You know that feeling of genuine happiness when the sun is shining on a beautiful summer day, when a stranger does a random act of kindness for you, or when you simply get to jump into bed after a long, exhausting day? That feeling that makes you smile so big and the warmth of that moment that you wish you could extend beyond eternity. What is that feeling and how can we get more of it? That is the feeling of innate happiness, ladies and gentleman. Ah yes, I am sure you have heard sayings such “happiness is not a destination,” but have you ever stopped to ponder what happiness means to you? What makes you happy? How can you make happiness dominate over the negative forces that creep into your life?

First, let's take a step back. What is happiness? I personally believe that happiness is the energy flowing through your veins from a specific stimulus you encounter. It is the contentment you are overwhelmed with when you see your favorite movie, talk to your best friend, or when you take a walk on the first day of spring when the temperature is surprisingly not in the negative numbers. The biggest misconception is that happiness is a timed sensation that we feel in intervals. You may feel like happiness comes and goes at unexpected times in your life, depending on the day. Of course, it is quite impossible to remove all the stressors in your life, but happiness should not be a matter of intervals. It should not be thought of an impossible concept that is simply unattainable to possess for consistent period of time. It baffles me that we truly believe we aren’t worthy of feeling utter excitement and exhilaration all the time.

So, am I regarding my previous definition of happiness as false? Of course not. It remains true that the little instances of joy we feel throughout the day are genuine signs of being happy. Instead, the point I am attempting to convey is that we should not limit ourselves to these occurrences. An accumulation of the positive stimuluses’ we interact with on a daily basis is the key to leading a happy lifestyle. We all deserve to be constantly searching for catalysts that compel our eyes to light up, that give us the tingly feeling in our stomach and create the loud and obnoxious laughter we simply cannot contain.

However, this goal of consistent happiness is at fault as negativity infiltrates our lives. Instead of smiles and laughter, we become obsessed with success and money. Instead of living a simple, care-free life, we choose this path of constant frustration and stress. Why? We are infatuated with rising to the top and reaching our full potential as a human. Don’t get me wrong—we should all strive to use our God given abilities to maximum capacity, but is it actually worth it? Is God looking down right now and applauding our ability of constantly overworking ourselves? For every minute of stress in our lives, is it truly worth giving away a positive minute we could potentially be enjoying?

These questions are not a matter of depressing you with how society functions, but rather to get you to reflect on your own life and how you are living it. If you could change your past, would you have worked less? Would you have studied more efficiently so you could have more time to relax? Would you have surrounded yourself with people who made you laugh and smile, rather than people who are constantly letting you down? Life is like an artwork that could be viewed as a bunch of scribbles and random lines with no meaning to one person, but could be an extraordinary piece of art to another person. Life is what you make out of it—it could be a bunch of “scribbles” and mistakes with no meaning or you could view those mistakes as learning experiences that eventually will mold you into the person you will be in 20 years.

This article covers a wide spectrum of topics but if there is one thing you take out of it, it should be that happiness intertwines with every aspect of your life—how you feel everyday, how you view yourself and how you perceive the world. So, what is your definition of happiness?

As musician Jack Johnson said: “Find what you love and immerse yourself in it.”