Is this Happiness?

Is this Happiness?

By Divya Gahlot

(17BCE0509)

“Work Harder today, so that you can find peace tomorrow. Struggle today, so that you get whatever you want tomorrow.” We have been listening to this sine we were born, since the day we stepped into this life. And as a matter of fact, every one of us is yet struggling to achieve even a fraction of it. Did we ever, wait, pause for a moment, and think, that what actually are we dreaming and aspiring about? Or just going on with the flow, just because we consider, that if we continue to move on that path, we shall achieve our goals someday? Sad reality strikes, but this is the truth of our very own lives. Day after day, month after month, year after year, we are trying to follow something which we do not even know why. But how long shall this continue?

Sir Einstein, gave a very beautiful definition to happiness. He said, “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the constant pursuit of success combined with restlessness.” He believed, that the mantra to success was not actually the destination, but the journey. It doesn’t matter, the level of success that we reach one day, if we are in a constant hustle and restlessness. Calmness, and satisfaction along the journey are equally important.

But is this what we actually believe today? The world has its own definition to happiness. We’re constantly told to push our boundaries, to do this, to that, so that one day we taste the success of life. If we work real hard, we would be happy, because it would lead to us being successful. But did we ever think, where is all this actually leading to? We are actually running on the definition of success that others would want to see in us. Sir Einstein brought light onto this fact using a very simple example. Suppose we enter a shop with loads of beautiful watches, each one of them really expensive and amazing. Would we be truly happy if we work real hard day and night for the watch and then buy it someday and show it to the world, or would we be truly happy if we no longer have any craving for the watch? A deep question, but it truly opens grounds for logical thinking. A simple, yet a powerful example. The fundamental principles of our very existence seem delusional, when we think of it deeply.

What actually is happiness? Will we ever get to know, to experience, what is it? Will getting Supercars, or Luxury houses make us truly happy? Are awards an answer to happiness? Ask the famous Actor Jim Carrey, and he would say otherwise. He says, “I wish everyone to become rich and famous, so that they could see for themselves, that that’s not the answer”.  

So, let us just stop rushing through our days in the hopes of being happy sometime in the future, and instead, embrace a calm and modest way of life and experience the happiness we all deserve. Let us all live in the moment, and enjoy its beauty. Because, we really do not need any reason to be truly happy, we can find happiness in the little things of life, and embrace them.

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