What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?
I’m not sure happiness is attainable.
I mean it’s lofty enough to remain a noble aspiration for many. But is it worthy to seek it?
I’m not convinced it is.
Before WW1, men and women alike didn’t believe in such big words. They believed in duty, responsibility, and sacrifice. Life was difficult and each day brought its own challenges. Whether you were rich or poor, you had to work hard to make it.
Happiness just wasn’t in the books. It was more the attribute of the unhinged, romantic, and naive youth.
Somehow, along the way, material and technological progress turned us all into a bunch of entitled hedonists.
We now seek pleasure with all our might and we call it happiness. Pleasure ain’t happiness.
Pleasure is fleeting. Pleasure is transient. Pleasure is somatic.
Happiness is not. Happiness is immaterial. Happiness is a mental state.
A great man once said that the poorest man can be more free than the richest potentate or king, who on his throne is bound to act a certain way.
This applies to happiness as well.
But seeking pleasure is different from that of happiness.
But surely some of you may say “but wait a second! Wasn’t the pursuit of happiness a cornerstone of the American Declaration of Independence?”
To which I’ll say – of course.
But it was the happiness, the general lofty principle I alluded to earlier. Happiness was and continues to be defined as a reflection and derivative of Freedom. Happiness is the outcome of Liberty.
And if this is the Happiness you had in mind, then I’ll answer your question.
These are the five everyday things that bring me happiness.
Being alive.
Being free.
Being a father.
Being a husband.
Being a friend.
Nothing else matters. Everything else is white noise.
Götterdämmerung 