There is no secret formula for happiness. Humanity is inherently happy. Inherently gifted with the tools and the wisdom to navigate the world. People that sell happiness are not intentionally gatekeeping. They are only victims of the same narrative that has been driven in society throughout its existence: you must find happiness. Some are able to capitalize on selling happiness while others remain in the cycle of reaching for it without understanding the true expense. The challenge with being taught that you must find happiness is that it allows the perpetual need to seek it from the external. It feeds into the human desire to set goals and achieve them; to view everything from linear lenses. It fuels checklists and hierarchies. It creates dependencies and feelings of lack.

The interesting aspect of this, however, is that if you ask someone what makes them happy, they will likely not be able to answer that question. Why? Because most people in society are basing happiness on false identity. The false identity that begins to establish itself at a very young age and continues through years of influence and programming. There were glimmers of your true happiness in those adolescent years before anyone or anything could erase them from your memory. Returning to childhood joy is not a cliché statement and the statement itself varies drastically person to person in interpretation. The key behind the statement is not necessarily that you need to have more fun. Instead, it is rather that you return to who you really are.

Authenticity has its webster’s definition, but the assigned definition cannot be confined to words. Some truth cannot be explained with words. Seeking happiness and fulfilment primarily through external elements creates a disconnect in ourselves. That disconnect reverberates in all aspects of our lives which in turn impacts the way we show up in the world as well as how we perceive it. From a very young age, many of us are taught that happiness is something you have to work for, something you have to achieve. Have you ever watched children play? If you have, you may have simply accepted it as something children do without questioning why. Children play because they are connected with themselves. Children ask for what they want not because they are disobedient and ungrateful, but because they know with their own clarity. If you had a table of items presented to you and you could choose anything from the table for free, how would you make your decision? Would you buy exactly what it is that you want? Would you choose based on what someone else expects, needs, or might benefit from?

Arriving at happiness is something that will remain in the far distance. It is not different than setting sail without a map and a compass hoping to find a remote island. Happiness is within you. It is etched in every fiber of your being. Instead of reaching out for it, dig deep for it.