What makes us happy?

Is it always striving to do better, no matter how “good” we are now? Is it finding new things to do or meeting new friends? Do we have the right to be happy when we know that other people around the world are suffering? If we cured cancer and ended poverty, would we finally be happy? Or is happiness something internal to ourselves – a sort of feeling or pride in one’s hard work ethic? The concept of constant betterment, always trying to make ourselves better in every way. Is it this quest for perfection that brings us joy?

I don’t think that this makes us happy. Continual self-improvement necessarily implies finding fault with oneself, in order to know which direction to travel in to do better. And there will always be fault; no one can ever become perfect. So, those who strive to become perfect will always be focusing on the negative, only seeing how they can do better instead of what they have now. This does not sound happy; it sounds depressing. I think that happiness is quite the opposite of striving for continual self-improvement; it is contentment and appreciation for what one already has. If we forget our aspirations and desires for a moment and take a step back from it all, we’ll realize that we have it pretty damn good. And that’s something to be happy about.