Happiness
What is happiness? I have always tried to remember the time when I was truly happy. And I was surprised that I couldn't even think of a single time. This wanting for something more, something better has always stripped me of my right to happiness. Getting selected in the school football team just wasn't enough. I wanted to score a goal. Getting into a hostel wasn't enough, I wanted the best college. Even in love, I've always been greedy. You never seem to appreciate the people who genuinely care about you. The people who actually think about you, who actually want you to do something in life; they just seem to be a pain. At the same time, if there is something that poses a challenge, something you are forbidden to have, those are the things you long for. Not because it is better than everything else, but just because it's off bounds.
People from ancient times have written about this strange emptiness in all of us. We've all heard the story of the forbidden fruit. The Incas had a famous fable that the elders used to tell over a warm bonfire, and tender and juicy meat of the day's catch. They said that long ago, man was extremely troubled. And seeing him, all the animals of the jungle gathered around and asked him why he was so depressed. The troubled man replied that he felt helpless and pathetic. He didn't have any special skills or talents that would give him an edge over all the other animals, in a place where might was indeed right. So the animals helped him out. The jaguar gave him his strength, the vulture its eyesight and so forth. After the man received all the gifts graciously and left to try his newly found powers, the wise owl looked down from his perch and told the others that he was scared. That man's hunger was insatiable, and with his newly found powers, he is going to be far from happy.
We are all trapped by the burden of our own aspiration. This aspiration has rendered us blind. This never ending thirst has us running helplessly in this pursuit, this pursuit of happiness. We are forever striving for a better life, a life with more comforts, a life with less worries. And the truth is, we are simply adding to our worries. We are constantly trying to create an environment where we don't have to adapt. Whereas the truth is we live in a world where we are forced to adapt every single second. Every morning, we wake up and quickly have to adapt to the environment of our workplace. At the end of the day, we are again forced to adapt to the family environment. At all phases in life, we have to act in a particular manner, because everyone else does it. We are under this illusion that this way, we can truly be happy. But the question is will we ever truly achieve happiness?
One of the main sources of our happiness is ignorance. We are happy about a thing because we don't know what things are laid down for us in life. Some people think happiness is achieved if their loved ones are happy, which brings us back to the same question again. What is happiness? What is this feeling that humans have for centuries died trying to achieve? And why isn't this happiness a stable state? We spend most of our lives trying to obtain this imaginary thing called happiness. At the end of the day, even if one achieves true happiness, the question is, is it worth all the effort put in? This one tiny moment in our life, a tiny glitter in a dull and relentless landscape. What is so special about this feeling that gives us this assurance that it will be the end of all our worries?
It is not like there aren't enough things in this world which give happiness. A baby's innocent laughter, a bird taking its first flight, the first signs of life after a cold and dead winter; these things are enough to make a person happy. Sleeping in a warm bed, after a hot meal. To be with someone you love. To hold that person close and get the assurance that you won't ever be alone. After a long and heated discussion with myself, I came to this conclusion that happiness isn't a long lasting thing. It is just a second of paradise in an eternity of struggle.
The truth is that beauty lies in the eyes of the observer. Happiness is all around us. All we have to do is stop chasing it. Just like a butterfly, happiness has a tendency to fly away when being chased. But if you are patient enough, it will come to you. A man's life cannot be gauged by the gravity of a moment, rather by the quantity of such moments, where you just wish that time would stop still. It is these moments when even a lifetime feels like a second. The key lies in the simple things. Simple things that tell you how beautiful this world we live in really is. The truth is, happiness is more about the journey than the destination. The problem arises only when people give colossal importance to the end than the actual joy of making it there. If we redefine the word happiness in our dictionaries, the world would be a much happier place.