If there is one thing in life that I think everyone wants to be, it's happy.

It is the one thing that we all have in common. Happiness is what we work towards in every aspect of our lives.

We spend all of our time searching for people, careers, relationships, material things, all of which we think can help us become truly happy.

However, I think that the way we are taught about happiness is completely wrong. You cannot find happiness in any one person, you cannot find it in the newest iPhone or car, and you cannot find it in money. Happiness is not something to be achieved. There is a quote by Steve Maraboli that sums this up perfectly:

"Happiness is a state of mind, a choice, a way of living; it is not something to be achieved, it is something to be experienced.”

True happiness comes from ourselves. It comes from the inside.

We spend all of our time, energy, and money trying to gather the things that we think will end up making us happy. Although those things can help the feeling of happiness, it is not all that happiness is.

Happiness comes from inside ourselves. We make our happiness. If we spent half as much time focusing on the positive aspects of ourselves and our lives as we do on trying to find the things to make us happy, happiness would come naturally.

This isn't to say that bad things don't happen, they happen every day. No one person can be completely happy 24/7.

Instead of looking at happiness as a destination, something we achieve, we must look at it as a state of mind.

If you think negatively, you will attract negative things. Negative people, negative relationships, and negative experiences.

When you focus on the positives, positivity comes naturally.

Another quote helped me realize this:

“Happiness is not determined by what's happening around you, but rather what's happening inside you. Most people depend on others to gain happiness, but the truth is, it always comes from within.” – Anonymous

What we need to understand is that everything in life is to enhance our happiness.

Finding someone to love us unconditionally. Finding a career that is also our passion. Surrounding ourselves with people who bring out the best in us. Achieving our dreams. Being successful. Material items.

The only way that all of this can make us truly happy, however, is if we have happiness inside us. If we consciously make the effort to think positively instead of always striving to achieve happiness.

We are always thinking about the past or the future. We are constantly thinking about the "new" thing, the "if only's" and the "what if's?"

To be happy we must think in the here and now and appreciate what we have and look forward to what is ahead.

We must use happiness as a form of travel, not a destination.