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…yet unwilling to let it happen.
Happiness is not something one achieves. Happiness, at least sustained happiness, is elusive. It’s a moving target.
If we assume the opposite is true and one can ‘achieve’ happiness; that happiness is now a destination rather than a path or journey. Happiness becomes a thing, an object — a noun.
What would that look like?
Once achieved, it would be over. There’s only one place to go — to no longer have it and therefore be unhappy.
For me, my happiness journey is more about the absence of unhappiness. The recognition of the presence of happiness is for me Joy and an even rarer occurrence than happiness. Looking at the past, some of those days now appear to be the best of times. In hindsight, I wish I enjoyed them more when I was going through them. My kids’ ball games, family holiday gatherings, vacations, even some jobs and projects. While doing them they were stressful as I was often focused on the endpoints — the “what’s next.” In reality, they were good times and I didn’t even know it.
Ironically, the work of being happy is internal. It’s incumbent on oneself to become happy. It’s not up to others to make you happy. Happiness is fully within one’s control, independent of external input…
