Happiness, Happiness, The Greatest Gift That I Possess

About a week ago now, I sat and watched The Pursuit of Happyness. I watched it because, and only because it has Will Smith in it, but as with most things nowadays it got me thinking. One line in particular stood out to me, and that was this…

“It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that? “

This line is so powerful and beautiful, and it got me into such a deep thought....a thought I was really excited about.

What really is happiness?! How do we know when we are happy?! Is happiness real?! Is it an actual real emotion, or is it just a word someone came up with. How can you tell that you you are happy, can you explain to someone else what happiness is?!

I asked Stew about happiness....I sent him a text sometime in the last couple of weeks saying

“You said to me once not so long ago that you were the happiest you’d ever been, with your new philosophy of life and stuff...I am wondering how do you know what happy is?! We get told what all these emotions are and stuff, but do they actually exist, or do we just get made to believe that they do?”

To which he replied

“Its good your thinking this way, but happiness is what you make it. It easy to teach, its harder to learn what it is without an open mind”

So the pursuit of happiness....I am firmly in the belief that true happiness does exist, but that true happiness can only be found by having experienced true struggles and tests...not just the ones that are brought on by bouts of self-pity that you have only yourself to blame for, but real struggles....

For having the belief in yourself to overcome those struggles.....when you overcome these major struggles and pull yourself to right, and continue to believe in and love yourself....well that will lead to one euphoric moment....that euphoric moment is HAPPINESS.

There are thousands of ways of describing the good feelings that you get....happiness is used far too widely and loosely, and I think it has lost it’s true meaning. Happiness is the one defining moment of your life. It is that one defining moment that only you can feel and nobody else...but at that moment you will be so overwhelmed with emotion...and you will never forget it.

I wish to have one of these moments, and as I lay on my “death bed” I wish to look back over all my life and remember this moment above everything else.

So back to the film, not the best film of all time....but it worth watching it just to see how someone can overcome struggle and hardship, and how someone can experience happiness....it is worth watching the whole film for the line I quoted earlier...and this

“This part of my life… this little part… is called ‘happyness’.”