Being Happy

I think we complicate being happy. There is a certain simplicity in choosing to be happy and yet it seems that we frequently allow ourselves to choose other options. Happiness is a goal that we set for ourselves but don't allow ourselves to realistically obtain. It's something to strive for, to work toward, to try to be. And when we aren't, we justify it as a temporary state of being that will eventually turn into happiness.

I believe that we all do want to be happy. But want in and of itself is desire, need, wishing, hoping. It isn't fulfillment. Because there is always more to want, more to get. Our satisfaction is brief before we find something else to want. Something else to need. Every day is chock full of actions we take toward reaching that ultimate goal of being happy. Whether in our romantic lives, our jobs, our friendships, our academics, our families, we constantly work on improving these things because that will result in being happy. So when we experience it, we are only encouraged to work on these things more in order to continue feeling the emotion of happiness.

But there's a difference between happiness and simply being happy. While I do not constantly experience happiness, I still choose to be happy. Regardless of what may occur on a daily basis, cultivating the mentality of being happy takes an enormous pressure off. For then we can act without fear because even when sadness strikes, we are happy or rather, content. Though a word that seems to often carry the implication that we are no longer trying as it can be perceived as passive, used in this context, it becomes alive. To be alive, we must be content, we must be happy. We must choose these things because to do otherwise results in spending each day only striving for something. There will always be more to want and more to get. But by actively choosing to be happy, we are able to reach a sense of inner tranquility and peace. A state of mind that in turn allows us to simply be happy.