The Paradox of Happiness

Trying to contemplate one’s happiness in an objective sense is quite difficult, particularly when the cloud of such dominates our emotional disposition, for better or for worse. It clouds the logic, distorts our view of the world, and leads us to draw false conclusions….which is why I need to take advantage of my current state of mind, and capture my evenings musings before I regain normality….for at the moment I am somewhere between the emotional dualisms of vulnerable, and inflictious, and have just this one small window of clarity with which to properly observe the two.

First, some structural definition. Chris Rock once commented on relationships as either married and bored, or single and lonely, which wittily sums up the two negative aspects of both the subordinate emotional approach, and the dominant one. The subordinate approach comes from being at the mercy of outside circumstances, like being taken on a date, held in a moment of insecurity, or getting raped. The dominant approach comes from the opposite–dictating our surroundings, for better or worse; taking someone out on a date, cleaning the living room, or nagging one’s husband to take out the garbage. He could have also said married and secure, or single and excited, and still have been talking about the exact same thing at a root level. The point, though, is that there are two separate (and quite possibly even more) coins, each with two sides, regarding one’s happiness.