Inner Happiness?

Happiness with one's self is a topic I hear my friends talking about a lot lately. There are lots of questions about what it means to be happy. Each individual has their own answer to what they believe will bring them happiness. Happiness comes in the form for some as a career they find enjoyment within. Happiness for another comes from bringing happiness to someone else. And for another, happiness comes from just living in the moment. This leads me to the question I have been asking myself a lot lately. What will bring me happiness?
I believed I had come close to finding it. But then I realized I wasn't even close. The events that I have experienced over the past couple of years have only been the first couple of steps towards my happiness. They were only a couple of steps, but they were the biggest and hardest to do. The first step was my sobriety. Once I cleared my mind of the things that clouded my vision I was able to start focusing on the second step. My education has made me a better individual. I think more critically about things in the world. I question the motives of those who "lead" our society. And I think of ways that I can better myself so that ultimately I may better humanity.
This leads me closer to finding my happiness...but I am still unclear what that is. Will I know what to look for or will it just appear? Do we know actually ever know what will bring us happiness or do we search for it by trial and error?
I hear my inner self telling me what to do. I listen. But to actually follow it will take a lot of effort. It will take unlearning my upbringing. To find a way to quiet the society I live in. Is that even possible in this country? Is that possible in what I believe is the evolution of mankind? I just need to learn the balance between consumerism and necessity. Want and need.
I am on the journey of finding what is most important with my true self. I believe that as I find my values that my true self will make itself known.