Happiness is a choice
In the pursuit of happiness, I have come to know happiness as an abstract concept. As an unexplainable feeling of joy that fills and surrounds you and asks for nothing for its sustenance. There are no conditions and requirements for a self-generating, authentic happiness. As a matter of fact, one sign of true happiness is in its ability to give and receive unconditionally. It never takes, demands, needs, wants, or requires anything. A genuinely happy person is automatically tuned in to the possibility of joy and adventure, in all that life has to offer. Conditional happiness on the other hand, as science explains it, is nothing more than an increase of serotonin and dopamine hormones, that can only last for a specific period of time, depending on the length and level of excitement that any given mind desire can produce within our bodies and minds. Scientists say that these sudden bursts of serotonin and dopamine will sooner or later subside to a “Set Point” that each individual mind is either born with, or is conditioned for. In other words, conditional happiness cannot possibly last. Conditional happiness is a temporary “high”, that our pleasure seeking minds constantly chase, despite a subsequent “low” that inevitably follows.

Authentic happiness on the other hand is very consistent. It is not conditional, and does not depend on hormonal “Highs”, or in need of contrasting “Lows”, to define itself. Contrast in itself is a construct of the mind. Lasting happiness, therefore, can only happen in the absence of drama, that results from such mind contrasts. The truth is that our minds are programed to judge and compartmentalize. Our minds are conditioned to constantly “like” or “ dislike”, in order to create and feed our personalities. But what if our so-called “personality” is an artificial construct as well. The truth is that every time you change a belief or a pattern, or make a different new choice, you change an aspect of your personality and literally become a different person. That’s why we don’t like to change our minds very often. Because as we change our minds, we die of an old personality and born into a new one. And depending on how attached we are to our personalities, we may not easily give-in to new choices. So if your personality dictates today, that you must be rich or in romantic love, in order to be happy, do you believe that as your absolute truth? Or is there another choice, hence another version of you, waiting to express it self?

To be continued …