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…