Trying to be happy in this life is legitimate, while demanding to be happy, and resent it when it is not the case, is a different matter.
When this happens, and it happens very often, happiness becomes the greatest cause of unhappiness.
The obsessive pursuit of happiness, the compulsive idea that we must be happy at all costs, and that if this does not happen then our life is a failure, or it is someone’s fault, is what mainly causes our unhappiness.
The reality is that our happiness is regularly frustrated in the phenomenal world.
We are happy at a certain moment, but when the conditions that determine that happiness fail, then we are unhappy.
Also, now someone could be happy while someone else may be unhappy. In this way, happiness also becomes competitive, a source of conflict between happy and unhappy people, between those who believe that someone is responsible for his unhappiness and who believe that his happiness is threatened by someone. Ultimately this is what causes every violence, war and hatred.
Happiness is the greatest cause of unhappiness, when you believe that you should be happy, that life is beautiful, so there is something wrong if you are not happy. But do you really believe this? Are you really convinced? What is your direct experience of happiness and unhappiness, beyond what you believe or others believe?
My experience so far has shown me that happiness and unhappiness are part of life, that life can be beautiful and also horrible.
When I recognize and accept this, putting aside my fantasies and pretensions, then I realize that what matters in life is to accept both happiness and unhappiness, joy and suffering.
Acceptance becomes the guiding principle, what you choose to learn in life, which also includes the acceptance of not accepting.
The acceptance of both happiness and unhappiness can become the portal that allows access to true happiness.