This has gotta be the good life

So. I was listening to a song this morning by One Republic and the words that caught my attention were "this has gotta be the good life"... and it started me thinking about life in general. Are we born into a blank space and life is what we create, or is life something we are given and we have to learn to live with it? Or a bit of both?

In my class last night, we were talking about happiness in life and it really struck a cord with me. We were talking about a certain psychologist who believes that happiness really is what we make it... and that pleasure and enjoyment are two completely different things. Pleasure can be something simple like eating an ice cream but enjoyment is something you create, something you physically do, like a painting, talking with friends, playing sport. Apparently, you need to have a sense of achievement to be truly happy, and I really like this concept... Because, I know that I can do short term, quick things to "feel happy" like watch my favourite tv programme, or go shopping, but it´s just a rush of happiness...it doesn´t last. Yet, when I am doing something like swimming, not only am I happy in the moment, but afterwards I have a sense of achievement and I have a goal in my head for the next time.

Anyway, the notion of happiness could be debated endlessly and of course, it means different things to different people. I am always reminded of some people, who despite living in adverse situations like poverty are still happy. Sometimes I feel drowned in a materialistic world, where your self worth is measured on a scale of the magnitude of your possessions. There is this unseen pressure to obtain the most expensive and most popular gadgets, a big house, a nice car, to be fashionable... I think it can be too easy to lose sight of the truly important things in life, like family, friendship and self actualisation.

Through all the ups and downs, I know that I will have family and friends that will always be there no matter what... despite the distance from some of my friends, I am comforted in the knowledge that if I needed them, they would be here in a heartbeat... and that, that is a truly wonderful feeling...