by Emily Mcbride

Created on: January 23, 2009

Happiness is sitting with a cold sausage roll and a hot mug of tea on a bus in the sunshine, racing home from university. At other times happiness is eating gingerbread cookies on a high-speed train in Germany, watching the foggy yet sunny landscape flash by, enjoying the moment. And sometimes happiness is feeling coloured lights and sounds and humanity wash over you in a crowded, pumping nightclub. And all of these moments can be the definition of misery too. Life is a succession of moments and emotions, and happiness is one thing one day and another thing entirely another.

In general, surrounding yourself with friends and loved ones is a way to aim for happiness, though it is interesting to note also that your lovers and mothers can cause you more misery than anyone else. Being more active will often make you happier, thinking too much will probably make you neurotic, although living without thinking must produce a lukewarm, watered-down happiness at best. Being alone makes many people unhappy, and yet the failed experiments in searching for Mr. or Mrs. Right often make them unhappier still. Happiness is, in short, the ultimate goal, yet the achievement of it remains elusive to most people.

Striving for balance in life, of work and leisure, of health and indulgence, of different activities, is most likely the best way to achieve happiness, yet this sensible balance can also lead to a dry and overly-perfect lifestyle. So perhaps other things are needed to improve the formula. Moments of unfettered and un-lasting joy, to show us the giddy highs, and moments of insecurity and despair to qualify the good things. A sense of perspective about the world, about the suffering of other people in other corners of it who would be ecstatic to have our lifestyle. Realistic expectations. Not watching too many romantic comedies, or porn movies, yet maybe, watching some. Drinking green tea for the health benefits, and occasionally absinthe for the green fairy. Having a good wool coat and a pair of rubber boots to enjoy whatever tribulations the winter may bring. Having a bicycle, and leaving it at home on very cold days.

Following all these suggestions may not bring lasting happiness any nearer, for a happy life requires a generous helping of luck and opportunity as well. But laying good foundations of physical health and emotional maturity lets every good moment shine, even if it is only eating a frozen-solid ice cream cone by a windy ocean.

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