What brings happiness and well-being, Mr. Habibvand?
Pleasure and material things? Experiences? Relationships and love? Personal fulfilment and satisfaction? Acceptance? Hope and joyful anticipation?
Greetings and warm regards.
You’ve asked a truly excellent and profound question—perhaps the most important question one can ask. That said, it’s important to remember that because your question is so broad and overarching, any answer to it must also be broad and general. And with such general answers, only the essence and framework of the idea can be conveyed, while the finer details and nuances are necessarily left out.
As I have expressed and explained many times, in my view, happiness lies in two things: gratitude and self-actualisation—and these two are deeply connected and intertwined.
Gratitude, in its broadest sense, means recognising the worth and value of one’s own being, of life itself, and of all the possibilities and opportunities we have.
Self-actualisation means tending to our needs and nurturing our potentials and abilities.
In the sense I just described, self-actualisation emerges from gratitude—it is its natural outgrowth. The more we distance ourselves from gratitude and self-actualisation, the more we fall into stagnation, suffering, and misfortune. And the more we cultivate gratitude and self-actualisation, the more fruitful and fulfilling our lives will be.
I have explored this idea in depth in the book The Puzzle of Happiness. Please feel free to refer to it for further insight.
