Happiness is such an important word. But what is it, really?
Take a quick look at the word “happy” and the word “happen.” They both spring from the same etymological root, the middle-English word hap, which means, “that which happens.”
Happy and happen are almost the same exact word. One describes emotion. The other describes behavior. But the key here is to show how interconnected they are. We are happy when good things are happening.
Our quest to control is like a journey from one place to another. We are here. We want to be there. So we move along. We work to get from one place to another over time.
When we’re on a good pace, we feel happy. When we’re further along than expected or moving faster than expected, we’re even happier. But when we feel stuck or moving slower than expected, we’re unhappy. And when we’re going the wrong way, we’re even more unhappy.
Emotions signal pace of progress.
Happiness is an emotion. A progress indicator. When we are making good things happen, we are happy. When good things are just happening on their own, we’re happy too. But when we are failing to make good things happen, or when bad things are simply happening to us, we aren’t happy.
So, what is happiness? The emotion and vitality that come from effectively ruling our lives.
Over two thousand years ago Aristotle concluded that “above all else, people seek happiness.” Amen, Aristotle. A couple hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson echoed Aristotle, writing in the Declaration of Independence that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are inalienable human rights. Amen, Jefferson. But I need to jump in on this sermonizing. Why? Few understand what happiness is. They don’t connect happiness and happening, and it makes happiness a mystical concept, a fuzzy word, a greased pig. We don’t really know what Aristotle and Jefferson were talking about.
When we understand the happiness-happening connection, however, Jefferson and Aristotle become crystal clear. Aristotle’s quote becomes, “Above all else, people want to make good things happen.” Jefferson’s “pursuit of happiness” becomes “the constant quest to make good things happen, and experience the feelings that follow.”
