There is a famous quote by Guillaume Apollinaire that goes, “Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” And in today’s society this quote will have probably been posted below numerous smiling selfies to show their “deeper meaning.” But what our society needs is to stop and pause and find the deeper meaning in life.

Find what makes you happy. Find what fills you to the top with bubbling joy; so much so that it comes out in joyous laughter. Find your passion, find your happiness within your own soul. Wake up and find bliss in the air in your lungs and the sunshine outside your window. Listen to the birds chirping and the wind rustling the wind chimes outside, making the sweet soundtrack of life. And take a moment for yourself. Take a moment to just stop thinking about what you need to achieve to reach “happiness” and see what you already have. See the happiness that you already have.

Go to the ocean just to smell the salty air and feel the sand beneath your toes. Pick flowers just because you like their smell. Climb a tree as high as you can go to see as far as you wish. Drive with the windows down to feel the wind through your hair. Grab someone’s hand and tell them you love them. Give the man on the street your change, it means more to him than you. Climb a mountain to feel the rush of adrenaline as you look down the side of the cliff. Run until your legs burn, feel the power of your own body. Take a leap of faith, find the strength within to find the happiness that warms your soul.

So many times today people view happiness as the end goal in life making them constantly search for ways to find that ultimate bliss. They ignore the daily joys because they are just mere distractions of their end goal, road blocks to climb over so they can continue their journey. But do not let this happen to you. Do not push off the innocent sweetness of life, in order to find a deeper meaning, because you will not find it. The deeper meaning of life, that happiness you have been searching for lies in every minute of every day. It lies in the mere beauty of being alive.

I want you to ask yourself when you wake up tomorrow what you have or what you can do to fully embrace all the happiness you possess. Search yourself for that answer and fulfill it. Learn to live for what makes you happy, not in order to make yourself happy.