Happyness is Pointless

And why I wish we would quit striving for it

Happyness taunts us. We wait for it with bated breath. Just a second — it finally arrived!

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Only to vanish before we finish exhaling.

All of this is pointless.

Happyness is so temporary. So fleeting. So evasive. It appears for a moment when you get a raise, a new car, a complement, a different haircut, or a new piece of technology.

A mere moment later, it has vanished into the wind.

There is much too much discussion of looking for and achieving happyness. What a poor basis for tough decisions and important actions.

What then, should we do instead?

1. Realize happyness is only short term.

Quit setting your sites on what feels good in the moment. We make awful choices to smile for a moment. If it is a tank we constantly try to fill, we would do well to see the drain in the bottom. How then could it ever last?

Instead, aim for long term joy.

2. Don’t be led astray by perceived value.

The flashier, the better — right? Most likely, your definition of happyness is defined by everyone around you. To get it, you would have to spend money and energy trying to please others. Even if you are able to win favor, others will change their definition immediately.

Joy, however, has no relation to monetary cost or worldly value or peer pressure. It is often free, and thus appears worthless to those who take it for granted.

3. Appreciate the small events in life.

Joy often refuses to be found in the great symbols we normally associate with happyness. Yet it can be found in a child’s laugh or by helping a family in need or when appreciating a sunset.

Joy is not epic. It is everyday.

When we aim at happyness, we sacrifice joy — a poor trade at best.

Author’s Note: Why not spell it happiness? We watered down a good concept with short term satisfying, long term destructive thinking. The goal is to clearly indicate the flawed modern interpretation with a different spelling.


Name one way you will experience joy in the next 60 minutes.