Let’s admit it, everyone wants to be happy. And there are different ways by which we can be happy. For instance, someone can be a Superman to be happy, and if you want to be super-duper happy you can be Rajnikant.
All right, let’s get serious, what I want to talk about is, how do you become happy by being you. And is it at all possible for you to be happy by being you?
It is, absolutely it is, take my word for it. You can be a lonely person and yet be happy. You may not have all the riches in the world and yet be happy. You may have just 300 followers on this blog and still you can be as happier as someone who has 50,000 followers. Now, there are people who have everything but are unhappy, so they seek ways to attain happiness and end their miseries.
So, happiness is a state of our mind that can be influenced by our environment; likewise our mind can influence the environment so that we can be happy. A flower though beautiful today will ultimately fade, so does happiness and so does sadness. But when the flower blooms does it not bring a glow to our faces? Does it not give us pleasure? And when it fades, does it not sadden us? When we accomplish something that we have been meaning to, it gives us immense joy, on the other hand failure makes us cry. Happiness and sadness are but momentary feelings.
By our very nature we cannot be happy all the time; neither can we be sad all the time; the universe is designed in such a way, and how often our emotions fluctuate, we cannot do anything about it.
I think there are a few criteria that we have to follow to be happy (and I am saying this from my own experience).
- Be in the right place: yes, this is very important. We can only be unhappy by being somewhere we are compelled to be. We have to break free from all compulsions and settle down in a surrounding suitable for us, a friendly atmosphere, so to say.
- The second thing that matters are the people you are with. Keep away from those who are the reason for your sadness. This is a vast world; you can definitely find someone who would share genuine sympathetic understanding with you.
- As long as we derive happiness by doing something, no matter how tiny it may be, we should keep on doing it (if you become happy by killing someone, I beg you, abandon such a source of happiness!).
All right, so that’s all I have to say. The three points sum up everything I guess, but surely there can be many more factors that we have to keep in mind to be happy. To be happy or not to be happy then becomes a question of whether you really want to be happy or not.
Copyright © 2014 RAMU DAS
Ramu Das 
The Thinking Man has been doing some serious thinking…very good food for thought!
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Haha! The Thinking Man is doing what he always wanted to do.
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Very good three points I must say.
I sincerely hope you have some points for ….husbands…. as well !!
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Zsa Zsa Gabor said “A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he’s finished.” I am sure you did not read this quote before becoming a husband. 😛
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Don’t you know love is blind ?
And blinds can’t read they only listen !!
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Haha! Yes, of course, marriage is an institution for the blind.
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Hi Ramu,
Great post. However what you say seems to indicate a prescriptive way of discovering happiness. But do you really think that sustainable happiness can be achieved through such a path?
A while back I too had mused on the aspect of ” Happiness” and had penned a post which I give here. You may find aspects which might resonate with you.
esgeemusings.com/2012/03/15/happiness-and-the-theory-of-relativity/
Look forward to your thoughts as you go down the path.
Shakti
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Hi Sir, I am sorry I have taken a long time to reply.
For happiness to be sustainable, Sir, I believe, we have to do away with sorrow once and for all. We have to realize that the absence of sorrow is happiness, and the absence of happiness sorrow. We think a thousand thoughts everyday and if we condition and control our thoughts in such a way that we don’t think of anything that maybe the reason for sorrow, then, I think, sustainable happiness can be achieved.
But how are we to feel and think only that which makes us happy? So many things affect our thoughts and feelings. If we are indifferent to all this actions, then we are indifferent to happiness and sorrow, and we can live with equanimity. That’s how I tend to live.
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The means may differ, but you are right, we are united by our desire to achieve happiness, whichever way we define it.
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Yes, Sir, absolutely, we try to minimize sorrow (and if possible end it) and maximize happiness. We know by experience and reason which path to tread so that we can be happy.
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