"I will be happy when......"
"My life will be sorted when....."
If you had time bound answers to complete the above mentioned sentences, chances are you shall never be "happy". "When I get a job", "When I get a promotion", "When I get iPhone", "When I buy a house" are the common ones we've heard. Ridiculous is "When my daughter/son gets married". And one that wins hands down in the competition of most ridiculous ideas ever is "when we have a baby" (mostly in cases where couples aren't too happy with each other and think a child will fill the void. Ha. Ha.)
Happiness is not a destination you are aiming to reach. (I know, we have heard the sentences so many times that our state of mind has now become immune to the statement.)
Google search suggests "happy" when you type "how to be...". It amazed me. There are 1,980,000,000 results for it including pages like "11 step guide on how to be happy", "tips to find contentment", "be happier" and so on. How I wish happiness could be "found" by looking for it on the Internet. Clearly, a lot of people hope so.
So some of us seek help in removing cobwebs, we have built in our lives, on the web; others look for it in liquor bottles. Some of us search malls and shops (and call it retail therapy). Some binge. Some meditate. They try. Some give up and cry. Some give up and die.
The larger issue, I think, is that we have made ourselves believe that 'happiness' is an antonym to 'problems' in our life. It is not! Opposite of problem is solution. Problems 'make us feel' sad or unhappy. How much unhappy we allow them to 'make us feel' is or should be upon us. Shouldn't it? Chocolates, beer, new dresses or iPad help, I admit. But only in temporarily clearing your head, perhaps. Real happiness, strangely, is already in our heads. May be we shall find it when we complete the sentence "I will be happy...." with "when I decide." Preached Leo Tolstoy: "If you want to be happy, be."
And I shall be happy if you comment on this blog with your thoughts on happiness :)
"My life will be sorted when....."
If you had time bound answers to complete the above mentioned sentences, chances are you shall never be "happy". "When I get a job", "When I get a promotion", "When I get iPhone", "When I buy a house" are the common ones we've heard. Ridiculous is "When my daughter/son gets married". And one that wins hands down in the competition of most ridiculous ideas ever is "when we have a baby" (mostly in cases where couples aren't too happy with each other and think a child will fill the void. Ha. Ha.)
Happiness is not a destination you are aiming to reach. (I know, we have heard the sentences so many times that our state of mind has now become immune to the statement.)
Google search suggests "happy" when you type "how to be...". It amazed me. There are 1,980,000,000 results for it including pages like "11 step guide on how to be happy", "tips to find contentment", "be happier" and so on. How I wish happiness could be "found" by looking for it on the Internet. Clearly, a lot of people hope so.So some of us seek help in removing cobwebs, we have built in our lives, on the web; others look for it in liquor bottles. Some of us search malls and shops (and call it retail therapy). Some binge. Some meditate. They try. Some give up and cry. Some give up and die.
The larger issue, I think, is that we have made ourselves believe that 'happiness' is an antonym to 'problems' in our life. It is not! Opposite of problem is solution. Problems 'make us feel' sad or unhappy. How much unhappy we allow them to 'make us feel' is or should be upon us. Shouldn't it? Chocolates, beer, new dresses or iPad help, I admit. But only in temporarily clearing your head, perhaps. Real happiness, strangely, is already in our heads. May be we shall find it when we complete the sentence "I will be happy...." with "when I decide." Preached Leo Tolstoy: "If you want to be happy, be."
And I shall be happy if you comment on this blog with your thoughts on happiness :)
10 comments:
well written!
You are right. We need to learn to be grateful with what we have and enjoy as life comes.
:-)
If you get happy on me leaving the comment, following your trail I m too tempted to say that the happiness derived outta the comments will too be short lived.
@I Romanticize: Thanks Raaji and I know, through your blog, that you are one of those who doesn't wait for a reason to be happy! Stay blessed :)
@Anonymous (2): Only a blogger would know that getting a feedback is not so short lived, after all! And I used 'if' and not 'when' to state that I shall be happy. See the difference?
Thank you for dropping by and making an effort to leave a comment!
Agree... so true... we often attach our happiness to some of our targets and then when we actually achieve them we change our targets... if we want to be happy we have to be right now.
absolutely MegDi!
The thought is as beautiful as the writing is simple and 'unpolluted'.
As we all know, many preach this theory but I hope you follow it too!
I am still trying... :)
Absolutely! So am I... It's a practiced art I believe. Thanks for dropping by :)
Yes! And we shall try try till we succeed :D
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