What
is Happiness?
Human,
being a social animal is always in pursuit of happiness. For most of us a
question arises that what is happiness? For some it is having a glass of water
after a hard day’s work and for some it could be a fat pay cheque. It could be the
happiest moment while looking at your new born baby or winning a million dollar
lottery. Even meeting your loved one after a long time, gives an adrenalin rush
and ends up becoming a happiest moment in our lives. Happiness stands for
different meanings to all of us. The way people express their feelings when
they are happy are also different across the world. It could vary from shedding
tears till giving a tight warm hug. The celebration of happiness can end up
into the biggest parties ever thrown.
Sometimes I wonder that which organ of the
body leads to happiness. Is it our beautiful emotional heart which is full of
sentiments or our vicious and intelligent brain which can often lead us to
mirage of happiness? I would like to stick with heart being responsible for
happiness as I believe that all human emotions lies in the heart and emotional
person tends to get happy or sad very soon(I am staunch believer of this
because I am a cancerian!!) . In the quest for happiness, people follow
different paths to attain their ultimate ecstatic moment of wonderful journey
of life. For me, doing an appreciative inquiry for people makes them happy. I
would like to share 2 ‘happiest’ moments of my life.
Just
after getting passed out from 12th standard (not with flying colors
of course!), I end up being nowhere. I was standing right in the middle of the
desert of disparity and despair where a seat in an engineering
college was like a mirage. So, I took the biggest decision of my life and went
ahead to drop a year for engineering entrance examination preparation. I chose
Kota (This city is best known for its institutes like Bansals and Career Points
which imparts quality preparatory coaching) over my local coaching centers and
showed great faith in their teaching methodologies. I worked hard for the one
whole year but the irony of the time was that I fell seriously ill for the last
few months and hence could not do well in the examination. One more time in my
life, I was again in the dilemma of making a choice between dropping another year
as didn’t fared well or settle down with the less. It is been famously said
that destiny favors the brave. So for the obvious reason I again dropped
another year and this time I made sure that no stones would be left unturned. On
the day my first result came, in that very moment, I cried bitterly with all my
emotions flowing out through my eyes. I still have those beautiful memories of
that wonderful juncture. Never ever before in my life I experienced such kind
of moment.
The
other true moment of happiness for me was when I got my first job. After
struggling throughout my engineering (at least till 6th semester!!)
in aspiration of good grades I did not even managed to get a respectable job.
But I never lost the hope and continued on the path of sheer hard work and
glory. Finally, after all the hard luck I finally ended up in a good job with a
respectable company. That moment of happiness is preserved in my golden
memories.
So
what stops people being happy all the time. What is that ultimate burden which leads
to unhappiness? In my opinion it is the pressure of staying ahead in the rat
race is the main cause of sorrow. If we compare the today’s modern times full
of tech savvy, gadget freak generation with that of older ones, we will find
that people were happier in the previous generations. Today’s people are
indulged in rat race for achieving the luxury status. The hunger of getting
ahead by any means is the main root cause of their grief. Modern human being
has become so blind that it shows no mercy to nature and even other species for
full filling their own greed. Now according to me, in order to open their eyes,
there is strict need of divine spiritualism. By referring to our own Gitas and
Ved Purans, we can make them learn that what is the real happiness of life?
Happiness is not just about leading a pleasant life but a meaningful life. By
the power of giving we can actually spread happiness in this universe. By appreciating
others for their good deeds, would give those people, the real joy.
We
should serve the almighty and our nation selflessly. This can help our society
and its people in a big way thus ultimately leading to increased happiness
index too. We should realize that before it is too late. Instead of cribbing, people
should learn new ways to remain happy. I would like to end this article by a
famous quote on happiness by Mother Teresa
“People
are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
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