What exactly makes you happy & gives you ultimate joy?

Happy-Happy, Joy-Joy

Dandy Lion ~ Kanopolis State Park, Kansas © 2014 Skip Hunt

Dandy Lion ~ Kanopolis State Park, Kansas © 2014 Skip Hunt

Keep trying to answer of what makes me happy. I know when I feel happy, but it's always fleeting moments. Rarely is that feeling sustained very long. I'm not even sure if that's really what happiness is. 

When it happens, all thoughts of the past and future fade away. There's only the moment and all seems like it couldn't be better. If music is playing, I'll sing along as loud as I can. I'll even laugh out loud at how absurd it is that I should be allowed to feel that happy without having done anything to deserve it. Then, my eyes will water a bit once it hit's the plane of joy. From there, I'll coast back down to an average plane, still high on the memory of how it felt. 

And, as great as that feels... I'm not sure if I'd want to live like that all the time. Would you? I think eventually, it'd just become the norm. Without any bad times to compare it to, you wouldn't know how great that feeling is. 

So, I'm wondering if perhaps the peak of emotion that most associate with happiness, is really just joy. And, the pursuit of happiness... is actually more important than any one moment, or material thing you associate with happiness? 

Hmmm... I wonder....