Happiness: A New Definition

When I was first asked to define happiness I went with the generic definition and said that happiness is different for everyone. I said that buying a car makes some people happy and helping the homeless makes other people happy. I said that money could buy happiness. That is not true now that I really think about it. I went on a mission trip to El Salvador and we didn’t really bring the kids many material things, but they were still happy to see us. They were happy just playing and talking to us. Through class discussions and critical thinking I realized that happiness is not different for everyone, that deep down everyone wants the same thing. We all want to be loved by others. We want companionships and relationships. People say they are not happy if they don’t get to see their favorite TV show on a certain night. Are they unhappy because of missing the show itself? Or are they unhappy they missed it because they feel like the actors are their friends and they don’t want to miss that companionship? I am responsible for this too, I find myself thinking that the Teen Mom girls are my friends, when in reality they have no idea I exist. My happiest memories are when I am with the people I love the most like my mom, my dad, my brother, boyfriend, and dogs. Happiness isn’t different for everyone, in a way we all want the some things.