"Five minutes each week that might change your life."
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson promised the right to pursue happiness. What most people don’t realize is that he didn’t mean pizza, sex, and binging Stranger Things until 4AM.
Most people think happiness means smiling all the time, feeling good, never struggling. But if that were the case, clowns and drug addicts would be the happiest people alive.
When Jefferson wrote “the pursuit of happiness,” he wasn’t talking about pleasure.
Back then, happiness meant something different. It meant flourishing. It meant purpose, meaning, living out your values. It meant living well, even though life punches you in the gut.
Jefferson didn’t invent this idea. It came from Aristotle, who said there are actually two kinds of happiness:
1. Hedonic happiness
(Pleasure, comfort, distraction.)
2. Eudaimonic happiness
(Fulfillment. Purpose. Knowing your time here actually mattered.)
Hedonic happiness is cheap. It fades the second the buzz wears off.
But eudaimonic happiness endures. Yeah, it’s harder. It demands sacrifice. But it’s the only kind of happiness that leaves you whole.
Yet most people spend their entire lives chasing hedonic happiness—and wondering why they feel so hollow.
If your happiness disappears the moment the pleasure does, it was never happiness. It was just anesthesia.
You’re welcome,
Mark
P.S. Most people will keep numbing themselves. But if you’d rather wake up, check out the most comprehensive podcast episode ever done on Happiness and how to achieve it.
Listen to Solved: How to Finally Let Yourself Be Happy
