[One Thousand Characters a Day] Life Lessons Starting Again <3>

Editor's Note"People get scared in advance, worrying that the raft might not come or that they might ride it wrong, all without taking action or challenging themselves. Don't worry. Once you get off the raft, another world unfolds. The impatience to not wait for that is fear and anxiety. Trust yourself and boldly jump in. You will never starve to death." ＜Life Lessons to Start Again＞ is encouragement and comfort from former ShinHo Group Chairman Lee Soon-guk to those pondering "What is happiness in life?" and "How should we endure difficult moments?" He says, "Now that I am over eighty, what I have come to realize deeply is that happiness is something you create yourself." Word count: 1048.

Objectively looking at it, there are numerous factors that influence human happiness and quality of life. These can be scientifically quantified, scored, and ranked as a happiness index. This is done for academic research and policy decisions.

However, subjectively and personally, attitudes toward happiness and unhappiness vary greatly. It is difficult to score and rank them.

Ultimate happiness is given at the moment of concluding one's life. Everyday happiness is the process of living life?breathing every day, sweating diligently, and putting your heart into every moment. Happiness is not something to possess or seize. Therefore, asking whether I am happy or unhappy is a foolish question.

"I am happiest when I drink a warm cup of coffee every morning."

"I am happiest when I sit across from you at the dinner table after work."

These sound very lovely and romantic. However, thinking that you are happy now or that you were happy at some point in the past can make the rest of your life seem unhappy or meaningless by comparison. You should not keep thinking that happiness is something special, thrilling, or extraordinary. That is tantamount to giving up on the true happiness found in the calmness of everyday life. Excessively pursuing happiness, excessively fearing unhappiness, and repeatedly talking about happiness and unhappiness means being obsessed with them. Happiness is neither somewhere to be found nor something I feel by searching.

(Omitted)

There is no need to agonize over what happiness is or to search for it. When you are obsessed with happiness, you are already not a happy person. Constantly clinging to happiness and trying to possess or seize it makes life hard and exhausting. Living diligently and calmly in any environment is happiness itself.

There is no need to define happiness as "This is happiness" or "You must take this path to be happy." Life itself is happiness, and simply being born is happiness. Happiness is not a concept that requires comparison with others. When you constantly relativize happiness, you will always see someone happier than yourself.

If you are not the happiest person in the world, you will fall into the vicious cycle of suffering by always comparing and relativizing happiness.

- Lee Soon-guk, ＜Life Lessons to Start Again＞, Dongyang Books, 17,000 KRW