The Pursuit of Happiness
It might just be making you miserable
Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” ~Andy Rooney
There’s a desire in many of us to always want more.
Make more money.
Be with a more attractive significant other.
Command more respect from others.
Be more happy.
Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence — which identifies the pursuit of happiness as an inalienable right, along with life and liberty — and the French Revolution both reflect this popular idea: that happiness is necessary for the health of the individual and society.
But, happiness or satisfaction has become the be-all and end-all of our lives today. We strive to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. We conceptualize happiness in terms of pleasure vs. pain.
We no longer live our lives according to beauty or honor or virtue. We now solely live in order to be happy. We then begin to fear and devalue painful, negative emotions and challenging experiences.
Pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.”
-Angelina Jolie
