After wandering around a large-scale bookstore recently, I couldn’t help but notice that the section on finding happiness and fulfilment shows no signs of decline. I appreciate the irony; after all, if we found the key to happiness, we wouldn’t need a section so large. The exploration of new ways of thinking is not a terrible thing either, especially if something in one’s life is causing unhappiness.
There comes a point, though, where the idea of finding “true happiness” becomes akin to searching for movie-style romance—wishful. We end up chasing a utopian version of satisfaction, when all we need is to simply practice contentment. It doesn’t happen immediately. In the same way that becoming well-read requires reading books, happiness needs to be cultivated with little things: smiling, gratitude, compassion. Happiness starts with daily choices, turns into habits, and then becomes a lifestyle
Comments