Happiness... is a warm Pug
I appended the following to a discussion of life goals that my buddy awfief started in her journal. I figured the thoughts might be worth preserving in my own journal.
I've made my own happiness my life's study, so I'll share a some of the things I've found by responding to a couple statements I saw above... Hope the insight is valuable.
I'm already a very happy person, what more do I need from life?
I have been perfectly (and I mean perfectly) happy with my life upon three distinct occasions, each about 6-12 months in duration. The problem is that those points are ephemeral. Even if you've achieved everything you've ever wanted and you think your life is perfect, it's impossible to keep it that way. Happiness isn't something you achieve and are done with; it's a constant pursuit, because people constantly change, and your life circumstances also are under constant change. For me, the ultimate meaning of life is the constant struggle to maximize happiness. Oh, and one more tangential bit: the one thing you'd want from life, even if could perpetuate that perfect happiness, is, ironically, change. Even though most of us have this static vision of our goal of "happiness", we have a nasty habit of never being able to accept a static state for very long. Even when it's bliss...
If I ever got to a point where I wasn't still working towards any goals, I'd be pretty worried.
Why? To me, this sounds like the traditional modern American overachiever and acquisitiveness ethic. Why do you need to want more than you have, even if you are well off, and living in the most prosperous society the planet has ever seen? My response is that if you never let yourself be happy with what you have, then you'll die never having allowed yourself to be happy. That's really sad, and moreso when most of us are surrounded with luxury and priviledge.
I'm not necessarily basing my entire life around it...
IMO, if you're not basing your entire life around it, then it can't very well be a life goal, can it?
Just some thoughts. My apologies if they sound confrontational; they aren't meant to be, but I find that with this topic it's often beneficial to try to shake people up a little from their well-worn paths of thought.