Happiness is hard to define. In my clinics and seminars I have ventured to define love. I have ventured to define hope. I have ventured to define pleasure, but I am at a loss to define happiness.
- Happiness is far more than the absence of trouble.
- Happiness is more than getting what you want. It is more than wanting what you have.
- Happiness is more than appreciating the good things that happen to you.
- Happiness is more than love, for love brings its own rumble of disquiet that can sadden the soul.
- Happiness is more than gratitude.
- And happiness is far more than contentment. For contentment blocks daring and valiant actions and thus robs you of noble memories of a life fully spent.
So what is happiness?Happiness for me is a feeling, which I cannot capture in word. It is derived from a poem by Porteus and was used to describe love. But it sums up what happiness is to me.
“Happiness is something so divine, description would but make it less, ′tis what I feel but can’t define, ′tis what I know but can’t express.”