What is happiness? When you wake up every morning rushing to start your day, and when you go to sleep each night waiting eagerly for the next morning to come. When time flows by and you do not notice, you do not stop to judge yourself, you do not ask: 'Where am I going in life?' or 'Is this the right thing to do?'.
Happiness is knowing what you want to do with your time.
In some years you will be dead. And once you die no one is going to
remember you; at least, in the long run. Your children and grandchildren
will remember you for some time. If you are a movie star, sportsperson
or some other celebrity the world will remember you for some more years.
But eventually, one day, you will fade. From all records and from the
memories of everyone. So it's better to spend the time you have doing
what you love doing. Do it because you love doing it and not because you
may gain public attention because of it one day.
Happiness is to give your life a meaning. It's
important that you are important to yourself. Because only then you
will learn to distinguish between moments that count and those that do
not. It all depends on how you see yourself irrespective of how others
see you. What you do must be important to you, even if it is not to
someone else. And you must know why it is important.
Happiness is to find the right balance between discipline and craziness. Random enjoyment, better known as 'doing masti'
in hindi or bengali, is indispensable. For you need some time when you
just do not want to give all of it any meaning. This is the time when
your brain shuts off, rests, waiting to get restarted; and your heart
has all the fun it wants to have. Apart from these moments, your life
better be disciplined. If it is not, you are trying out too many new
things! Or maybe, you have not yet decided how you want to live the rest
of your life. Discipline is important as it maximizes the output that
you had always wanted from yourself.
Happiness is to find the right people in your life.
It's very difficult to live a content life in complete isolation, if
not impossible. So you need to choose the right people to be around. Be
choosy about people. Because everyone is unique, in a way. You must open
up to your closed ones. For they are the ones who know you and can
truly point out where you had made a mistake and be honest with you.
Never lose anyone who actually knows who you are and what you want in
life. Because people such as them are hard to find.
Happiness is to accept who you are.
With all your superpowers and pitfalls. Because if you cannot accept
who you are it just means that you do not yet know who you are! There is
an old saying: "if you truly want something with all your heart it will
definitely come to you!" This is always true. If you ever happen to
wish for something and yet not get it, review yourself and you will see
that you had never actually wished for it dearly enough! Do not compare
yourself with others, as it is not their life you are living, and
neither are they living yours. And do not cheat yourself. And you can
only achieve all of these once you learn one of the greatest gifts of
all - to forgive yourself after you had made a mistake.
Happiness is learning something new. And creating something new.
I wanted to tell you about 'Maslow's hierarchy of needs' but you can
always Google it. Everything changes. And the world around you adapts
itself to all the change and accordingly evolves. Creating something new
- a new idea or a new piece of art, a new strategy or a new way of
looking at something centuries old - gives you a chance of leaving
behind a part of you that is going to be there even when you are gone.
It is not a rare feeling. It is similar to what people feel while giving
birth to the newer generation.
Finally, hapiness is knowing that you are happy.
It is a positive feedback cycle. It's like a candle giving light
without losing any of its own. There is nothing called 'conservation of
happiness' in this world, i.e. your happiness cannot be at the cost of
someone else's. If it is then it is your selfishness instead and is
definitely not something to be enjoyed and to be proud of. Happiness is a
special feeling. And persistent happiness is a very rare feeling.
So, to summarize, what is happiness? Happiness is something that brings a smile.
If not to your face, at least to your mind! It makes you content and at
peace with yourself. To define it more precisely, it is that after
which everyone in this world is running! Incidentally, the feeling of
happiness is more rare, sought after and fundamental than any other
feeling ever known to mankind! :-P
