Happiness is a word that means different things to different people. Of course by definition it actually means the emotional state of being pleased much more than displeased with a subject or object, outcome or event. Anyone who thinks it means something else is either crazy or doesn't speak english, in which case for them the word could mean practically anything.
Life is one crushing disappointment and miserable frustration after another which slowly dulls your senses and entombs your heart in thickening walls of cold dead stone. Some people will even resort to seeking any sharp feeling only for a relief to the numbness, like waiting for a new moon and driving their car on country roads at night then shutting off the headlights and seeing how fast I can go.
Well that's one way to live, but I don't have to do that because I found the secret to happiness. It's easy and anyone can do it. But it does take some explanation. Also, before I get into it let me mention that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about
So my thinking is that people get unhappy when they want things or outcomes that they don't get or that don't happen. If most of the time the things and outcomes in your life are what you want them to be than you will probably be happy, if most of the time they aren't, you probably won't.
But if you're anything like me, than the things and outcomes that you want will change because once something happens you usually want something else to happen. Like first I want to see a building fall down, but then I want to see the building where they make US Magazine fall down on the people who make People Magazine. So as you can see my wants are always changing. And these wants seem to constitute an endless chain of gimme gimme gimme!
Another problem is that you can also want things that you can't have, like a tail, or a goose that takes diamond craps, or to bring back your cat or husband from the dead. And in that case you got a big problem.
Presently you can't change what is going to happen. You can however change what you want to happen, and you can also brace yourself for what may possibly happen. So perhaps the way to be happy is to change what you want to happen into something that will actually happen. Then you get what you want. Simple enough, and that way you aren't going to wind up angry and frustrated. But except one thing. It turns out living like that is crazy motherfucking bo-ring!
Why are we supposed to be happy all the time? Isn't that asking yourself to give up something? I submit this for your consideration, being unhappy motivates you to actually try new things. If you are happy you won't progress, and so you would quit evolving.
There is a giant flaw in my argument which I should point out. The difference between people who want realistic things and people who want unrealistic things isn't the fact that they want things, because both of them want things. Both of them are actually doing the same thing, its just that the realistic one is going to get what they want and the other one isn't. So the reason why the unrealistic people are unhappy isn't because they have no choice, its because they do and they choose to want the impossible, or at least the slightly unlikely. So the things they do to make that happen may not be evolution as much as it is just stupid behavior. And I also suspect that stupid behavior brings about both the best and the worst human accomplishments.
Of course you could be unhappy and also hopeless, in which case you don't do anything except wait for death, or perhaps seek it. In that case you are too unhappy and should maybe make your wants a little more realistic. But somewhere there is a balance between getting what you want and wanting something slightly ridiculous. As for me, I sit way far out on the branch of wanting something ridiculous because I want some extremely ridiculous stuff. I won't get too specific, but it involves inflatable Snoopy's, drums of ice cream, an F-14 Tomcat and several people and things and inventions that currently don't exist.
Not to mention that no matter who you are things are going to happen in your life that will make you sad, or annoy you. For instance I think I saw Alice Cooper doing a Staples commercial. That doesn't made me sad personally, but it can't be good for Alice Cooper.