Don't Worry Be Happy

Having an extended lunch with a friend today, and with him going through some tough emotional times, the discussion moved to how he felt he had lost his happiness.

With regards to happiness, he had a theory. In his mind, happiness is not a constant, but the up peaks in a series of up and down emotional experiences. Like you may be happy when a certain event occurs, but you will move back to your "normal" state of mind after a certain period of time, be that 5 seconds, 5 minutes, or 5 days. To which I replied, you have have to increase your "normal" state of mind, so that you feel happier all the time. He thinks, however, that if this is the case, your will normalise that feeling, and it will take more and more extraordinary events to bring you to a state of happiness.

Can feeling happiness be like feeling rich? You will always want more of it, and in the end, there is not enough happiness in the world to satisfy you? I have to say that I found the whole theory quite cynical.
He was the first to admit that he was surprised at how cynical he and his friends had become. Everyone was dissatisfied with their present situation, and everyone felt that deserve more than what they were getting.

Most likely it's true, and we all deserve more. I just hope that those guys realise the luckiness of the situation that they are in. My only gripe is the fact that people do not leverage the positions they are in. The biggest shame is to waste all the talents and opportunities that you have been given in this life to make it a better place, both for yourself and for those around you.

Maybe that is what happiness is all about...that you know you are pushing yourself to be everything that you can be.