There are many people who live their lives in what an author called "quiet desperation" and hope that their lives will change when their circumstances in life change.

Some of them expect they will be living a happy life once they have met a suitable partner or got promoted at work, while others think they will be happier once they have inherited some assets that they can cash in well.

They let time go by and allow the sense of unfulfillment dominate their lives. They spend most of their time socializing with people who think in similar ways, which supports their belief to be "right", because they see that the others also believe that reality is "just the way it is".

However, the main reason for this approach is lack of knowledge about the nature of desire. Fulfillment of our desires is not something our happiness should depend upon. Our happiness is one thing, and our desires are another. Desires are desires, and happiness is happiness, and we must not confuse one with the other.

People often take brief moments of pleasure, which bring with them the fulfillment of a certain desire, and confuse them with happiness. However, the difference between the two is enormous. It is indeed so great that comparing these terms is meaningless.

We are already in possession of "inside ourselves" an endless source of happiness, and we do not need a reason to be happy. Being happy is a matter of consciousness, and not of fulfilling a certain desire.

When you become conscious that the endless fountain of joy and happiness is inside you, your outlook on desires and happiness changes completely. Instead of being a person who struggles hard to fulfill their desires in order to feel happier in life, you will become a person who travels through life with joy, and fulfilling new desires is just a new perspective which you are using to form new desires. Instead of fulfilling your desires being the prerequisite for the quality of your life, you will begin to live without imposing any such conditions upon yourself. Instead of being a slave to desires, you will be playing with them and enjoying the game.

Desires are a wonderful thing, especially if they stem out of the depths of our hearts. The main role of desires is to enable us to express ourselves in the world that we live in. However, if we accept the idea that it is impossible for us to be happy unless we have fulfilled a certain desire, we are putting ourselves in a hopeless situation because it is impossible to live without having desires.

Therefore, keep in mind that there is a difference between happiness, which is always present inside you, and pleasure, which comes as a consequence of fulfilling a certain desire. Even though they look similar at first, the difference is indeed enormous.