How would you describe your pursuit of happiness?
The Declaration of Independence was written nearly 250 years ago and spoke of one of the most important rights we all should have, the pursuit of happiness. What does that mean though to pursue happiness? If we were to compile the answers to the first question I asked, I have a feeling we would get a variety of answers on how each of us would describe our own pursuit of happiness. And that’s part of the point. Pursuing happiness is a very personal and unique journey. It’s not one for scale or copying but instead, is a journey meant to be authentic.
First, let’s discuss how we’d define happiness. Too often I think the world around us tries to portray the idea of happiness as some unrealistic perfect setting such as sitting on a beach in beautiful weather with no stress. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take a beach with beautiful weather to enjoy but our happiness is not found externally. It’s not the sand, ocean, sun, or tiki drink that creates happiness. True happiness must be found internally.
While we are all unique in how we develop and evolve our internal happiness, one common factor I’ve studied is the importance of progress towards who we’re capable of becoming. Each one of us is meant for something extraordinary and for us to pursue happiness, we need to pursue our own authentic greatness. When we understand our unique version of greatness and what we want to accomplish in our journey of life, such a big part of pursuing happiness is pursuing our authentic greatness.
But when we analyze our own unique greatness, it’s not a path of ease and comfort like this dreamy beach vacation. Instead, striving for our authentic greatness is a challenging journey. This journey will be filled with uncomfortableness, failures, and setbacks. And because we’re willing to take on challenges, the journey will also be filled with growth, perseverance, and plenty of accomplishments along the way. Add up all the experiences of learning and success, we have progress to who we’re authentically striving to become.
It would be interesting to understand more about what the authors of the Declaration of Independence meant by “pursuit of happiness”. While each person’s pursuit of happiness back 250 years ago may look extremely different than today, the consistency I believe we would find is the portrayal of happiness will center around striving for each person’s authentic greatness. To know we’re on a journey to discovering the amazing impact we can have in our lives is to know we are on the pursuit to happiness.
Take your step: this July 4th when we’re celebrating America’s independence, take a moment to think about what this idea of pursuit of happiness means to you. Challenge yourself to get perspective on what true happiness is. Not some short term dream scenario but true happiness of pursuing your authentic greatness. And don’t forget during the peaks of valleys of uncovering each of our authentic greatness, the most important part is enjoying the journey. Happy 4th of July!
