There is a happiness movement occurring in our time. We hear and see the word happy more frequently than we did in the past; evidence of its influence is apparent in our daily conversations with others, where it seems that more and more people are gaining positive perspectives and incorporating that mindset into their day-to-day life.
It’s seen in book titles like The Happiness Project and 10% Happier. It’s the title of Pharrell’s hit song, Happy, and is also the title of a 2011 documentary that discovers the root of happiness in different countries around the world. A couple of years ago, Harvard University’s most popular course became a class called Positive Psychology, a course that looks at the psychological aspects of a fulfilling and flourishing life. All of these past and current developments show us that there is an increased focus on seeking and feeling enjoyment out of life; people just want to be happy.
The fact that there is such a market for different methods and routes to attain happiness reveals that most of us have lost our way to finding it. We can have money, good health, family and friends, and still not feel the happiness we want to in our everyday lives; sometimes there still seems to be something missing. What is the missing component exactly? Why do things just never seem to be enough?
The wonderful thing about this movement is that people are actually beginning to review the state of their lives and the levels of their happiness and making that a priority above other things. People are looking at themselves and evaluating what’s lacking or what changes they need to make so that they can have a gratifying and pleasurable life.
The Happiness Movement is an awakening for our time because it rids us of the victim mindset, of feeling that life is happening to us; that we have no control. By shifting our focus onto our states of happiness, we take hold of the reins and steer our lives into the directions that we want to lead them. We let go of believing that we are small and powerless, and rather awaken ourselves to our divine right to be happy.
Because if you really think about it, what more does anyone want in this life than that? If happiness underlies every aspect of life, then we feel we need nothing more. Happiness, like love, is the goal, it is the peak; nothing else supersedes it or overrides it. It is the end-all, be-all, and the fact that we are living in a time where happiness and love are becoming the main focus, reveals to us that we are truly living in an extraordinary time. An awakening is upon us; we can either continue on the road that we’ve already traveled, or take the path not yet walked on, and find for ourselves the adventure that awaits when we let go of the familiar and embrace the unknown.
