Recently a friend of mine asked me a simple question - What is happiness? for which I had to think for a while to answer it and when I didn't had answer to her question, I came up with some weird answer. This is a question which is bothering me for some time now, because I don't know how to answer it.
I know I may not be the only one on this earth who wouldn't be having a perfect answer to this question. We are happy for many many reasons in life. But in the eyes of all whom I know from my heart, I have found that there is always something missing.
Some people seem to be happy at all time in the life without much thinking about it. There are others who make so called being happy in life plans like “I’m going to have a beautiful wife, two children, and a big home where we four will live happily for years”. And the day they achieve it they feel they are the happiest. While this keeps them occupied, they are like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they don’t think, they just keep moving forward. They manage to get their what they desired, so they never ask the question. Yet, despite all that, their eyes betray a sadness that they themselves are quite unaware of.
May be I am sounding like everyone around is unhappy. So when you ask people around “What makes you happy?” They answer: “I have everything that a person can dream of – a family, a home, work, good health”. And then you again ask them: “Have you ever stopped to wonder if that is all there is to life?”. They answer: “Yes, that’s all there is”. So we can conclude that meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who with time will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?”. And then we get an answer that there is no answer to it and they try to change the subject.
But there is a answer to it. Happiness is different for different individuals. Its different for the businessman who has still to close the deal he has always dreamed of, the housewife who would like to have more independence or more money, the new graduate who wonders whether he has chosen his career or has had it chosen for him, the software programmer who wanted to be a singer, the singer who wanted to be a writer, the writer who wanted to be a painter, and the painter who wanted to be a MBA graduate.
When I see the people I know, I see everybody are laughing, everybody very happy when they are together. Sometimes we know it is like that everyone is laughing or enjoying themselves at the moment that photo is taken, but at times when they are not together, the story is quite different.
When I was a kid a toffee that I got from my Dad on my results gave me so much of happiness, the girl in my school whom I liked smiled at me for the first time gave me happiness, as a college student a feeling of independence gave me happiness, as a graduate a well deserving job gave me the feeling of happiness. I guess happiness should be something which shouldn't change with time. It's a feeling which should be permanent irrespective of time.
As a child when I used to do anything good my mom used to say today you made God happy. That used to be the moment when I used to feel very happy for atleast that day. Even today I feel I have the same feeling when any of my good deeds makes me feel that I have made GOD happy that day even today I feel happy. Its a feeling which has remain permanent with time. I guess when we are sad we make God sad and when we are happy we make him happy.
The feeling of his existence makes us believe that no matter how difficult the way ahead is we will overcome it with all the happiness in life...
I know I may not be the only one on this earth who wouldn't be having a perfect answer to this question. We are happy for many many reasons in life. But in the eyes of all whom I know from my heart, I have found that there is always something missing.
Some people seem to be happy at all time in the life without much thinking about it. There are others who make so called being happy in life plans like “I’m going to have a beautiful wife, two children, and a big home where we four will live happily for years”. And the day they achieve it they feel they are the happiest. While this keeps them occupied, they are like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they don’t think, they just keep moving forward. They manage to get their what they desired, so they never ask the question. Yet, despite all that, their eyes betray a sadness that they themselves are quite unaware of.
May be I am sounding like everyone around is unhappy. So when you ask people around “What makes you happy?” They answer: “I have everything that a person can dream of – a family, a home, work, good health”. And then you again ask them: “Have you ever stopped to wonder if that is all there is to life?”. They answer: “Yes, that’s all there is”. So we can conclude that meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who with time will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?”. And then we get an answer that there is no answer to it and they try to change the subject.
But there is a answer to it. Happiness is different for different individuals. Its different for the businessman who has still to close the deal he has always dreamed of, the housewife who would like to have more independence or more money, the new graduate who wonders whether he has chosen his career or has had it chosen for him, the software programmer who wanted to be a singer, the singer who wanted to be a writer, the writer who wanted to be a painter, and the painter who wanted to be a MBA graduate.
When I see the people I know, I see everybody are laughing, everybody very happy when they are together. Sometimes we know it is like that everyone is laughing or enjoying themselves at the moment that photo is taken, but at times when they are not together, the story is quite different.
When I was a kid a toffee that I got from my Dad on my results gave me so much of happiness, the girl in my school whom I liked smiled at me for the first time gave me happiness, as a college student a feeling of independence gave me happiness, as a graduate a well deserving job gave me the feeling of happiness. I guess happiness should be something which shouldn't change with time. It's a feeling which should be permanent irrespective of time.
As a child when I used to do anything good my mom used to say today you made God happy. That used to be the moment when I used to feel very happy for atleast that day. Even today I feel I have the same feeling when any of my good deeds makes me feel that I have made GOD happy that day even today I feel happy. Its a feeling which has remain permanent with time. I guess when we are sad we make God sad and when we are happy we make him happy.
The feeling of his existence makes us believe that no matter how difficult the way ahead is we will overcome it with all the happiness in life...
