’s a scene in the movie the Pursuit of Happiness, where the character portrayed by Will Smith asks, “How did he know to put the word pursuit in there?” The implication is that happiness is something that we can only ever chase but ultimately never catch (attain). 

Why would anyone even ask another person such a question? Are they basically requesting the simple answer or is it just bait? Are they actually trying to figure out how your mind works? Are they trying to classify you based on how you interpret that question? 

I know that I felt happiest when I had a purpose, an end goal. When the goal posts where moved, I was confused and lost, I was just drifting through life. I was in a loop. Maybe that’s why people who champion causes greater than them seem happy? Perhaps that’s why they feel ready to die for their purpose? 

What I do know for sure, is that before you can attempt to answer this loaded question, you need to find yourself and figure out who you really are. How can you begin to understand what you need if you don’t even know who you are?

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