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Is Happiness All You Need?

  • Writer: Jay K
    Jay K
  • Mar 21, 2022
  • 3 min read

Updated: Mar 22, 2022


I’m sure, at one point in your life, someone has told you the quote, “The purpose of life is to be happy.” or the saying, " All I want you to have in your life is for to just be happy."


When I’ve asked the Inspiration Relaxation community, these were the most common responses:

Happiness is:

1. Having good health

2. Family, friends, and/or community

3. Loving the present moment

4. Lots of $$$

5. Having basic necessities (food, family & shelter)

6. Personal Growth

7. Contribute To The World/ Serve Others

The survey results show that everyone’s version of happiness is not the same. Moreover, everyone may or may not have attained any combination of the above-mentioned version of happiness in the current moment of their life.


All of these forms of happiness are temporary and can change at any moment similar to how our emotions (like happiness) can change at any moment. Why? Consider yourself going through a sudden unfortunate event such as an illness, financial burden, family issue, relationship problem, losing a loved one, or anything else that prevents achieving your version of happiness. Would you say you can still be happy all the time if any of the above-mentioned circumstances happened in your life? It is probably hard to say you would be happy because any of these respectively are unfavorable towards achieving your version of happiness.


On the flip side, what if you are able to attain your version of happiness, can you be satisfied forever? Probably not, because you would desire another version of happiness, or a larger-scale of your version of happiness, or any combination of both. If this is the case, the purpose of life for you would be the pursuit of happiness. However, you will never be able to achieve it because this would be like a rabbit chasing a carrot on the end of the stick and never being able to reach it.


But, what if there was a carrot already in your hand that has the magic to always keep you full, content, and satisfied, would you want that?


The magical carrot is "inner peace".


Here are some definitions of "inner peace" from positivepsychology.com.


“Inner peace refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of stress”

(Barua, 2014, p. 24).


“Inner peace refers to a state of calm, serenity and tranquility of mind that arise due to having no sufferings or mental disturbances such as worry, anxiety, greed, desire, hatred, ill-will, delusion and/or other defilements”

(Gogava et al., 2018, p. 4).


Maybe the quote "The purpose of life is to be happy" is trying to say that the purpose of life is to find the magic carrot (inner peace).

Now, wouldn't you want this inner peace that has the power to help you get through any situation and be able to help you deeply understand in your heart your purpose in life? A "peace" that surpasses all understanding, emotions, and life circumstances. It's the feeling that you know that everything is going to be okay with whatever happens in your life journey.

If we want that, instead of making our life about the pursuit of happiness, we should be in search of inner peace. But have you ever wondered though where can you find this inner peace? Is it already in you? If it is in you, how come it's not there? Is it on Earth? Is it from above? Now, this is the next question I can ask my Inspiration Relaxation community. But before you answer, listen to our "Peace" instrumental track to give you some inspiration as you think about deeply where that inner peace comes from for you.

In the meanwhile, I can safely conclude that the purpose of life is not to be happy. I know this because eating ice cream makes my wife and I very happy, but she’s not very happy after every time I have eaten it all.






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