Happiness in a Bottle

What is happiness? This is a question that can have a multitude of answers depending on who you ask. The whole idea of happiness kind of perplexes me. Is happiness something that can truly be found in any tangible sense?

Many people say or think that they will be happy if they only have, gain, or achieve something in their lives. Can happiness truly be found in this manner? Once we have, gain, or achieve that thing, isn’t there always the next thing? I have heard statements such as “I will be happy when I find Mr. or Mrs. Right,” or “I will be happy once I finally get this job,” or “I will be happier if I live there.” The statements could truly go on and on.

Are these ideas just an outworking of our consumer culture, that somehow our happiness is something that we should seek to obtain “out there” somewhere? Doesn’t it seem that the North American consumer culture is just creating a less happy and stressed out society. Have we deluded ourselves into believing that we will be happy when we achieve, buy, move, find, etc.

Isn’t happiness just something we either “are” or “aren’t?” Do we not choose to be happy or unhappy, despite what we may have, whom we may be with, where we may live, etc.? Maybe happiness finds us…when we stop looking for it. I’m not saying that we give up on the idea of being “happy.” We can be happy; it is just that nothing outside of ourselves will make us happy. Maybe we need to stop looking for happiness and just be happy…

What if?

I was thinking about the “what if” questions we often ask ourselves. Usually it relates to things that would probably never happen like winning the lottery, never growing old, being a celebrity, etc. I was actually thinking about how our world might be different if we followed through on some “what if” questions. Some of these questions might be:

- What if wealth was a measure of how much you give rather than how much you receive or have?
- What if corporations served the best interest of the people rather than the people serving the best interest of the corporation?
- What if our country chooses to return violence with love and compassion?
- What if we all choose to do what’s right instead of “being right?”
- What if we spend money on medical research instead of weapons research?
- What if we choose to “bailout” the poor instead of the rich?
- What if we all stopped using love like a commodity?
- What if we all treat others like we would want them to treat us?
- What if we all lived within our means?
- What if we all stopped shopping and started sharing?
- What if….

Obviously this list could go on and on, but just think how different our world would be if we actually followed through on these types of questions.