The pursuit of happiness

"Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple - to be happy. Maybe it's this expectation though of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to states of bliss, the more confused we get - to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Instead we just keep smiling - trying to be the happy people we wish we were. Until it eventually hits us, it's been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes but in the known, the comfortable, the familiar."

I've always regarded the attainment of happiness as something mandatory to our system. It's a natural state to be in, I've told myself, like the point of equilibrium for a pendulum after its tumultuous journey through space. You see, whenever asked what my codes of morality were, the only answer I'd be able to present was that I wanted to be happy. It's all very simple. What do you wish for the person you love? 'I just want you to be happy'. Why do you want to take the week off and go hiking in the hills? 'It would make me very happy '. Happiness, or the lack of it, has always been the driving force, leading us on the path of decision making. Yes, it's all very selfish, when you only think in terms of happiness only, but, why should you not?

Bur the thing is, happiness is no state of being. Only the pursuit is. The long, eternal road. Because, you see, happiness is like a butterfly, fluttering all around you in all its winged splendor. When you catch it, it's ecstasy. But butterflies only live for a day...

So what is it all about, really? Could we define happiness as the absence of pain? But when are we ever without any troubles...

Can you be happy even when you're falling apart and everything is changing? You could struggle around and grip on to something secure, something you know will work to being the smile back. Happiness is a need.