The Secret to Lasting Happiness

 

The Secret to Lasting Happiness

By Devin Licastro  |   Submitted On December 02, 2009

 

I believe that everyone in this world is striving to, in their own unique way, find their own happiness. People have vastly different personalities, beliefs, religions, values, and ideals but in the end, no matter which path we take through life we all just want to end up in a place where we can simply be happy.

Words are just symbols so when I use the word happy I'm referring to a lasting joy that permeates your being on a daily bases. My use of the term happiness can refer to a sense of inner peace, joy, bliss and fulfillment. When I talk about the secret of happiness I'm mean reaching a state in your life where your default state is happiness, and that happiness is present in your being for the vast majority of the time.

As I've travelled I've met a good number of people all with different life situations and levels of happiness. I've met people with very easy lives surrounded by loving friends who wake up every day bored, discontent or even annoyed with their situation. I've met financially wealthy people who in a fit of anger about their unhappiness scream "I can buy or do anything I want! Shouldn't that be enough!?" and I've also met financially poorer people, with busy more difficult lives who can't keep a beautiful smile off their face due to their everyday lasting happiness. This definitely posed the question in me, what's the difference? What is the secret to happiness?

In order to find the secret of happiness we have to ask and answer a very important question. What is it exactly that makes a person happy? People have many ideals for what they want in their lives to make them happy. For some its financial abundance, for others its loving relationships, some want a sense of fulfillment from helping others, others want to feel successful in the career they pursue, and some simply want to be free from oppression or persecution. A more balanced person will decide happiness comes from achieving a degree of success and harmony in all of the important areas of his life, something that is far easier said than done. Now while pursuing these things these things can create varying degrees of outward happiness, are they really the secret to happiness? Let's look deeper.

Filling the hole is not going to make you happy

If I could only just get that new high paying job, then I'd be happy. If I could only just escape my small home town, then I'd be happy. If I could only just find the perfect lover, then I'd be happy. Many people have the single ideal goal that they believe once achieved will allow them to finally have the happiness they've been pursuing. They feel a certain lack in their lives and until that emptiness is filled they will live in a less than happy state. The feeling of lack in this area they carry with them also helps to prevent them from fulfilling it. The truth is however, even after accomplishing that one thing that you're sure will finally make you happy for the rest of your life, in reality... is not going to change things all that much. Sure you will find temporary joy and pride at finally accomplishing the thing you set out to do, but as fast as a fancy new car loses its once exciting appeal, the happiness you got from accomplishing the goal will slowly fade, or be replaced by new goals and desires that you will again be sure, that once you accomplish them will finally make you happy.

One of the reasons you can't find lasting happiness at the accomplishment of a certain something comes from our amazing ability to adapt to our life situations. When there is something missing in our lives we feel that filling the void will give us that extra 'thing' we need but once the void is filled we adapt to our new situation and the extra thing becomes the new normal. Our problems or things that make us unhappy are always relative to our current situation. A homeless person who is handed a sandwich by a stranger can feel the same or more joy than a business man who is taken out to a fancy 5 course lobster dinner. Because happiness is relative it's very hard to achieve lasting happiness by adding things, people or accomplishments to your life.

What if for some reason the above doesn't apply to you. Maybe you practice feeling gratitude for the things in your life and you have found a way to constantly feel grateful for all the things you have without becoming too 'used to them' that they lose their appeal. There is still another underlying problem that threatens your lasting happiness, and that is the impermanence of life.

The impermanence of life

The world is in a constant state of change, and the fact is that nothing is permanent and nothing lasts forever. If your happiness comes from your money there is always a fear of losing it. If your happiness comes from your beauty you will someday become old and wrinkled. If your happiness comes from your friends, family or lover, they will someday leave this world or we may be separated from them. There is always a way to lose that which makes you happy, or have it taken from you. The more we deny this and the more desperately we try to hold onto the things we need, the more unhappy we will be when they are gone. This fact may seem, grim and depressing but that is only the case if you falsely believe that happiness needs to come from all of these outside impermanent things. There is one permanent thing and it is the only true source of lasting happiness. It can take a little effort to find, but it is free and always available to us.

Happiness comes from within

Can you be completely happy just taking a walk through nature? Can you feel peace sitting alone in silence? If you were stranded on a deserted island could you still be joyful?

In the core of everyone is their default emotional state. When there is no outside forces distracting you, and your mind is free from thinking of the past or future what do you feel? Is your default state one of peace or is it something negative like boredom, depression or mild annoyance?

I believe that deep within all of us at our cores is a feeling of deep peace and joy but often times in life we become so disconnected from within that we lose sight of it and the inner peace almost seems to fade away. We become so distracted by everything on the outside that we don't have time to focus on what's deep within us. For many people our minds never give us a chance to rest. The nearly constant chatter in our heads keeps us preoccupied from experiencing anything internal.