Finding happiness

Finding happiness
I keep writing about happiness. Why?…because I am happy but still find it difficult to maintain that state of happiness. Should we be happy all the time…evidently….smiling to ourselves or laughing out aloud. Or it is just a state of calm without being sad?
I am confused. I was happy when my pet Snowy was alive….I am happy after I take a good class (I am a professor)…I am happy after a compliment, a good movie….but it doesn’t last. I am unhappy when my arthritis flares up…
I aim for a state of bliss….where I don’t have to deal with ups and downs of emotions.
I am trying…but I am human.
Why an inexpensive thing like happiness is so difficult to find.
My quest goes on….