“On Top of the World.” I never really saw myself on top of the world or had dreams and visions of being on top of the world and I know being on top of the world isn’t even a destination; it’s a concept used to elevate our limits here on earth. If we are on top of the world we have a reached the highest level, but is being on top of the world a good place to be?

Separated by two distinct locations, a man of wealth looks to the man of lesser wealth and says, “being where I am has it drawbacks, it’s lonely and cold at the top,” and the man of lesser wealth says, “that’s what people like you always say.” But when it comes to trading places we always know which way the trade is going to be least resisted. People are always trying to find ways to criticize the poor, and condemn the wealthy. You see it everyday in the media, it is a topic that stirs and arouses jealousy, hatred, judgement and more. The world has been set up to make you feel everywhere along your path is a better place to be only this better place does not exist.

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You are on top of the world no matter what you have, no matter what you’ve achieved. And if you are wealthy chances are your offspring are going to be wealthy too because we arrange things that way, we always pass on what we have no matter what is or isn’t. Money is an illusion moved from one perception to another.

Some psychologists call this constant chasing of pleasure the “hedonic treadmill” because people who are constantly striving for a “better life” end up expending a ton of effort only to end up in the same place. We need to be motivated by something more than our own happiness. People spend moments upon moments trying to map out a better strategy for achieving the things they believe will bring more purpose and meaning to their lives, only to finally end up seeing that hundreds, maybe millions of other people are doing the same thing.

So many people wind up alone and “unhappy” because they feel they haven’t achieved that one thing that they thought would bring happiness, when most of the time they have achieved that one thing and more and still constantly search like a mouse on a treadmill for a bigger piece of cheese. Not everyone is going to be a millionaire, a pop star, an actor or actress, the secret is to discover what it is you enjoy doing most and then doing that one thing constantly until you become the master of that endeavor. “Nobody is fully happy all the time. But similarly, nobody is fully unhappy all the time either. It seems that humans, regardless of our external circumstances, live in a constant state of mild-but-not-fully-satisfying happiness. Put another way, things are pretty much always fine. But they could also always be better.”