The Pursuit of Happiness

Isn’t that what life is all about, anyway? Finding our way towards eternal sunshine. Does it even exist, though?

Now there’s a question worth ignoring!

Looking for everlasting happiness is quite like looking for God — a futile exercise that will yield zero results and have no significant consequences in our daily lives whatsoever. That much, I know.

But to draw another parallel, the idea of happiness is quite like the idea of the divine. It may or may not be there, but the mere possibility somehow fills us with hope. Why is it so much easier for us to believe in things we cannot see rather having even a tenth of that belief in ourselves and our abilities?

There’s an oft-quoted saying about the journey being more beautiful than the destination. Lord knows I have been in love with the long hours spent looking out the window of a train or a car, trying to match the speed of the visions moving by so swiftly, every second painting the canvas with a new image of the mundane made exciting by my imagination. If you tell me you have never imagined yourself running along the tracks and jumping to avoid the obstacles, you’re lying!

Hell, take the weekend, for example. We spend the entire week looking forward to it, and come Friday, our gay abandon knows no bounds. That sleep at night knowing the next day is completely free hits different. And isn’t Saturday just perfect? You have the whole day to yourself to do as you like, be as productive or as lazy as you desire and be answerable to no one! And night comes, and you know the next day is an off too. Oh, what a rush. These tiny pleasures of life, they are absolutely amazing!

But Sunday? Sure, it’s a fabulous day, but eventually, the dread of the upcoming week starts getting to you. Every hour of the day spent brings you closer and closer to the inevitable, and by night time, you are already exhausted thinking about the hectic week to follow. Not such a fine day after all, is it?

Joy is a wonderful feeling. But man, the anticipation of joy? That stuff is made directly from the heavenly nectar of the choicest flowers Mother Earth could bless us with.

And so, the journey is more exciting. Because its leading you towards your destination. Once we are there, however, we know in the back of our minds that eventually we have to leave this place. Not a pleasant thought. Why does our mind play this trick on us? That little thing is running around like an unchecked child in a supermarket.

My point is, our pursuit of happiness will never really end. Because — and call me crazy — the pursuit IS happiness!

Ironic? Moronic? I frankly don’t quite know.

But this realization, obvious as it may be, has helped me derive so much more joy out of the mundane.

So as I move forward on this so-called journey of life, I keep looking out the window every single day. Maybe I’ll see a tree that’s oddly shaped like a human being. Maybe a tiny house lit up with fairy lights will catch my eye.

Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll find love in a hopeless place!

– J

Image Source : WordPress Free Photo Library provided by Pexels