It's not just a casual thing we ask each other. Also, not a query ends with a question mark, instead, it holds life in itself. I have asked this to me a lot of times and every single time fails to satisfy my inner self. 

What is it to be happy? What is actual happiness? How can we come across feelings of joy? And how do we relate things or person to our pleasure? A lot of questions circulate in mind and still a very few people manage to give complete answers.

None of us are sure of the word "happiness". What I think is, nobody can have complete happiness in his whole life. Still, everyone is in hunt of "specific pleasure"that is missing. The only constant thing is the continuous chase for that joy with the changed specifications and parameters. 

Many people relate happiness to their "loved ones". For example, if a boy loves a girl, no matter how does she look, earn or behave. That boy does everything to get that "desired lady" in his life and once, he gets the love of his life, all of a sudden, his interests are changed, and the love gets lost somewhere. 

He starts looking out for faults and flaws in her which ends up making him unhappy. Same is the case with every other thing, it may be a person, an aim to get a successful career, a desire of any technology or whatever, and then? Boom! that happiness seems to be "doesn't matter" anymore.

With the passage of time, people change, their lives get a new turn, priorities are reset and the wishes, of course, come again in new forms and still happiness is an unknown word. People start having more regrets and fewer feelings of thankfulness. Rarely, we can find a person who is "at least" satisfied with the things going on in his life, but again, just satisfied not happy.

If we see in the surroundings, a lot of things are already present in our lives for which we must be thankful, but, rather than that, we try to dig out those that have annoyed or hurt us. We love being called "depressed"instead of "a happy person". Moreover, we make out things to work according to our desires, and suddenly, when they end without giving a single warning, the loss that occurs; effects us so badly.

The sense behind this statement doesn't mean the real joy is nowhere. No, it's not like that. Above, we have related happiness to the materialism, and he who finds happiness in the temporary aka materialistic things can't find eternal pleasure.

My strong belief is: "The more we are connected to ALLAH, the more we are happy and contented. Peaceful is the life of a person who relates his every possible happiness with the blessings of ALLAH and always is thankful to Him."

In the end, for me, happiness is neither getting a techno-gadget nor equivalent to any other-worldly want. It's something more beautiful. For me, happiness is to be loved by family and friends. Happiness is when you are missing a lot of things and relations, but still, your life is peaceful. Happiness is to stand again after every fall. I am happy when I write. 

Happy is a person for me, who has regrets; because regrets keep you close to ALLAH. Happiness is to always be hopeful that no matter what happens, happens for a reason. As Mark Manson stated in "Everything is F*ked up" that: "Being heroic is the ability to conjure hope where there is none."