Am I Happy Now?

Human beings, in general, are on an eternal search for happiness. We view achieving happiness as the main purpose of our lives, but yet very few people reach a stage where they can honestly say ‘I am happy.’ Throughout our lives, as events unfold around us, we are constantly asking ourselves ‘Am I happy now? Am I happy now? What about now?’ Ironically, it is this internal dialogue that hinders us and prevents us from achieving true happiness.


To better illustrate this point, compare the pursuit of happiness to swallowing. I know it sounds weird, but bear with me. We never really think about the process of swallowing; it is a natural act which we do without being aware that we are doing it. But if we start consciously thinking about this process, we become aware of it and it suddenly feels weird. Ok, if you’re thinking about your swallowing right now, go ahead and stop because it does feel weird. Similarly, if I were to tell you to stop thinking about your swallowing you wouldn’t be able to not think about it.


The pursuit of happiness and the conscious questioning of whether we are achieving it means that we worry about it more and more, and strain harder and harder to get there. But the thing is, that if we are constantly having to ask ourselves, ‘Am I happy now?’, this means that the one thing we do not have…is happiness. We only notice what isn’t there…we only notice what we lack.


We as humans have attached great value to being happy, but the perennial quest for happiness is futile. Happiness is not something one can achieve by searching for it, it is a by-product of the things we do and how we do them, our relationships and our experiences. Happiness is a concept which humans have created, and we cannot truly define what it actually is, but we relentlessly continue to try and define it and make it our reality. The truth is that the quest for happiness becomes our reality, not happiness itself.


Happiness feels good. So we want to feel it more often. Sadness feels bad so we attempt to avoid it. If we were to let go of our desire to feel good or bad we would begin to focus on thoughts and activities that were important to us instead of worrying about how they feel. Suprisingly, we would start to feel better. Confused yet?


Enjoy your relationships, surround yourselves with good people, do what feels good and right, stop asking yourself ‘Am I happy now?’ Just live life, and your idea of happiness could well become reality.