Pseudo-happiness

Are you happy? Are you sure?

We are told so much about what is supposed to make us happy that we tend to  convince ourselves that our emotions our different from what they really are. Happiness is the obvious example of this. If we have money and friends, then we are happy. If we are struggling, we are unhappy.

Actually, that’s not quite true. We might think we are happy when we are unhappy, and we might think we are unhappy when we are happy. Emotions are not conditioned. They reflect how we truly feel at a deeper level. What we generally refer to as happiness should be viewed as pseudo-happiness. We feel like we are supposed to be happy, so we convince ourselves that we are. I might not know true happiness, but there is no doubt that the emotion is stronger than pseudo-happiness.

When things are seriously going well for us, it should trigger the emotion. This contrasts significantly with pseudo-happiness, which occurs when we think we are supposed to feel happy. I guess pseudo-happiness is better than nothing. It is a pleasant feeling. I just hope people don’t misunderstand that feeling. We shouldn’t pursue pseudo-happiness. We should pursue real happiness.