The True Nature of Happiness
Ultimate happiness is a tricky mistress, always hanging just around the corner with promising smiles and wiles. Or at least it seems this way until you realize that…
Happiness does not come from a state, but from a change of state.
In other words, happiness does not come from the prize, but in the process of attaining that prize. It’s a journey, not a destination.
Once that end goal is achieved, the satisfaction quickly degrades until we’re left looking for the next high.
You might be thinking – but WHY? Why does everything so rapidly lose its luster?
This condition is either extremely depressing or exhilarating depending on your perspective. I see this condition as what keeps humanity pushing on to new heights! Our boredom is our ecstasy. Without this proverbial game of hard to get we would be content doing nothing at all, stagnant in time.
Even better – if you can appreciate each passing moment as a blissful step towards your next plateau, lasting happiness is yours.
The secret lies in being able to remain content with each passing moment while keeping our eyes on the next.
If you can live comfortably within this paradox, you live in heaven on Earth…
Oh it’s delicious, this thing called life. It’s a scrumptious experience, no? Are you not allowed to experience everything? The tears, the joy, the pain,the gladness, the exaltation, the massive depression, the win, the loss the draw? What more is there?
DANM!! said on 12.21.2012
Very simply put Jordan, theres a lot to this short text :D
Razique said on 12.21.2012
Yup, thanks Jordan
Sisyphus said on 12.21.2012
But is it truly possible to be in a state of happiness with the knowledge that there’s constant suffering in the world? Isn’t that almost sociopathic? Maybe happiness is only an idea.
Look at Siddhartha. He grew up in isolation from the suffering of the world, it was only once he witnessed these sufferings that he embarked on the path to Nirvana. Perhaps Nirvana is as unattainable as heaven.
How could heaven be paradise if the people there stay conscious of the happenings of the world?
O said on 12.21.2012
The kind of happiness that Jordan is talking about is peaceful acceptance of reality, of both your suffering and your joys. If we deny ourselves happiness we do not help the people that are suffering, it is only a way of protecting the ego from feeling guilty. The only way of helping people is..well..literally helping them, and you can do that far better if you have love and compassion which cannot come out of bitterness but out of happiness and acceptance of the whole spectrum of spectra.
The Buddha attained nirvana, but not by talking about it.
Exist said on 12.21.2012
I think ‘comfortable with all feelings’ – be them euphoria, sadness, etc is a better description of the word ‘happiness’ than ‘euphoric state’.
Euphoria is fun for a while, but it’s easy to become needy of it’s comfort and create the duality that things are only ‘good’ when you’re euphoric.
Comfort with it all is a whole new ball game – you’re able to interact with everyone all the time, the same as you would whilst euphoric, because now you’re not relying on the state of ‘euphoria’ to be there in order to do it.
Andrew A. said on 12.22.2012
“The secret lies in being able to remain content with each passing moment while keeping our eyes on the next.”
I think this quote is almost there, but by keeping our eyes on the next we are living in a constant state of expectations. Why not remain content with each passing moment while living entirely in the now with an awareness of the next? Just a thought…
Lauren said on 12.24.2012
i thought it was put really well in a documentary called ‘waking life’
(some have probably seen it, if not, highly recommend)…remaining in a constant state of departure while also always arriving
ChubbyUnicorn said on 12.22.2012
I have recently come to the realization of living in the “moment” and enjoying everything that is going on as it is happening. It is one of the most wonderful realizations that i have ever came to it is awesome. Something like this post makes me wonder about the people that surround me on a daily basis. What are they thinking. I think its fun Booyah to happiness
Lawrence said on 12.24.2012
nice! this is exactly what I was conceptualizing in my last shroom experience!
Bryce :) said on 12.24.2012
Happiness in life is alike eating a delicious piece of cake,
You think about how you want the cake
you begin to eat the cake
you enjoy the cake the most while your eating it not once its gone
moment to moment, changing of positive states brings lasting happiness :)
Lauren said on 12.24.2012
“make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
-into the wild
Meric said on 01.03.2013
So true! but how can we keep this happy state all around us ? If we wanna be happy, we have to be better than smthing !
So If we choose really low(relative to our minds) but time consuming goals , then we will constantly be happy with our state. Like an old farmer’s state !
If our learning curve is again low, we will be again happy almost always !
I guess smart people are more eager to be unhappy !
I can’t help but notice the pattern in my life that I become happy with the things after I lost them and in the process of earning them back .
vangel said on 01.04.2013
Everything is impermanent.. even happiness… then we have to start all over again…
CocoCouture said on 01.06.2013
If you approach everything as a journey, understanding that it is such and you will get through what ever it is, and remain grateful for everything positive you have in life you will be happy.
That’s because you no longer become dependent on anything and you no longer try to achieve happiness. You are simply in it, the true nature of happiness living in the present.
ricky said on 01.22.2013
Take a look if you wish – I hold that we are born happy and that it’s our natural state:
http://happiness-is-the-natural-state.blogspot.com