The Pursuit of Happiness

What do you want to be when you grow up? question asked throughout our lives. Common responses to this question usually consist of generic occupations one wishes to work towards throughout ones life. When I was growing up I wanted to be a teacher or a pilot. I worked hard throughout school, telling myself I would feel a sense of completion and happiness firstly by obtaining my GCSE’s, then my A-levels, followed by my university degree and finally obtaining a highly paid job. However as I set these goals it became apparent the happiness I convinced myself I would acquire was both hollow and frivolous. As humans we are conditioned to be in desperate need of a future. We say to ourselves “oh when I complete my exams I will be happy or I can’t wait to go on that holiday”. However, when we finally reach that moment we feel cheated; the sense of happiness is empty and meaningless. We trudge through life trying to secure wealth because we have been sold the lie that it equals happiness. We believe this procession of grades is leading to gorgeous voluptuous goodies lying at the end of a line that never quite turns up. We set our self a life problem that is insoluble; we are educated to live in the future and not the present. Our life experiences are divided into sections because of the concept of time.

​Time illustrates the present as a hair line fracture on a clock, promoting a separation of the past, present and future in relation to our own lives. Time denies us the opportunity to live in the present, manifesting a reality in which we live our lives completely in the past or future. When we listen to music or meditate, time doesn’t exist; we completely immerse ourselves in the present moment. The past and future no longer exist, instead of a hair line fracture on a clock, your present moment becomes the duration of that activity. We are the creators of our own reality, by dwelling on the past or future we can design a present ridden with stress and anxiety. The key to happiness is not to be shackled by the restraints of the past or future, view it all as the present. Living in the present moment is the closest one can be, to truly enjoy the marvels of the world.