I've seen plenty of motivational pictures and posters during my life. In addition to this, I've seen plenty of comics and such which are supposed to be filled with wisdom and knowledge about good life.
Mostly, I've laughed them off. Motivational posters and their shallow ideas, life wisdom comics and how pointless their tips seem. "This is an easy topic and everyone knows this"
One of my favorites is one, in which a man is shown to always be aiming for something when waiting for happiness.
"I'll be happy when I finish studies, I'll be happy when I get a job, I'll be happy when I get a new apartment, I'll be happy when I get a promotion..."
The wisdom in the end was: Happiness is the journey, not the destination.
I enjoyed the drawing style in the one I saw years ago, but didn't mind it otherwise. Of course we are trying to enjoy the journey through life. Who would put their happiness to wait for certain goals, which they might reach later?
However now as an adult, I've noticed I'm doing this and I've been doing this. Waiting for something else to happen so I can be happier. When I'm not happier than before, I feel disappointed. Like I've been lied to.
Did I forget to enjoy the journey so far, or did I just have high expectations what I would feel like when I achieve something?
As a Finnish person, I've always been a fan of the Moomins. One of the characters, Hemulen, is a stamp collector in the beginning. However when he finally manages to get the perfect stamp collection, he feels unhappy. He has nothing more to reach in life. He has accomplished all he ever wanted.
He found his happiness by starting to collect plants instead of stamps.
Could this be another way to happiness? Instead of changing our view of happiness too radically, we'll just always find something else to strive for. Every time we reach a goal and might notice how empty our lives are, we would just always change the targets.
I assume this could work, but I've seen people do this and they have sometimes gone far to crazy with their attempts of going further and further to find happiness they are looking for. Have you seen one of the women always wanting a bigger cup size to be happy about herself?
The scary thing, I assume that to find longer lasting happiness and fulfillment we would need to look deep down into ourselves. And I can see that's scary, so it's no wonder people tend to choose other ways to look for happiness.
All images from Pixabay, no image of Hemulen included because Moomins are not characters free to use
