Happiness is a feeling. It's not something we can eat or drink, it's something we feel as a result of certain events. But even more important than that, Happiness is a result of the way we perceive the world.
Since the beginning of this year, I have chased happiness directly. I have tried different ways, while most of them have been unsuccessful, a small amount of them worked, or so I thought.
My initial experiment was with Pizza. Pizza used to make me happy, I used to have it once or twice a month but because I was chasing happiness this time, I started having it more than twice a week. Having a Pizza so often turned out to be unhealthy and it upset my stomach. The important thing here is that it lost it's charm it used to have. I stopped getting excited for Pizza. I liked it's taste but it did not bring me any joy.
My second experiment was with a local dish, the ones they served in my hometown were full of taste and joy. I thought I had found the answer to my question, the thing that would reliably make me happy. That's until I moved to a different city and the dish they served there was terrible and not even close to the one I liked, thus putting an end to my reliable source of joy.
My third experiment was with shopping, I had this perception that shopping brings one joy. and it did bring me joy. That is until It stopped. The expensive shirts didn't take long before losing their importance.
My last experiment so far has been with my Gaming PC. It's one thing I love the most in this world, It's as powerful as I had the means to make it and I get shivers in my body telling it to my friends, that's how much I love it. While I love it, it's stopped being the constant source of joy.
What I've concluded from the experiments mentioned is that when you depend on objects or people to be your source of happiness, you are going to be let down and you are going to get tired. Every external source of happiness has a limit.
So if you want to be happy:
- Stop trying to be happy
- Be your own best friend
- Stop comparing yourself
I know this post doesn't fit the usual theme of the blog, but I had to put it out there.