In this life, we are all reaching for one common goal- to be happy. Our decisions are heavily centered around this goal. We all strive for a life where we wake up with a smile on our face and love every waking second of every day. Of course we tend to always see this idea of happiness as being in the distant future, a point in our life we will end up sometime down the road. I believe we are looking at the idea of happiness all wrong.

Happiness is too often seen as a destination; a place that one day we will reach, like happiness is the name of a city where one day we will all retire. But happiness isn't a permanent place. Happiness is an emotion just like sadness or anger. We are not always sad or always mad, just like we cannot always be happy. Our emotions are in constant fluctuation, and happiness is all part of this cycle.

Of course, being happy is the most pleasurable emotion we experience, thus we strive for it to be our constant state of being. This is impossible, and I believe it makes us even more discontent. While being positive and full of joy is great, it is also important for us to experience the less enjoyable emotions. Sadness, anger and fear are just as meaningful as happiness. These emotions teach us important lessons about ourselves, as well as, the world around us. Sadness leads to compassion, Anger leads to motivation and fear leads to courage. It is for this reason why we must embrace every emotion we face, and let it guide us in a positive direction.

Furthermore, when we do experience happiness, we must live in it. It is the small moments of joy that matter the most. We too often are looking into the future for our next huge fix of satisfaction, and we miss the small flickers of delight that we experience every day. Happiness isn't always a big job promotion or a marriage proposal. Happiness is singing along to the radio with your friends, happiness is looking into the eyes of someone you love and happiness is sometimes as small as a brief smile.

So happiness is not a destination and it isn't a constant. It is unpredictable, immeasurable and can be fleeting, but it is here. Happiness is now. Don't let it pass you by. It may not last forever, but it is definitely worth every quick second.