You can make this question as simple or complex as you want. Happiness, in its traditional sense, is influenced by so many factors.
But back to basics, what is âhappinessâ?
I believe the âhappinessâ we seek needs to be clarified and distilled into a more practical form. The better term is âneutralityâ. When striving to achieve happiness, we should aim to be ok with the current state of things. We shouldnât aim to have an emotional state above a neutral baseline. Being elated or ecstatic are temporary, as are feelings of depression and anger. âHappinessâ is the state of accepting the way things are.
Based on this definition, I am not happy. But I am also not depressed. I just wish things were different. I wish I had more money, I wish I were taller, I wish I had more mental focus etcetera. I donât yet have faith in my own mental fortitude to entrust my âhappinessâ to simply shifting my mindset. That is to say, I donât believe my ability to accept things is developed enough to provide me happiness. Maybe it will over time, but not yet. Thus my emotions are not neutral and I am, per the definition above, not happy since I am longing for a different world than the one I currently live in.Â
As Iâve alluded to above, I believe happiness ultimately comes from within. Happiness comes when you are ok with not achieving your ambitions or being someone different to who you currently are. The key to happiness is acceptance. This is my belief as it is what Iâve read and briefly experienced (I think). But I canât speak on this topic with absolute authority given I havenât achieved 100% happiness.