True and total happiness [View All]

I don't have statistics, but I like to think (some would argue that I don't do that at all). And I've thought about some of the people I've known through the years, and have come to a conclusion, which might be as far away as Alpha Centauri.

Everyone has had happiness at one or more times in their lives. But I know for many of us that it is never perfect and never permanent.

I know for some of us it's been a lifetime search to "follow our bliss" and while we hope to reach it someday, we know it's not guaranteed or is more likely impermanent.

There are people I know who don't care--who are content with their lot in life, who have no ambitions, no desire to move up in the world. Whether these people have found their version of lifelong happiness, I don't know. But I've known some who are among the most intellectually challenged people in the world.

This is not a critique of those who weren't born with the high IQs in the crowd. Hell, my brother suffered brain damage when he was 17, and has the mental capacity of a 5 year old, at the age of 51. His idea of bliss is to watch sitcoms all day--and he doesn't seem to have any problem with that. A person I knew for many years stayed in a file clerk position for almost 40 years. Another friend stayed in a low paying position for over 30 years, with no plans to change her lot in life. But none of them went into a deep discussion on any sober topic, except as it pertained to daily news items.

So my question is, are those people who have no curiosity about so many things, who fall on the front end of the bell curve simply more able to shut out the distractions of life, and remain more content? Or am I missing something more fundmental?

I have always thought there had to be more than one way to look at our existence and find more ways to achieve richness and fullness in our worlds, but it was only my own eyes looking at the world. So I have zero on this only as a single observer. Unless there is more than anectdotal evidence on it, I really don't have an answer, so I might be far, far off.