Let’s face it, happiness is cake. Simple.

The pursuit of happiness, what does that even mean? Is happiness something that can be achieved? It is something that I often find myself wondering about. The curious thing is that happiness is not tangible so I agree with the notion of ‘you cannot buy happiness’. You can not wait for happiness, it is not something that is around the corner coming your way and it is not something you can work towards.

Scientifically it can be broken down to be dopamine, maybe, which is a compound present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of other substances including adrenaline (as defined in the oxford dictionary).It is synthesised in the brain and the kidneys. Which would explain why Katut in Eat, Pray, Love asked Liz if she was smiling from her kidneys.

I have learnt that happiness is within you, it is your core, kind of like you have a switch inside you and all you have to do is turn it on. It is not the designer bag you have always wanted and finally got, it’s not getting your dream job or your dream car or your dream house (you get my gist). My grandfather told me when I was very young, ‘Fatima if you want to compare your life to someone, compare it to those who are worse off than you, that way you will never be unhappy and at the same time look at those who are better off and grow from it,’ It is something that stayed with me.

Maybe happiness is within you, it is how you feel when you step out and have a cool breeze touching your face as the warm glorious sun gleams down at you. It is marshmallows in your hot chocolate with whipped cream on a cold winter’s night or any hot drink that spreads the warmth inside of you and makes you believe that everything is going to be ok. Happiness is coming home to your family. Coming home and having your cat/dog greet you. It’s the simple things in life.

Happiness is so many things, that when you think about it you can not say it is just one thing because it is everything. 🙂

Selectively Curious©