Ever since I watched that movie “Pursuit of Happiness” I realized consciously or subconsciously that’s what we all have dedicate our lives to. Every action we take is towards achieving some form of happiness. That cake you deprived yourself of was so that you can be happy about the way you look. The school degree your working on is so that you can have a happy future, even the lie you told your friend was to make yourself happy for making him happy. That is our number one priority in life and some of us don’t even realize it.

After making this profound discovery, I have actively pursued things that make me happy, analyzed what makes me happy and read stuff in order to maximize my happiness. After thinking about it, reading this book: Stumbling on happiness and watching this video I realized these facts.

1. We are all pursing happiness and there are different kinds

2. Happiness is the result of a chemical reaction

3. To be ultimately happy, you have to live in the NOW

Here is the problem, we are in the illusion that the happiness we get when you eat your favorite dish is different from the happiness you get from a job promotion, it is the same chemical reaction society just tells you one is better than the other, if that was not the case I would be eating spaghetti bologneses for breakfast, lunch and dinner and be happy forever. Talking about chemical reactions, someone should cook up a chemical that triggers these reactions I am talking about….oh wait that’s what drugs do? but then they also impair our judgment, their temporary and our illegal…Damn!. Thirdly we do stuff in the anticipation that it will make the future you happy, I work out in hopes that the future Adim will love the buff body I gave him, or I go to school because I think the future Adim will be happy with a stable future and high paying Job I am currently working out for him. The thing is that life has to many variables and when I get that hot body and a million dollars in my bank account I will not be satisfied and will be working on more things to make the future Adim happier and we keep doing this till we die.

But what about the Adim now? what about that Ben and Jerry I am really craving? but then if I make the current Adim happy what about my future version, I might mess things up for him, make life a little bit harder than it should be. This is how many religions thrive. They tell us we are here to serve, we are here to be unhappy for a greater good. Many people cling to this as a coping mechanism (I am not debunking religion) because when people realize that they cannot theoretically achieve their main goal in life (because of the catch 22 nature of happiness) , they freak out and maybe even commit suicide because all HOPE is gone, life no longer has essence. I think the solution is to come to terms with this, the moment you know you can’t achieve ultimate happiness but be happy only sometimes, you actually cherish happiness more, you become more happy, even when your sad your still internally happy because you know it is only a phase that will soon pass. The acceptance that this goal is impossible to complete puts things into perspective and lets you grab every opportunity of joy you can get in this life and in some funny way you then achieve that eternal happiness you were seeking.