Happiness = ?

I usually don't read articles by Sumiko Tan on the Sunday Times. I always find her articles full of whinings and ramblings about her mid-life and love crises. However her topic today caught my eye and it was about happiness.

In short, she wrote that happiness will never be fully achieved when one yearns for more of anything, be it material or non-material gains. The more one want (more) of something, the more one will feel unhappy.

As the Chinese saying goes - 知足尝乐 (by knowing how to be content will one achieve happiness). Once you are contented with your current level of happiness, you will experience true happiness. However, greed pushes us further into wanting more (happiness).

So what is happiness? How happy are you now?

For me, I don't know how to answer that question since it really depends on the timing of the question and the situation that I'm in then. But this question has been bugging me for quite some time ever since I started working. Am I happy with my job? Am I happy with my financial well-being? Am I happy with the way I spend my time? Am I happy with my house and its level of cleanliness and tidiness? Am I happy with where I am now? Will I turn back time if I can?

By asking these questions, does it mean I'm unhappy or have lots of regrets? Or does it just mean that I wanted to pursue more happiness to achieve a higher level of happiness (even though I may be happy now)?