The Pursuit of Happiness
When Thomas Jefferson - slave-owning old reprobate that he was - helped write the Declaration of Independence, he wrote:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
He substituted "the pursuit of happiness" for "property," as John Locke had written a little earlier
I am not interested in the US Constitution per se, but in the question of what pursuing happiness means, and will pusuing it make me happy. What does that mean "to pursue" happiness? Indeed, how can I tell if I am happy?
Buddhist psychology I think, suggests that the pursuit of happiness is a form of craving and what that leads to is suffering not happiness.
The key here is not self-improvement, but self-acceptance. -- BrettShand When I was a single digit child I was asked the requisit question; "If you could have one wish, what would you wish for"? After several weeks of due consideration I came to the conclusion that the only sensible thing to wish for (assuming that you weren't allowed to cheat by wishing for more wishes) was to be happy. My reasoning was that whatever it took to make me happy, toys, money, women ... would have to follow. I've always carried this with me, this idea that all that matters is this pursuit of happiness. However recently things have gotten more complicated, the things that I think will make me happy are complicated and uncertain. Having my own place, being married, becoming a parent, finding a community where I belong. All of these are riddled with "what if's" and doubt. On my way to work yesterday it suddenly struck me ... my fairly dedicated pusuit of such an ephemeral goal has hindered my ability to focus on what I actually want. It leaves me feeling that there's always something better, something undiscovered around the corner and that now is a foolish time to commit to something life changing. -- AdamShand I have not a shred of doubt that The Purpose of Life is to be happy. It was confirmed for me when the Dalai Lama looked me straight in the eyes and told me so. The key to happiness is, I think, self-acceptance. The acceptance of the whole of my I think I was thinking more that my focus on the ends was distracting me away from the means. Or something like that. 
-- Adam.
I guess I wasn't directly commenting on what you wrote, it was more of an aside. But as I think about it I think one very important part of my process is meditation, and that is the process of self-acceptance. It's hard to talk about because the process of meditation is impossible talk about! At least I have found it so. But I would be the first to say that meditation isn't for everyone. -- BrettShand