The Murky Pursuit of Happiness

Are you 100% satisfied with your life?

Sadly, it’s unlikely that one person will answer yes to that question. Of course you’re not satisfied with your life, there are plenty of improvements to be made. The way you look isn’t good enough, yet, nor is the amount of money you have, and you still have copious material items on your mental to-do list that need purchasing, right?

Where does the pursuit of happiness end? When is it finally time you say, “that’s it, I’ve got everything I need now, so I’m happy”? 

This dreamy idea of how your life could be is ironically preventing you from being happy. And, besides, even if you could buy anything you’ve ever wanted, it still wouldn’t be enough. Wealthy people who lack inner peace, aren’t happy – money does not equal happiness.

If you are able to satisfy your basic needs, such as food, water and shelter, you have everything you need for human survival. Anything else, as far as the external world is concerned, is a bonus.

Happiness is something everyone can experience – it happens when you love and accept yourself, and appreciate who you are. It’s not something you arrive at after gaining all of your wishes. There is nothing missing in your life; happiness is already within you, you just have to focus inward, rather than outside, to find it.

Focus Inward

When we lend too much attention to the exterior world, we become fixated on things that hold no real meaning to us, and could never bring us happiness.

The genuine pursuit of happiness is an inner journey, one that leads to self-love, inner peace, growth, forgiveness and acceptance. It’s a destination that is reachable to everyone. Seven Practical Ways to Experience Self-Growth offers some pointers to help get you there.

Surprisingly, experiencing inner peace isn’t everyone’s goal. Many people are so blinded by the dazzling lights of ‘happiness’ that they completely ignore the true source of their happiness; themselves.

If you feel like your life isn’t where you want it to be, it’s not an outside issue. It’s a spiritual problem that has to be resolved within.

Find out how to create inner peace in your life.

Appreciate What you Have, Right Now

What a sad notion this is: some people spend their entire lives waiting to find happiness. They don’t fully embrace life because they are waiting for ‘that’ moment to appear when everything changes and they are finally happy.

The only moment that is ever real is the present moment, so if we are always waiting for another moment to appear, we waste our lives. We might live tomorrow or yesterday in our minds but in actual fact, we only ever live right now.

It is quite possible to enjoy each moment of your life as it is; you simply have to be present in the moment. You can find out more about living in the moment here but the main principle is, you learn to appreciate life.

Being in a state of presence separates us from the noise in our minds, which results in further value for our surroundings. Every moment can be enjoyed when we connect with our surroundings.

The pursuit of happiness is an approach that will never work. Being here but wanting to be there, or wishing everything was that little bit better, is never going to give you what you want.

You already have all of the things you could ever need, you just need to do some inner work to find them.

Do you feel as though your life isn’t quite where you want it to be? Do you always feel like there are improvements to be made? Start working within!

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