How Do You Know If You Are Happy Or Not?

How exactly do you know if you are happy or not or meant to be happy and aren't or even just not cut out to be happy ever?

This was on my mind this morning as I clocked into my soulless job today.

I kept thinking, can I make it until retirement?
Is there more or am I meant to work paycheck to paycheck, day to day, week to week like I am now with the occasional vacation or three day weekend thrown in for good measure?

What would make me happy if I'm not or what would bring me down if I were?

I concluded that I am not happy with a couple of aspects of my life and my job is one of them. This is not news at all. In fact I don't know if I've been happy with my job. The only part of it I do enjoy is payday Fridays and those just don't happen enough.

Payday Fridays allow me to pursue my passion which is film. Again not news of any kind however when put into relative terms I'm better off than 95% of the entire world's population. So how could I be unhappy with ANY aspect of my life at all? Just doesn't add up does it?

My friends sometimes I lose site of that and as of this very moment that I'm typing it out I am seeing out of the corner of my eye images from Lebanon and Israel.

Families that have been torn apart and I wonder, were they happy before Hezbollah decided to attack Israel?

Were they unhappy with some aspects of their lives but happy with others?

Did they have jobs that earned them a living or were they frustrated that all they could earn was a living and little more? Did they have plenty to eat with family and friends to share it with or were they lonely and have few people to share anything with?

Did they have something to live for or were they just existing as I find myself doing from time to time instead of living?

I have been a fan of the theory that for the most part people are people where ever you go. They do the same things I do. I'm sure that they have the same dreams I have and hunger like I do.

Do they know if they are happy or not?