What has opened my eyes recently is how the concept of happiness and pleasure were differentiated. Happiness is to be obtained for the long term were as pleasure is to be obtained for a short period of time. In many instances when the pleasure ends, this can lead to unhappiness.

The society we live in has an emphasis on pleasure, not happiness. We want to buy a "phat" car because it would give us happiness! Would it? I was chatting to a family friend one day who was given a Mercedes as a company car and he said the novelty wore off after 3 days. Now he says that he uses the car just to get from A to B. At a later stage, despite the fact he was earning a lot in his new job and he was doing well in his job which involved travelling to many places across the world he said to me "I am not happy". He said he'd rather teach as he would "enjoy" the work as its rewarding mentally rather than financially.

We have so many material possessions to keep us occupied and to give us minimal pleasure, yet it does not make us happy. I appreciate what I have yet I do have the urge to excel myself. Another thing I have learned is that all problems have a solution if you put your mind to it. If there is no solution to the problem (such as death) there is no point getting miserable about it and dwelling on it. What I have learned is to live life to the full as you dont know what is to be expected tomorrow. Its not a quest to obtain pleasure, but happiness, and happiness is different for everyone.