The Search For Happiness.

Sorry I didn't get this post up sooner, guys; I was away for one week, and then this past week I've had various things happening - actually had an interview for a job, and will be let know shortly if that works out! :D So that's pretty cool. And it's sounding like a really nice job as well. But more info on that soon, hopefully. Back to what this post is actually about.

Happiness is a great thing to have. It can, however, be somewhat difficult to keep at times; remaining optimistic through troubled times is tricky at best. And happiness can come from so many different places, for so many different people: sometimes its in circumstances, in actions, in people, in objects, in places - it can be so varied that its a bit hard to pin down. That's not necessarily a bad thing, of course; sometimes things need to be like that, and if we try to pin them down, they lose a lot of what makes them so amazing.

If you see happiness as the most important thing, you can take a couple of different approaches; you can try to chase after it, or let it come to you. I'll elaborate a bit on them both.

People, generally speaking, are pretty aware of what things make them happy. If they think being happy is important, often they'll simply doing it by having a lot of those things; whether that means doing the same thing many times, having large amounts of something, being around a particular person a lot, going to a place frequently - there are different individualities and specifities, but essentially, they're the same. Seeking out, chasing after happiness.
And the problem with that approach is that, after you start doing the same thing, or having the same thing, quite often - it begins to grow a bit more tedious. That's just the nature of us as people - we like new things, something original and different. Perhaps if that in itself is what gives you happiness, you might do a bit better; but even then, I think it wouldn't last. It wouldn't be able to keep you through the tough times. That's the problem with this sort of happiness; you instigate it, so if you can't do that, it fails very quickly.

But what if you don't do that?

Well, you can do something a bit different. Instead of searching for happiness, you let it come to you. It's other-centred, rather than self-centred. In serving, helping and loving others, they will often do the same back to you; and in this, a greater happiness can be found than any that could by searching for it yourself.

So, in summary; happiness is fantastic, as long as you aren't going about it the wrong way.

I am heading off to Perth this Tuesday afternoon; I may be able to get up my next post before then, but if not, the last two in this series I'll do over there.