Where Happiness Comes From

There have been many articles about where happiness comes from on Meditation Practices over recent months. Happiness is something we seek and some of us are fortunate enough to find every now and then.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that happiness can only be found in the present moment. One of the songs from his four-fold community of monks and nuns, lay men and lay women goes like this (see Happy In The Present Moment for the song):

Happiness is here and now.
I have dropped my worries.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to do.
No longer in a hurry.

Happiness is here and now.
I have dropped my worries.
Somewhere to go.
Something to do.
But not in a hurry.

Of course, Thich Nhat Hanh is not the only one to write about where happiness comes from.

Frederick Keonig was a German inventor and well-known for his high-speed printing press. He said,

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

This reminds me of a quote from Ken Keyes, author of the book, Handbook to Higher Consciousness:

To desire what you don’t have is to waste what you do have.

This expresses the same idea as Keonig.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Many other teachers have talked and written about happiness. The Dalai Lama wrote several books about the art of happiness, including The Art of Happiness, The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World, and The Art of Happiness at Work, among others. He is famous for saying that all humans are the same: we want happiness and avoid suffering.

Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “Happiness is right now in the midst of whatever is happening.”

What are your thoughts and feelings about where happiness comes from? Your family? Friends? Work? Getting what you want? Not getting what you don’t want? Let us know.