Happiness is...

This morning, some smart-looking guy on TV was talking about happiness. Happiness, he said, was not a permanent state that could be reached and sustained. Happiness is usually a brief, almost momentary condition, usually achieved by a positive change.

It made me feel a little better. Maybe everybody out there who tells me they are happy are either lying, or simply don't know what they talking about. Indeed, how can an intelligent person be happy all the time?

My own moments of happiness were always associated with various changes. Getting drunk. Graduations. Women coming into my life. Changes of place. Travelling. Buying expensive things. Achieving various small successes.

Come to think of it, as life carries on, even these moments of change that supposed to mean that evasive state of happiness, are always burdened by some other, not quite so wonderful realization. Risks. Consequences. Expenses. Imminent failures.

All that remains is hope. Perhaps another bright state of happiness is just round the corner... If I remember it well enough to recognize it.