What if happiness were a feeling that was not created by something else? What if the happiness experience is a sense of joy and lightness that is not dependent on a knowable source?
It would certainly take the pressure off of things and their having the awful burden of having to take care of your happiness. I think half the displeasure of a cluttered space is the clutter of feeling stuck itself.
My experience of working with clients is that the tighter someone hangs onto something, the less happy they feel. But they feel if they unravel their hold, they will lose potential happiness. The thing is, they are in pain in that moment, wishing for something beneficial.
As clients begin to notice what they are doing, and the pain it is causing them, they begin to let go. The interesting thing is, they feel relief and joy when they let go of the burden of holding onto things that no longer serve them.
There's a sense of freedom in this experience. I see my clients tangibly experience happiness without it being associated with something. They feel the freedom that comes from not being dependent on something else to be happy.
Joy is in you. It's not transferred from outside of you. Happiness is an inside job.
That doesn't mean you have to have nothing and sit by yourself in a room. But you are no longer under the hypnosis that you need something to feel better. You are no longer fooled into thinking that you're less, and you need something or someone to be more.