The Pursuit of Happiness: But WHOSE Happiness Is It?

We talk a lot about the pursuit of happiness and I'm sure everybody has their own impression of what their happiness might look like.

And I guess that's only good and natural.

But sometimes I can't help but feel — and question — doubt about whose happiness are we actually pursuing.

Consider the fact that we are surrounded by messages that come from some greater societal (or collective) form of "peer pressure" to succeed at something. We're told what we should desire in life.

But is that something we're being asked to succeed at — and which allegedly equates to happiness — really representative of our own happiness? Or is it a manufactured ideal that we somehow have fallen into the collective trance of believing is the happiness we're supposed to want?

The Best Things in Life...?

I'm not suggesting — even for a moment — that there's something wrong with wanting some of The Finer Things in Life. However is your desire to have those finer things something that actually comes from within you? Or is it a desire that has been manufactured and planted in your sense of self by a bunch of glitzy images put forth by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, designed to make you desire something that perhaps was never part of your original visualization of what you wanted?

The reason I raise these points more as questions than as actual points is the fact that when you sit down and talk with people — in depth — and you ask them what they value the most in their life... typically the things that come up are intangibles such as love, or their children, or their good health, or a sense of community, or the freedom to do what they want.

Seldom is such a reckoning of what somebody appreciates the most a list of Porsches, Gucci handbags and McMansions!

Hence we end up with the question of whether or not our ostensible "Pursuits of Happiness" is truly what we think they are,

One of my all-time favorite bumper stickers reads "The best things in life are not THINGS," and I think there's a lot of truth to that. Again, let me emphasize that I have nothing against material objects and I have nothing against having some of the Finer Things in life, however I think we sometimes fall into the trap of overemphasizing the pursuit of the material and underemphasizing the pursuit of the spiritual.

Is anybody to blame for this? I doubt it. I think it's easy to get "distracted by shiny objects," and we do live in a world that's often centered around consumerism.

My own path diverged when I was in my mid-30's, and I realized that I wasn't actually pursuing anything that was meaningful to me, just pursuing a societally "prescribed" version of happiness.

So I stopped.

It's important to truly know yourself, so you can make authentic decisions about life!

Thanks for reading, and have a great Friday!

How about you? Are you in the "pursuit of happiness?" What does that look like? Is it pages from a magazine, or is it something your spirit calls out for? Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2023.06.30 00:23 PDT
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