Most of us look forward to the coming year to bring us new hope and happiness. Happiness is everybody’s business. It is the most cherished and yet the most misunderstood state of mankind. What makes us happy or unhappy?  

We learn in life that happiness is associated with love, faith and hope; while unhappiness is the result of bitterness, hatred, pride, negativity, selfishness, self-centeredness and unrealistic ambitions. Unhappy people are lonely people and oftentimes are the source of unhappiness and pain for others. They are not fun to be with.

Realistically, happiness is a choice. When we get up every morning, we have the choice to be happy or unhappy. But some of us are so frantic at the thought that time is catching up on us that we feel miserable. We think that the years are going by without any satisfying accomplishments; that we've lost ground in some areas, so we struggle desperately to make money, to be known and recognized even sometimes at the expense of others.

We become anxious on many things. We even fear old age. We see it as a catastrophe, a final bad joke on the false dream of being happy. Unhappy people rarely blame themselves for their condition. Their jobs are at fault, their marriages, their parents, or the meanness of fate. But the real cause is the incoherency of their lives. Confused and lacking in spirituality, unhappy people have no warmth to give at home, work, play, nor love. They only think what is good for them. They use other people and they are afraid to use themselves up.

In the pursuit of happiness, many of us are on the wrong track. We think happiness is in having and being served by others, to lead and to be recognized. But happiness is really found in counting our blessings, in giving, and in serving others with all humility and cheerfulness; in helping without expecting something in return. All who would win joy must share it; happiness is not getting and keeping – it is giving.

To many of us, happiness is a simple, homely and unpretentious way of life. When we achieve a fair measure of harmony within ourselves and people close to us, we achieve peace. At the end, what matters to us, regardless of who we are, is the affection and understanding of our spouse, our  family and our friends.

It is what we have scattered not we have gathered that we will be remembered. What is happiness except the plain accord between a man and the life he leads? Indeed, the grand essentials to happiness in this journey we call life, are something to do, someone to love and a future to hope for.

By Tim Pedrosa