If I attempt to answer what is happiness, I believe I would do you all a great injustice. Happiness is something entirely uncertain and would come to you in the most unexpected of times. I want you all to take a minute to think about the last time when you were genuinely filled with delight and possibly one of the largest smile on your face. It is quite possible that this put you in a fix. A lot of you would now realize that it’s been long since you’ve been unconditionally happy. We live at a time when happiness is a rare emotion. One that is exhibited rarely for the briefest of times. Today, the smallest issue is enough to put us in a sour mood. Don’t kid yourselves into believing that’s not true. Honestly, a puny thing like the number of likes on our social media accounts has become a factor in our happiness. The lines between satisfaction and happiness have been muddled for too long. There is an obvious difference between contentment/satisfaction and happiness. While the first would put you in a good mood the second one is where anything unpleasant couldn’t dampen it.
One thing that all of us need to realize today, in fact, this very moment is that out our happiness is contingent upon us and only us, not someone else. I know believing in the same is more difficult than it appears to be. We human beings are flawed and like to believe the worst of our abilities and skills. The question is, were we always this flawed? When did we start measuring happiness with a scale? For once, let’s look back to our past. Maybe when you were five years old or perhaps when you were in 7th grade; answer yourself honestly, weren’t you for a change truly happy? No constraints. No conditions. Probably, in our own little bubble of unparalleled happiness. What changed then? Perhaps, we started liking complicated better than simple. Maybe complicated became the new simple. Possibly, it gave you a sense of purpose, of importance. Perhaps, we felt more and shared less and lesser of it. Bottled up our feelings in that little corner of our heart and wait for someone to come knocking. Who knows? What it definitely did was persuade you to think of your life as one filled with troubles and difficulties. What about the other small fleeting moments of happiness? Where did they go? Wasn’t it more important to look to them in times of despair? Nobody said it was going to be easy. Did they? All of us crave a simple life free of problems. For all we know, life is simple and we just need a newer, better perspective. It is going to be tough making this transition. Problems will still stay. They won’t vanish overnight. Wouldn’t it be a shame not to give it a try? Couldn’t possibly be worse.
Aren’t we all a stickler for happy endings? Go, make yours!