If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Aristotle and The Buddha, it’s that happiness is an activity, a continual process.

It’s like health. You don’t just become fit and then never have to work at it again. No, you have to eat right every day, always try to get enough sleep, and continually avoid whatever might cause you harm.

Happiness operates the same way; it requires daily effort. Our mistake is imagining that it’s a stable place where we’ll live permanently — if only we pay off our debts, find a partner, take a vacation, get a new job, or otherwise alter whatever bedevils us. But it doesn’t work that way.

I’m purposely avoiding the issue of what happiness is, in order to make this point. I just see this as a common mistake in myself and others.