We all want to be happy

So, you want to be happy

You desire contentment

You are not alone

But what is happiness for you

Is it an inner state

Confined to a cocoon you have built around yourself

Inhabited only by loved ones and friends

Containing all your trappings of material wealth

Is your engagement with the world outside your cocoon

Driven by the desire to

Increase your wealth

Exercise dominion over others

Stoke your sense of superiority

If so, may I respectfully suggest

You are caught in a syndrome of illusory happiness

You have trapped yourself in a subterranean world of emptiness

Of which you are aware only in moments of painful honesty

Moments you try to avoid

Maybe you are successful in avoiding

I hope, for your sake, you realise one day

That real, continuing personal happiness is connected

Inextricably and intimately

To the happiness you leave in your wake

In the hearts of people

Outside your cocoon

You might not know them at all

Or they might be hidden

Sometimes in plain sight

Turn your attention to the world around you

It is there you discover the true nature of happiness