The Pursuit of Happiness

We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The approach of the Fourth of July got me thinking about this historic document. I know what you are thinking. This is a health and weight loss blog. What does the Declaration of Independence have to do with health. As it turns out, everything.

Mr. Jefferson wrote that we all have the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. I think that most people hear the last part of this statement, but not the first part. When you ask most people what they think of this passage, they will invariably answer what we are all (wrongly) taught in school: that it guarantees our basic rights. This is a vast oversimplification of the truth.

If you read the Declaration closely, you will notice that it does not guarantee us happiness, as most people think. It merely identifies our right to the PURSUIT of happiness. Mr. Jefferson does not say that someone will come and give it to you, or even that you will succeed in getting it. He says that part of our endowment as human beings is the right to go after it. In fact, he is not giving you a gift, but a great responsibility. No one is responsible for your happiness but you.

Mr. Jefferson was probably not thinking about obesity when he wrote this, but it is a universal principle. Until we take responsibility for our own lives and destiny, we can never change our circumstances. Until you realize that your obesity is not a product of anything but your own actions, you can never change it. That is what he meant by the pursuit of happiness. That we are in charge of our own lives, and that no government, king, or other person can take that away from us, unless we give it to them with our consent.

Join me this Independence Day in reflecting on the circumstances in our lives, and how, good or bad, they are the result of our decisions. Then exercise your personal independence to change your actions, and through them, your life! Leave a comment about how you can use your independent will to change your life circumstances.