In Search Of Happiness

The Wise say one should always look for happiness within. Your core should be a fount of joy. Joyous nature exudes positive vibes to which the Universe too relents happily and all your wishes get fulfilled as the angels around you promptly say yes to whatever you desire that moment.

But are we that positive? No, because we look for happiness outside in external factors. What we search we never get. The eagerness to possess disrupts the very purpose. So we are left empty handed and morose.

There is another line of thinking which says find happiness in myriad day to day things. I am that person.

Now how do we define happiness? When a day goes as per routine without any hindrance I feel satisfied. Can that be equated with happiness?

When a sudden surprising or unexpected news I receive – a news which was long awaited but not happening – yes, I am really happy.

At times you wake up with a happy feeling without any rhyme or reason I guess that’s really what pure, pristine happiness is all about.

But that happens rarely. That serendipity without any cause. Can I be called a person of generally happy disposition?

If there is an uncalled for detour in my day’s planning I am disgruntled! Angry! Peevish!

That’s why I’d prefer to be stoic – not too overwhelmed by jubilance and not to cowered by grief or obstruction. Stoicism allows a space of continuing your day to day work in a systematic way without infusing any unnecessary emotions into it. It also makes you sensibly accountable to others. Your happiness should not be a cause of disturbance to them.

Happiness should not be licentious. It should be contained in its own realm. Understated. And if I may use the phrase expressed with a dash of elegance. Continue living …working without any perturbing thoughts….find meaning in the most menial job of the day…and life may appear fulfilling.

Our problem is we tend to look for BIG achievements to be happy. The big thing comes to fruition with baby steps. Those little little efforts are more important. One by one. One at a time. It’s like playing with building blocks. We forget to extract joy from the journey of placing each block on top of the other. We want the castle readymade.

Let’s not hurry things. Nothing happens overnight. See Nature! The changes take place so imperceptibly. And one fine morning the mountains melt into the ocean or the oceans give way to the peaks. But did that earth shattering shift take place in minutes? No! It took aeons. Only we were not aware of those miniscule movements. And when the transformation is visible….tangible….we exclaim WOW!!! How did that happen?

As I write I tell these words to my own impatient self. Wait! Stand still! Stare! There is so much to look at! Slow down! Feel the peace around and within! Do not make happiness into something Utopian! Feel it! Touch it! Contain it within!

There, aren’t you happy?

All pics from Pexel