The pursuit of happiness seems to have become a key topic lately, in blogs, documentaries, research articles, therapy groups, Facebook shares etc. ‘Happiness’ has made yet another come-back because the idea of having happiness is irresistible (and it always has been).
But you can’t just have happiness; it isn’t a commodity that can be bought and sold with money; it can’t be negotiated via generosity, gratitude, genetics; and you cannot conjure a state of being that asks you to dismiss/forget/deny your unhappiness.
There is nothing wrong with being unhappy but it seems to me that the happiness culture has made it a bit embarrassing to be unhappy. This makes it difficult for people to grieve, to mourn, to flounder, to sink – because we are supposed to be braver, stronger, useful, happy.
The notion of happenstance appeals to me much more than the notion of happiness. Happenstance is real, immediate; happiness is an elusive, heavy obligation and I know for sure that, if I pursue it, it just floats away.
So I no longer pursue happiness; instead I just figure out how to create it within the various happenstances of everyday life.
jmgoyder 