I was often asking myself, what is happiness and why everyone is pursuing it?
Of course, if you ask people this question, you will receive a broad palette of definitions about what happiness is.
But happiness is a generic term.
For some people, it means being healthy. For others to have family, live in peace, be loved, have a good job, house, friends, stability, safety, children, etc. Naturally, every human being aspires to be happy, and I think everyone is working and acting with this in mind.
And in the mind of many, happiness is a long-term state. But usually, it isn’t, as long as we tend to build our happiness relying on other people and things.
When I look around, I can observe that although everyone is looking for and pursuing happiness, very few are. The majority of people usually land in the opposite situation, in unhappiness.
Now, along the millennia, philosophers and religion have had the job to explain what happiness is and how you can achieve it.
Even though we need just ourselves for finding happiness, it is essential to integrate close or distant relationships, situations, feelings, and emotions in our lives to become complete beings. And still, not building the happiness upon these evanescent things.
I spent a long time reflecting and visiting various corners and dark hiding places within myself. Eventually, I understood what Sadhguru used to say (not exactly his words):
You are the only one that can make you happy because the happiness is within you. You are your best friend and partner, the one who is always there for you. You are bond with yourself 100 % of your time, your entire life.
If you feel lonely, unhappy, and unsatisfied with yourself, but you want other people or things to fill your emptiness and make you happy and satisfied, you will be hardly disappointed. You will never be happy.
Being in accord with myself, feeling inner peace and plenitude which I can share with others without expecting something in return.
This feeling is infinite, even shared and consumed remains infinite. It replenishes itself. It is an inexhaustible source of inspiration, too.
Of course, I am not permanently in this state. I am still human, by the way.
Nevertheless, I learned how to tap the source whenever I feel the need to reconnect.
It is what drives the humankind.
Until we don’t reach it, we cannot rest. But if we don’t evolve psychologically enough for that, we are damned/blessed to evolve only technologically, which, unfortunately, will not add too much to happiness.
I don’t know if my methods are universally valid, but I will gladly share them with you. You can get inspired for finding your own way through. Just give me a sign if you want to talk about it.