It is weird!
People expect to be happy. All the time.
And so they make it a goal to strive for.
Relentlessly.
But such a quest is only doomed to fail.
No surprise there!
As a result, almost everybody is frustrated.
At being unhappy.
Or rather, they no longer call it that.
No.
They call it… being “Depressed”
Because (ALERT: sarcasm ahead 😜)…
Clearly, (in their eyes!) it’s the nature of human beings to be constantly in a state of bliss and joy.
Any shortfall is a cataclysmic catastrophe.
It can only be described in superlatives.
Hence…
“I’m sooooo Depressed!”
As I said before –
That’s weird.
Look, I’m a really quite optimistic, cheerful, positive-minded guy.
And I estimate that for a good 40% to 50% of my time…
I am UNHAPPY!
😳
That’s not to say you’ll find me moping in a corner. Or sobbing my heart out every few minutes.
No.
I may not ACT unhappy.
But I often feel that way.
If I were to pause at random, at any moment in my day, to ask myself:
“Are you really happy RIGHT NOW?”
… the answer will very likely be:
“No!”
So… Why am I “always” unhappy?
Because, maybe…
- I’d rather be with someone else right now.
- Or be somewhere else.
- Or be doing something else.
At other times, it’s because of…
- Things I ought to have done – but didn’t.
- Or things I would like to do – but cannot!
And the rest of the time…
I’m just generally unhappy with the way things are.
In the world.
Or in my life.
🤷♂️
But here’s the crux of the matter…
That’s perfectly fine!
Yep.
It’s A-ok.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with feeling unhappy sometimes.
Indeed, it’s weird to expect the opposite to be true!
At a guess, I’d imagine that I am…
- unhappy half of my time
- neutral for another 40% or so
- happy for the remaining tenth of my day
And that is AMAZING!
Because those who expect more happiness and actively chase it… end up being unhappy, frustrated and angry… almost ALL their time.
Think this might be a personal quirk?
That my maverick-style thinking is what makes me say this?
Well… no.
We recently took an interesting course on ‘The Meaning of Life‘.
In it, our lecturer drew deeply from diverse philosophical and religious texts. It started from medieval times, and went right upto the modern era.
And he summarized their over-arching lesson.
Life’s purpose is NOT being happy.
Instead, he showed that almost all wise people – and deep, meaningful texts – advocated the same thing…
A state of flourishing.
And well-being.
And contentment.
It’s known by a unique, special term…
EUDAIMONIA.
The first text that formally describes this state was the famous Nicomachean Ethics.
In it, his son Nicomachus formally transcribed the teachings of Aristotle at his Lyceum academy (where notables like Alexander the Great studied under his tutelage!)
Think it’s wise – to heed the wise?
Listen to the ‘Father of Philosophy‘.
Don’t worry. Be hap…
Oops!
Strive for eudaimonia!
🤣