If you think that happiness is to be found in seeking pleasure - wine, women and song, you are likely to end up obese, disease-ridden and bored. The life of swine is not for us. If you think that happiness is to be found in fame and prestige, with honours crowning your head, then you will always be looking for the recognition of others, and will never be able to find meaning within yourself. What can be given by others can too easily be taken away. So true happiness comes from living a life of questioning, contemplation and self-betterment.

If you very much live in the moment and if the activity is currently satisfying, you are happy. Those of us who have grown up or (even worse) have philosophical tendencies, can never escape the discovery that actions have consequences - that we are responsible for obtaining life' provisions, and that ultimately we face a step into the unknown through death. we can do our best to try and live in the moment to temporarily forge these things. however the uncertainties in life remain the main barriers to happiness. The more we worry about life, the less happy we are, implying that happiness is closely linked to being satisfied in the moment, and indeed, finding the time to enjoy feeding ducks.