Happiness has been a subject exposed to an age-long contemplation among philosophers. The most profound definition of it was from Aristotle, who described it as a state of eudaimonia – the state of the total well-being of a man. When thought about comprehensively, eudaimonia encapsulates a flourishing life and a form of true and transcendent Happiness. Therefore, in a sense, I can define Happiness as having a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment, which results from putting your best into a task with positive results or rewards to show for it. Most people are pretty familiar with this in their conceptual understanding of Happiness.
However, Helen Keller said, “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true Happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but fidelity to a worthy purpose.” What purpose or cause are you willing to pursue that can give you the most desirable feeling in life? This is by far the most ecstatic form of Happiness. To lend you my ten cents, I will suggest that is where you should seek your lifelong Happiness without compromise. I should stress at this point that you will not be happy because of material things; instead, you will be happy because it is the proper attitude to possess.
Charles Kingsley states, “We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” More wealth, affluence, houses, and cars may bring temporary Happiness, but cannot make you happy in the long run. Comfort and luxuries may bring momentary joy but rarely produce lasting pleasure. Therefore, it is essential to know that no matter what you have, it cannot give you permanent Happiness. In that sense, something to life must transcend this world’s pleasures and gains. Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth, saying, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Corinthians 15:19, KJV). Our joy, gain, and hope must not end in this world. We must move past the stage of only believing things of this transient world and progress towards something more eternal and lasting. Miseries await those who only put their hope of Happiness in the perishable things of this world. Lasting Happiness begins with experiencing the joy of salvation and having a sense of accomplishment of purpose at the end of one’s journey in life. The assurance is that a crown of glory awaits such a man in eternity as a reward for those who run their race successfully (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Something euphoric happened some time ago that depicts what a sense of accomplishment of purpose may look like; my first daughter, since pre-pandemic, wishes to win the Student of the Month prize in her school. She has seen others win the award and thought she possessed the qualities to win it, too! But for several years, she was not considered for the award. But she kept doing what was necessary for her to win the prize. When I picked her up from school on a particular day, she said, “Daddy! Daddy!! Guess what!!!” I said, “What?” She said, “Finally, I have won my school’s Student of the Month award. I am very fulfilled because it is a dream come true!” I asked, “How did you win it?” She said, “I kept being nice to everybody in the school. I affirmed my teachers when they did something good; I helped new students who spoke Portuguese to settle in our school. I said nice words to everyone daily, and the school teachers unanimously chose me as the qualified award recipient for the month.” My response was, “Whao! Can you see that it does pay to be consistent? Your consistency has finally paid off and made everyone recognize you! Congratulations!!”
The central idea of my daughter’s story is that we don’t have to anchor our joy and Happiness to the perishable things of this life. However, we can elect to be good and kind to everyone who comes our way; doing so can add to our fulfillment in life, in the way my daughter experienced it. This is my definition of pure pursuit of ecstatic and eternal Happiness! Happiness is a virtue that I have intentionally promoted as an executive corporate wellness coach to help some of the individuals I have served. I do this to help them attain a state of eudaimonia despite their present predicament. I firmly believe this to be very crucial for people’s overall well-being in the long run.
At the School of Transformational Leadership, you can participate in our Executive Wellness Leadership Program or our On-site Wellness Leadership Day Program and ultimately experience the 20-hour Curriculum Personal Leadership Journey Program in a transformative roundtable conversation to become a certified climbing companion. I aim to help even more people I may never have met one-on-one, to let them know they need not be disoriented about life when they are knocked out with hard punches. I am here to help you navigate life’s difficult journey. I am confident that God has equipped me to help you. Reach out to me; I will certainly show up to take the journey with you!
Editor’s Note: An excerpt from my soon-to-be-published book “Creed to Grace Therapy” by Olusegun Osineye.
