Friday 27 September 2013

to discuss happiness


sit here with the title staring me in the face and the cursor blinking....how to start to write what I want to say, do I even know what I want to say?

Happiness is something that has popped up in a few articles, magazines and conversations that I have read lately and in one article it posed a question that has kind of got  me thinking....

Why is it so difficult to be happy?

If you sit and really think about it, are we ever really truly, without a shadow of a doubt happy? There are obviously moments of happiness... the wedding of a dear friend, the birth of a niece or nephew, laughter over a glass of wine, but our happiness seems to only ever be short lived. The article talks about it from a historical perspective and how our minds have evolved over thousands of years. It talks about how our minds were programmed to protect us and focus on our basic survival needs of protect and reproduce. In our earlier, hunter-gatherers years the mind was focused basically on staying alive, look out for anything that is trying to harm or kill you and do whatever you could to avoid it....

Fast forward thousands of years and has that really changed? These days it's not really the elements or the dangers of living amongst wild animals that concerns us, it's losing our jobs, not being good enough, not being able to pay the electricity bill, being rejected, getting sick or having a loved on that is sick etc etc etc that consumes our minds.

So many times I, a (sometimes) rational well-educated woman, have thought, I'll be happier when/if..... I lose 5 more kilos, I meet someone, I get my dream job (as soon as I work out what that is), I pay off all my debts.... I am not naive enough to think that if I do achieve all these all my problems will disappear and I will live a blissful life without a care in the world and never have another worry for the rest of my life. 

The  worries I have now will simply be replaced by more and different worries.  We are always looking and wanting more and constantly comparing ourselves to others and what they have and often think that if we had that our life would someone be better, be complete, be everything we dreamed it would be. 

But is that really true?? I think not.... and again if we go back to our Stone Age counterparts they believed that if they had better tools, bigger shelters, more children than this was a sign of success. But even with success that doesn't guarantee happiness... How often have you listened to a story about the latest celebrity, who seems to have it all, who has fallen off the bandwagon, gone to rehab, or worse still overdosed and killed themselves. We wonder how things could possibly be that bad for them, they have all the money and fame in the world and yet still mustn't be happy...

So what's the answer... How do we just be happy with what we have....? 

If you were hoping that I would have the answer....well I am sorry to disappoint..

But what I do know is that I am on holidays in NQ with 2 of my closest friends and I am bloody happy about that, and am going to make the most of the time we have together....

If you want to read the article that I have referred to click here.. 

Linking up today with With Some Grace  for FYBF and just because it has taken me all bloody day to try and get this post organize I'm linking up with Dear Baby G for FFS Friday!

2 comments:

  1. It's true, I think we tend to complicate life a tad. We have happy moments but I don't know whether anyone is always truly happy. I find the happiest people aren't those that have it all (health, wealth, sucess) but its the people who are making others happy. So maybe that's the secret! I need to do more of that.

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  2. It is hard to be with happy with what you've got. I have to say I am happy - most of the time, but there are moments when I'm happier. I try and look for the best things in one day and try not to look to the future to be happier. I try and be happy where I am. It's hard though I agree. I have to say that if we had more money I'd be happier because there would be less stress and I wouldn't have to work as hard - hope holiday in NQ is going great! Em

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