Pursuing conditional happiness is the same thing as limiting happiness.
This is because the mind is adding conditions, requirements and mandates that the mind must meet in order to be happy.
It has been said and thought that the pursuit of things like money, alcohol, illegal drugs and promiscuity are examples of worldy, temporary happiness.
What is less known is that the finer, more wholesome, aspects of life, such as friends, family, safety and security do not offer permanent happiness either.
Our friends, family, safety, security, etc. change over time, this is guaranteed and is a Universal Truth. This impermanent nature of the world makes happiness based on the world as condition (and anything in it) unreliable, unsatisfactory and discontent.
When the mind pursues happiness based on the condition of having a family and attains a family, it may be happy for a while but can start to experience fear, stress and anxiety when it realizes it cannot maintain the qualities and status of its family forever.
When the mind pursues happiness based on the condition of connecting with friends, it can experience sadness, disappointment and grief when friends decide to end the relationship, do not reply to one’s messages, etc. or pass away.
When the mind pursues happiness based on safety, it can start to develop fears of natural disasters, fears of other people, and fears of flying on airplanes. The mind can be happy when it’s in certain situations but then fearful and stressed in others.
When the mind pursues happiness based on security, it may achieve a certain level of security but can then crave for more security. Never experiencing permanent peace or contentment due to wanting security.
This is the nature of pursuing conditional happiness.
The mind gets stressed, shaken up and lacks joy due to the fluctuating fulfillment, lack of fulfillment and loss of fulfillment, rooted in wants, expectations, desires, conditions, requirements and mandates.
The alternative is to train the mind to experience permanent Peace, Calmness, Serenity and Contentment with Joy - the Enlightened mind.
Chris Rice joined the Hive community in 2018 with a strong interest in helping and contributing to its growth. Some of his contributions include co-founding Hive Philippines and starting the 
He lives in Davao City, Philippines with his wife and son, where he dedicates much of his time to studying The Teachings of Gotama Buddha with guidance from Teacher David Roylance.
One of Chris’s life goals is to provide objective evidence that many modern-day “mental illnesses” can be resolved through training the mind.
