Great Uncle Fred? Quite soon I shall be a grown-up and I know what I want to be (a vet) and everything is going well towards that. But what I really want to be is happy. This seems very important to me but no one talks about it. Please help - what makes happiness? (Lynne, Summer 2008)

Good question. In the American Declaration of Independence, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are listed among humanity`s inalienable rights. Some people think that this makes no sense because happiness can`t actually be pursued - it sort of sneaks up on you... One day, when things have been going reasonably well, and you`re healthy and loved and purposeful, you suddenly realise that you are happy or, rather, you realise that you are in the process of being happy. Everything changes and that must be accepted. Being happy is not the same as being smug... But what do you need to make happiness possible? Well, while wealth and beauty are certainly not essential, I would have thought that fulfilling work (such as yours will be) and love and a sense of freedom would be the main necessities. I suppose an unemployed unattached addict might in fact be happy but he would have to be fulfilled in some way, and not desperate. So, it is a wee bit mysterious but definitely, I think, worth focusing on. As Robert Louis Stevenson (who wrote "Treasure Island" and "Jekyll and Hyde"), as he said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world which remain unknown even to ourselves". It might not be possible to pursue it but it can and must be welcomed when it arrives at your door. It is a good thing to be prepared.

Print