It's Much More Than That - Happiness

Is it just me or do you ever look up a word in the dictionary only to find that the definition is not exactly how you would describe the word? Oftentimes, the "official" definition of a word differs from how we interpret the word's meaning and its relevance to our lives. It is for this reason that I decided to start another "series" on my blog titled "It's Much More Than That - *insert choice word here*".  Every Wednesday, I will choose one word and define it as I have come to understand it.

Today's word is happiness. According to the dictionary, 'happiness' is defined as "the state of being happy." This led me to look up the definition of 'happy' which reads, "feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation, etc."

How do you take a word like 'happiness' and restrict it to just one universal definition?? To me, happiness is so much more than just a word; it is a feeling, an experience like no other. Many times, people think of happiness as something to be achieved. "If I only had this new car, I would be happy..."; "When I get this promotion at work, then I will be happy..."; and the list goes on. But I don't think that happiness is something that we need to set as a goal for ourselves, or something that we need to continually strive for. 

I want so much more out of life than to simply experience happiness every now and then. I want to be happy. Happiness doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) an "if...then..." type of thing. Happiness should just be. I shouldn't have to work for it, and I certainly shouldn't have to depend on other things or people to keep my happiness going. 

To me, happiness is singing in the car at the top of my lungs to my favorite song. Happiness is getting lost in a good book while sipping on a nice hot cup of coffee. Happiness is hanging around the house with my family knowing that I am loved. Happiness is thinking about my life and reflecting on all of the blessings that I have.

What does happiness mean to you?