The Pursuit of Happiness

This is such a broad topic and as such we will try to explore this subject matter as a universal topic instead of just what is happiness.  In the end happiness is very subjective.  There is no one way to define what happiness is for everyone universally.  So in order to define what is happiness for one person is much more obtainable than it would be a collective of populous.

In this blog I am going to be pulling out some philosophy and as such bear with me if you are not much into the thinkers of old.  I spent a lot of time taking philosophy classes when I was in my undergrad and I really enjoyed the coursework.

Aristotle

So let us start with some views from Aristotle.  Aristotle devoted more time to the exploration of happiness than any other prior modern era thinker.

He felt that "happiness depends on ourselves".  He listed that happiness for an individual was composed of:

* Achieving goods through a lifetime.

*Health

*Wealth

* Friends

He felt that when people were able to do this they enriched their life and led to perfection of nature.

So how is this pertinent to today?

Well lets look at the obvious first.  If someone is in poor health often this does lead to a reduction of happiness.  It is dependent on the level to which their health impacts their overall quality of life.

Having a healthy group of friends to have fellowship with can have a huge impact on overall happiness.  This offers time to get away from home and work.  It allows socialization and often is a good source of leisure.  In the end humans are meant to be social and as such we need to have an outlet of friends to spend time with.

Wealth I consider to be subjective.  Each person is going to have a different idea what wealth is.  To some having needs met is enough.  To some individuals they would want to have the latest trendy home, and latest model of luxury car.  To others to have a healthy family and their own health is all the wealth they need.  As with all aspects of people and cultures there will always be variance and outliers in what people consider to be wealth.  In the end basic needs not being met due to lack of finances will have a huge impact on happiness.

I feel that another aspect of happiness is having purpose.  Aristotle alludes to this by stating, "achieving goods through a lifetime".  We all have milestones of success and failures.  In our times of success we reap the rewards of achievement and in our failures we have an opportunity to grow and learn a life lesson.  This lesson then can be applied to future endeavors and achievements.  Without this process we could not grow as individuals and thrive.  Thus by this process we can reach this goal of having a purpose in our life and achieving goods.  Often times when people are not successful with this process they can start to develop issues in their daily life.  They may feel they failed to reach the need of having a purpose in life or direction.

This blog post is already too long.  We can revisit this topic more as time progresses.  The main take away I want you to think about is what are you doing in your life now to reach the goal of purpose?  Do you feel like your life has direction or do you feel lost?  Do you have healthy friends and have the financial means to meet your needs?  If some of the items are left unchecked this could be a barrier to you in your daily life.  Counseling is a great way for you to explore these barriers and find realistic solutions.