Reflection

The Happiness Delusion

You’ve been sold a lie.

The lie that the purpose of life is to be happy

That you must always do things that make you happy

That the pursuit of happiness is not only your right, but also your obligation

And it’s up to you to spend your time (and money) seeking out different forms of self-gratification, moving towards pleasure and avoiding pain.

Looking for ways to make things easy whilst shying away from discomfort.

All the while assuming you’ve even been able to fully comprehend what happiness actually means.

As if it’s limited to satisfying all of your personal desires

In orientating your life towards those fleeting moments of pleasure

Going through life, just looking for your next fix,

This is how it has become understood, at least in the western modern sense.

Well what if I told you that happiness is not a feeling; 

It goes a little deeper than that.

And that perhaps the purpose of life is not to be happy at all, but rather to live a life that means something.

A life that is a reflection of your unique qualities and human potential.

Maybe the purpose of life is simply to have a purpose.

To stand for something – 

And commit yourself to something bigger than yourself.

In deciding to do, not what is easy, nor what makes you happy

But in doing what is right.

Author

Michael Dahdal

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Michael Dahdal

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