We have already looked upon Happiness in one of our previous articles (Yoga & Happiness: Your path from wine to divine-http://wp.me/p7cqBI-5L). I wanted to cater this more elaborately so that every one of us clearly understands what it means to be happy. So let’s first deal with how the today’s world perceives happiness, as opposed to what actually it is in its very fundamental & intrinsic nature.

Modern society’s perspective of happiness: What I am going to write could be very disheartening, but unfortunately, this is very much true with the perspective of today’s society. If you observe in your day to day life, people are happy not because they have everything which they want, they are happy because they have something which others doesn’t have or which their neighbors & the society doesn’t have. For e.g let’s say you have a car at your home and your neighbor still rides on a scooter or a motorbike, you would be extremely happy. The reason for your happiness is not that you have a great convenience in terms of the conveyance, but the reason of happiness is your neighbor is devoid of something which you have and they don’t have. Many people who flaunt their luxury cars are doing the same. They have Merc., BMWs & Audi’s. And they love flaunting the Speed, Headlights and various other accessories of luxury they have. Now let’s suppose, everyone in the society has these same luxury cars available with them, Do you think those bunch of people who used to have it earlier would be happy anymore, The answer is NO. Similarly today people for whom Diamond rings and Golden Necklaces are a big pride will not even touch their jewels if everyone in the society is able to afford the same. They would start aiming for more high-end products to maintain their social pride & stature, and if they fail to do so, it will land them in so many kinds of miseries and problems. So the fact of the matter is that they do not really respect what they have & what capabilities it holds, this is just an instrument for showoff and getting a fake & temporary sense of happiness.

In my own hometown, I have seen people acquire more and more, not because they have a genuine passion towards that particular thing or entity, it’s only because they want to acquire something more than their neighbors or their relatives. This gives them a great level of satisfaction and happiness. They are not concerned about the well-being of any other person except their own family and when I say, family, it includes only the wife and the children in most of the cases nowadays. Now let me ask you, If you are happy with something which you have and others don’t have, Do you really call it ‘Happiness’. It’s clearly not. It’s a kind of ‘Sickness’ in my personal opinion. And if you observe the way people are living, you will clearly see that it is actually a sickness. Because the source of happiness is not coming out of the values of the things you have, the source of happiness is coming because you have certain things and privileges which others don’t have.

This is very unfortunate that for many generations this has been passed on as the ‘Happiness’ and this process is still continuously progressing. We need to look at it immediately and set our perspectives right. Because this is not the way life will work to its fullest. This is the retarded way of living. If you exist like this, you may find some moments of happiness at the cost of others but you can never be eternally happy in your life. In such a situation you will easily succumb to the circumstances you will face and it might leave you completely shattered within yourself. So the problem is not of the happiness, the problem is that the very basics of what it means to be happy have not clearly been understood.

What Happiness actually is?: Happiness is a certain level of pleasantness within yourself. One thing which we need to understand here is that happiness is not about somebody else, happiness is about you, you & only you. When your emotions are in a certain state of pleasantness, we call it happiness. When you are joyful by your own nature, that is happiness. This is not some kind of a transaction which is happening from outside. You might think that happiness is about the person you love or it’s about your friends, family and the situations, but it’s a very obsolete idea. I agree with the fact that they might add to your happiness, that’s a different thing, but essentially happiness comes with your conscious actions and the source of happiness lies within. If you live your life consciously, you will live happily and you don’t necessarily need an external entity to keep you happy. It’s just the way you are.

When we say we are happy, it simply means you have accepted the situation wherein you are existing right now. So it’s not because of your loved ones that you are happy, it’s because of your acceptance towards them, which is the source of your happiness. That’s why we say happiness is about you & not about somebody else. As we know that ups and downs are the part and parcel of life, this is the way life has been designed. So if you are consciously aware of this fact and accept all kinds of situations the way they are right now, you will have no reason to be sad and miserable. You will suddenly realize the secret of happiness. 90 Percent of the miseries are only because of this reason, that people are not ready to accept the difficult situations. Please tell me one thing, when you are in a bad situation, Is not the more important to keep yourself calm, composed and peaceful. But what happens to most of the people is the reverse. They get out of balance which further worsens the situation. But when you accept the situation the way it is, you will be naturally peaceful and you will be more equipped to face the present situation.

Why Being Happy is important?: The very reason everyone strives for happiness is that when you are happy and joyful, you are the most wonderful human being on this planet. Just look at your life and see, when you were joyful and happy, were you not working to the best of your capability. Even a person who is reserved by nature seems to be mingling up with other people simply because he is totally in a different state of being. And every one of us has experienced such states of happiness at some point in our lives. Have you seen, when you are totally blissed out, 24 hours time just go away like moments and when you are sad 24 hours feel like eons. That’s what happiness does to you, You get so involved with your life, that even time doesn’t matter for you. This is the power of happiness. The only challenge you have right now is that you are not able to sustain your moment of happiness. Because you think that someone will come and make you happy, but this is not going to work like that. The one thing which you need to realize is that happiness is your own intrinsic nature. I agree to the fact that the external situations may act as an add-on to your existing state, but essentially Happiness is the choice which you need to make consciously, it’s not going to happen unconsciously. If you choose to be happy, no matter what happens to you, then you will still be in control and you will have peace within yourself.

Hope you must have enjoyed reading the article & would implement the same in your life. You yourself realize & see that only when you are happy, your body, mind, and emotions function at its best. So you don’t have any choice other than being happy…… 🙂

Happy Reading 🙂