So, What is happiness ? Well, let’s say happiness is a trap.
An ingenious trap designed by billions of years of evolution to keep us in the loop of surviving.
Without the occasional spurt of ‘feel good’ chemicals within our bodies, there would be no motivation to survive and reproduce and continue this perpetually endless cycle of purposelessness. And that is why, evolution was kind enough to bless us with a twist of happiness to our otherwise dull lives.
Now, just think, do you feel happy when you eat good/tasty food? Yes? Well, it’s not your fault. It’s the evolutions way of ‘telling’ us to eat good food, so that we can keep our bodies healthy and reproduce.
Do you feel happy when you help others? It’s not your fault either. It’s just a useful trait for social animals like ourselves to keep on surviving and reproducing.
Do you feel happy when you are the reason for someone’s happiness? If so, you’ve just been ‘used’ by evolution to perpetuate happiness among us, to make us believe that being alive is worth it despite all the suffering.
Still not convinced? Well, the next time you feel happy, try figuring out the source of that happiness, and understand how it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.
Of course the ‘happiness trap’ is not perfect. Evolution is somewhat slow at adapting to change. For example, the occasional rush you get when you eat junk food – that should have been corrected a long time ago when shortage of food stopped being the bottleneck for survival. And, there are always anomalies… experiments gone wrong, like the psychopaths who take pleasure in harming others.
Basically, it’s all a giant game of trial and error. Whatever works to keep us surviving, will be used on us through the happiness trap.
Let’s list out some things that makes you happy.
Good Music: You woke up with good music in your ears. You feel refreshed and energetic. Work with your headphones on. One of the biggest joys can be discovering an obscure Indie band on Youtube, 8tracks or Soundcloud for that matter.
Reading: This is one thing everyone should agree. Reading is fun. Isn’t it ?
The people in your life: Life is much happier when you have good company. Surround yourself by amazing people with a zeal for life.
Travel: You should travel (a lot) and explore things. This is the best thing and makes you happy too. Find out new stuff. Discover places, enjoy with friends.
Meeting new People: Meet new people. Talk to them. Learn something new. Socialize. It makes everyone happy.
Win: Whether its a game or a moment in life. A win always give you happiness and fill your soul with positiveness.
Be Happy and keep smiling. It costs nothing !
