Mystery called Happiness

What is the purpose of life? To be happy ... I think that all our efforts whether it’s loving somebody, doing well professionally or philanthropic gestures are all done to derive happiness..... But then why is it that even after slogging to make our future selves happy it mostly remains unhappy??? I think it's because our future selves won't see the world the way we see it now..... While imagining future we prefeels events and think that we'll feel the same when we get there but it isn’t true ... Like any other lens our experiences will become part of the lens through which we view the world and distort what we see....

So then what does this mean??? That one should stop thinking about future and shouldn’t work towards achieving things that they think will make them happy..... Well I am not suggesting that.... one should become aware of these realities and should discover future rather than predicting it …. And should always remember that journey—is equally important, if not more so, than the destination …. "One cannot divine or forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance, in a lucky hour, at the world's end somewhere, and holds fast to the days, as to fortune or fame" - Daniel Gilbert

But still there are few things which have been found to provide long term happiness like meaningful closely connected relationships and social bonds, showing gratitude, philanthropic gestures, simplifying and doing one task at a time rather than multi-tasking, finding and utilizing one’s strength and having a healthy life style i.e. Proper sleep, nutritious food, regular exercise etc. Material things and possessions also provide happiness but that happiness is temporary. Wonderful things are especially wonderful the first time they happen, but their wonderfulness wanes with repetition. Psychologist calls it habituation; economist calls it declining marginal utility. To beat habituation one can either increase the variety of one's experiences or increase the amount of time that separates repetitions of the experiences.

Note: - Few ideas have been taken from Daniel Gilbert’s “Stumbling on Happiness” …..