Credit: DH Illustration
Happiness is not a pursuit but a surrender to the world’s wonder. It is an elfin spirit that defies definition that showers itself on the unwary and eludes its conscious seeker. Happiness means different things to different people, every success is a happiness that is bound to pass with our next encounter with failures and unhappy situations.
Some people struggle for happiness not because they will fail to get breakfast but they will fail to outshine their neighbours.
There is no permanence to happiness, it is nobody’s monopoly, never achieved through material pleasures or conventional markers of success merely a fleeting experience with goals that keep shifting, receding like mirages, experiences that do not elevate or enlighten.
Bertrand Russell clarifies unhappiness is due to mistaken notions of the world, mistaken ethics mistaken habits of life that destroy the natural zest and appetite of an individual. Each one of us has the power to improve our lives if we understand the bounteous pleasures given to us gratis by nature, if we cultivate fellow feeling for those around us, that sense of tolerance and sympathy for those who have less than us and for whom we can contribute our mite without grudge or condescension. It is done with the understanding that it is a privilege to give and unselfish giving is indeed a receiving.
Happiness does not necessarily devolve on achievement or pathbreaking ventures nor does the world’s adulation guarantee happiness because they bring with it their own frustrations, compromises and moral dilemmas. Happiness lies not in the end result when the summit is reached but rather in the all-encompassing effort that brings dreams to fruition.
Happiness is that quality of mind that gives you an inner peace, a contentment that cannot be upended by the crests and troughs of life. It is the content of one’s character it is the effort one puts in for making a life without illogical expectations, falling prey to the excesses and titillations of modern life, its false buzz and glamour. A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life.
Grief and tragedy might haunt us, but though easier said than done, we must learn to work through our tragedies to become more resilient and compassionate individuals. We must learn happiness in the warbling
of a bird, the sighting of the evening star, the glorious sunrise and the
glowing sunset.