Happiness vs. meaning

We focus on an idea of a happiness too much. Don’t you think? Instead, what if we focus more energy on things which are meaningful. Wouldn’t it be better? Drinking alcohol, gambling or some other activity which does not seems to be that harmful than two previous ones might make you happy in short term, but it may kill your soul in long term.

Many psychologist might tell you something like: “You should be happy with who you are.” What do you think about that sentence? You are aware of many of your flaws, inefficiencies and stupid things which you do. Should you be happy for having them? What about following proposal:

You should be happy for who you could be.
You actually can get rid of your flaws and inefficiencies. It is within your circle of influence to do so. It might not make you happy (in short term) but it is certainly meaningful.

If you decide to quit smoking, you probably will not be happy first couple of weeks. If you focus only on idea of your happiness in this case, you would probably never be able to quit smoking.

People who are executing heavy workouts, does not seems to be happy. Somebody who runs a marathon does not seems to be happy in a process. Wim Hof swimming under the ice (when his eyeballs got frozen) was certainly not happy.

So why these people do these things? Maybe they aim for something else then happiness. Maybe they aim for that feeling when you feel like whole universe is aligned. When you are at the right place at the right time, having the right conversation with right person.

Can you guess what these people aim at? Can you aim on a same target? Let me know in comments.