"Being happy isn't a big deal after all."

I happened to browse over the one of my students friendster accounts and there i saw a shoutout from which i borrowed the title of this blog...

When i read the shoutout, 'twas just a common statement for me but ideas popped out of my mind that compelled me in to this writing. The idea that caught my attention is that despite the people's search for happiness (somehow becomes everybody's preoccupation), there's this one student who said that it (happiness) isn't a big deal after all.

What was he thinking? I mean, try typing the word happiness in the yahoo search engine and it will give you a list of more or less 210,000,000 links related to happiness. From quotes to poems to song lyrics to websites to clubs - the central theme is HAPPINESS. I even remembered the movie the "PURSUIT TO HAPPYNESS" by Will Smith which is undoubtedly a breakthrough movie.

With this, I propose that happiness is subjective. It, being subjective, leads to another question, "What makes a person happy?" Allow me to borrow and idea from F. Heylighen stating that "People are happy when they are 'in control', that is, when they feel competent to satisfy their needs and reach their goals." The author dissected this statement. The following paragraphs are taken in verbatim from the same article posted in the internet entitled "Happiness"

To start with, according to F. Heylighen:

Happiness can therefore be seen as an indication that a person is biologically fit (near to the optimal state) and cognitively in control (capable of counteracting eventual deviations from that optimal state), in other words that he or she can satisfy all basic needs, in spite of possible perturbations from the environment. Such control over one's situation has three components (Heylighen, 1992):

material competence:

you must have the necessary resources or opportunities to satisfy your needs. You cannot quench your thirst without water, or satisfy your need for social contact when you are marooned on an uninhabited island.

cognitive competence:

it is not sufficient that the needed resources are there, you must also be able to find them, recognize them and apply them effectively. Except in trivial cases, need satisfaction demands problem-solving skills, i.e. knowledge, intelligence and creativity.

subjective competence:

it is not sufficient that the resources are there, and that you are capable to find them, you must also believe in your own problem-solving capacity. Otherwise you would not be motivated to do the necessary effort.

The problem of promoting happiness then simply reduces to promoting material competence (by providing resources and opportunities), cognitive competence (by education in the broadest sense, and by cognitive aids such as computers), and subjective competence (by making people feel that they are competent or "in control") (cf. Heylighen, 1992).

Now, allow me to give some of my own points of view. The author (I used this because i don't know the author's gender) expressed his/her ideas as clear as crystal. In fact, it gives an affirmation to my idea that happiness is subjective. It is indeed, subjective!

In search of a more vivid picture of happiness, i saw a website that gives many definitions of happiness - www.thehappyguy.com. I'll try to list down some of the definitions:

"Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually." - Stephen Covey

"Happiness is when your mind is thinking through your heart." - Judi Singleton

"Happiness is not merely a life lived by accumulating moments of pleasure. On the contrary, happiness is a long lasting enduring enjoyment of life, it is being in love with living. It is your reward for achieving a good character and personal rational values in life. Some important values are a productive career, romance, friendship and hobbies." - Dr. Ellen Kenner

These are just some of the definitions (if you want to read the other definitions, might as well visit the site). Sigh... Sigh... Why? These definitions have not yet completed the kind of happiness that I would want to define. By the way, there is one definition that I really like. It's from Deanna Mascle and i qoute:

"Happiness for me is to know that my life has meaning and purpose, and that every day my life touches others in a positive way--whether to make them laugh or learn or both at once!"

Whaw! That's it! I strongly believe that in finding happiness, one has to know his/her purpose. Why is that? Knowing the purpose will provide you a path towards the happiness. To elaborate more on this would be this way. Attaining one's goal would definitely make a person happy. But, one has to know his/her goals before he/she can make ways of attaining it. Now, just bear in mind that goal and purpose are somehow synonymous.

What is our purpose in life? Is it to be happy? Or to make people happy? It's actually more than that! Before I'll mention this, I know it will somehow make a bit of issue because not everyone will agree to it. Well, as if I care. All I know is that it is the truth. And in this truth I believe in.

Now, now. This is it! The main purpose of a man's life is to bring glory to God. Glory? Sounds confusing? Okey. Let's make it simple. Glorifying God simply means making Him happy by how we live our life. Of course it takes knowing Him before we will know how He will be happy. In as far as my life is concerned now, I'm more than happy. I call it joy. Wait. Happy. Joy. Aren't they the same? No! They're not! Being happy is dependent with the events around you but joy is within. You can be happy despite bad circumstances in life. If you have God with you and you know that He is a great God and a faithful Father - that He provides all the needs of His children by His abounding grace - then what more could you ask for. As for me, I cling on to that promise. I take joy in serving Him. I'm joyful now; even in not so good circumstances of life, i choose to be joyful because i have a God that takes care of me.

I'm joyful! More than being happy!

And to Arnu's shoutout, well happiness is really what people are up for. You even want to be happy as well. Just face it. Hmmm, i know you have your reason for saying that. But just bear in mind that not everything that makes you happy is the right thing. It has to come form the right goal, from the right perspective, and from the right motive.

Remember, great happiness comes from the ONLY source of it - GOD! Ows, it's more than happiness... It's called JOY!