Happiness Does Not Always Follow Success

I began reading a book that speaks to the topic of happiness as an advantage in one's life and although I plan to write more in detail about my perspective once I finish the book, I was immediately drawn to one topic statement on the first page.  It spoke very candidly about the fact that people's perception that happiness follows the achievement of success is a broken formula.  I was in complete agreement with the author in that just because you may have achieved a goal that is deemed successful, many times one sets other goals beyond that which pushes the happiness bar further out.  Think about your first major life goals that you may have had for yourself.  When you saved enough to buy your first car, when you took your first real vacation or the pinnacle of most people's goals is when you were able to buy your first home.  Although a lot of sacrifice may have come with the achievement of these goals, the fact that upon getting them may have only been a precursor to something else that you wanted could have made the feeling of attainment only temporary.  What happens to most people is that they get to their milestone goal and then once they are there, they realize that what they actually wanted was something more.  A house once you get one, always comes with other things that are needed.  Perhaps it is a newer kitchen, bathroom, paint or appliances.  If you were happy that you bought the house it may only take a while for you to realize that your joy was somewhat short lived, as you now aspire to that higher level of joy that comes with the proposed added changes.  This is why it is important to realize that happiness should actually be a state of mind that you are in with more consistency and that everything else that follows afterwards will only augment your state.  Can you imagine what your life would be like if your state of happiness and joy were constant and when additional good things happened in your life, it only expanded your level of harmony?   This is why ideally our goal should be to accept where we are now and to realize that if you have reasonable good health, a loving family and friends along with a place that you can call home, your state of being should be quite positive already.  If you can begin each morning by counting those blessings and add others to them, then you should be well on your way to attaining the state of joy that you may be longing for.  Don't think that the next thing that is on your list or that future goal that you have been working towards will automatically bring you to that euphoric state of joy.  Instead, make up your mind that your happiness begins with those blessings that you can count on in the morning or at the end of each day.  To refer to another famous analogy, change your mindset and begin to live your life as if you already obtained the desired cake in life and what happens afterwards from this point forward is all simply more icing on that cake!