There are certain aspects of our nature which, while perhaps enable our ultimate survival, restrict our happiness.
One that seems to really impact things is our desire for perfection. For utopia. Which is really just a desire for completion.
The misnomer is that nothing in this world is ever really complete. It is just in a different state of growth, or really evolution (not in the scientific sense).
The issue for us, is that as humans who desire completion, we are never satisfied with what is. We focus on what remains to be done, and not on what has been accomplished already. We focus on the infinitesimally small amount that we are missing, or is not in an optimum state, instead of what we already have. And have in abundance.
I only really realized this tonight, when I said to myself, “if I only had x, I would be happy”. However, the next thought that came to mind was, “wait a minute Josh, you are happy already”. It was in reconciling these two disparate thoughts, that I really figured out that our nature really is what moves us away from our natural happy state, and it is this nature that we can safely ignore, and find a shortcut to the happiness that lies underneath.