What is happiness?

What is happiness for you? Is it money, security, freedom, peace or is it purpose? While I don't think any of these concepts can be excluded from what happiness is, I think happiness is about discovering what's really important to you. 

Existential questions, ones we often shy away from due to vastness and complexity, may open the doors to hidden treasures. Grappling with questions like, "who am I," "why am I here" and "what's important to me," form key components of shaping identity. 

Although this can create discomfort, it's worth all the effort, because discovering who we are and why we're here increases well-being, creativity, purpose, identity and ultimately happiness. 

Since the industrial revolution we've been locked into a particular idea of happiness, one built solely on economic growth. The more I can amass, the happier I'll be. Research has proved this is not the case. 

Once we have enough money for food, shelter, fiber  water, electricity (the mean is around $15000) then more money does not actually make us happier. As the industrial growth complex meets all sorts of limits like peak oil, peak debt, or climate change, perhaps now's the opportunity for us to reconnect with what's important to us. 

This is where working with concepts like identity, meaning, purpose, creativity and democracy will all shape future concepts of what it means to be happy.