What Is Happiness, Really?
Every human being on this earth shares the same desire: to be happy. Happiness is a wish we all have in common. Every person on this planet wants to feel fulfilled, peaceful, and alive. We all search for happiness, and many of us dream of finding “eternal” happiness. But what is happiness, really? Is it real? And if it exists… how can we reach it?
For a long time, I believed deeply in happiness. And yet, I only experienced it in short moments — brief flashes that came and went. I could never hold on to it. Until one day, I realized something important: I had been looking for happiness in the wrong place. I was always searching for it outside of myself. And that was because my idea of happiness was wrong.
In my pursuit of happiness, I constantly asked myself:
What is it?
Where can I find it?
Is it a destination?
Is it a place where you arrive and stay forever?
Is lasting happiness even possible?
Or is it just a beautiful illusion created by the human mind?
These questions followed me for years. And what I eventually understood was this: my beliefs about happiness were shaping my experience of it — and limiting it.
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination; happiness is to be found along the way not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it’s too late. The time for happiness is today not tomorrow.” – Paul H. Dunn
According to the dictionary, happiness is “the state of being happy,” and to be happy means to feel delighted or glad about something. But in real life, happiness means very different things to different people. What feels like happiness to one person may feel empty to another.
Our culture, upbringing, experiences, and beliefs all shape how we define happiness. That is why it is so difficult to give it only one meaning. Happiness has as many definitions as there are people in this world. So… does happiness really exist?
From my own life experience, I believe that it does. But for many of us, it disappears almost as quickly as it appears. Sometimes, it fades before we even have time to fully enjoy it.
Think about a holiday, for example. You look forward to it for months. Your excitement grows. You feel free, relaxed, alive. And just when you reach that moment of deep joy… it ends. Reality returns. Routine takes over.
And suddenly, happiness feels fragile. So short. So unreliable, and because of that, many of us begin to doubt its existence.
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley
To understand happiness more deeply, we need to learn how to ask better questions.
As Claude Lévi-Strauss once said: “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers. He poses the right questions.”
So let’s ask:
What is happiness, really?
Where does it come from?
Does it depend on circumstances?
Can it be constant?
Is it created by our actions?
Do we need to achieve something to deserve it?
Does our past affect it?
Does our future steal it?
Can external situations control it?
And maybe the most important questions of all:
Why do I feel happy when I say I am happy?
What is really happening inside me in that moment?
And why do I feel sad when I say I am sad?
Have you ever stopped to think about that? Sometimes, our own questions already contain the answers.
The first step toward happiness is understanding what happiness truly is — for you. In the next post, I’ll explore how we can define happiness in our own lives — and why it has more to do with meaning than with comfort. 🧡