Your Happiness is Your Own Responsibility
Everyone yearns for true happiness and makes persistent efforts to feel it and live in the happiest state of their heart and soul but only a few can achieve the true, inner happiness in their life. To explore your true happiness as the ultimate goal of life, let’s read this story and understand it in a deeper sense:
Once
a young man was curious to know the meaning of happiness and how to attain true
happiness amidst all chaos of a mundane life so he went in search of a wise man
whom he believed could answer his question and show him the right path. After
meandering through hills, valleys and forests he finally reached a castle on
the top of a mountain where the wise man was said to reside.
When
the young man entered into the castle he was astounded to see it filled with
activities and clamour of people from all walks of life who also came to ask
their queries and the wise man was responding to each one of them with calm and
patience. The young man, very eager for his curiosity to be unraveled,
approached him and asked his question, to which the wise man replied that he
hadn’t enough time to reply at that moment so he should have a look around his
castle and admire the magnificence and uniqueness of his world and should
return in two hours. The wise man also assigned him a task. He gave him a spoon
with two drops of oil in it and said that when he observed the beauty of the
castle the drops of oil shouldn’t spill.
The
young man started visiting the castle keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon and
after two hours he returned to the hall where the wise man was sitting. The
wise man asked him about the murals hanging in the dining hall but the young
man was embarrassed and spoke in a sombre voice that he couldn’t observe
anything as his eyes were fixed on the spoon and his only concern was not to
spill the oil. “You should go back and appreciate the marvels of my palace,”
said the wise man. The young man again went to observe the castle but this time
without paying heed to the oil drops in the spoon and returned with the
minutest details of the castle and eagerness to describe that. “But where are
the drops of oil I entrusted to you?” asked the wise man.
When
the young man saw the spoon, there was no oil. “I hope you must have understood
what I wanted to say. True happiness lies in enjoying the marvels of the world
without allowing the drops of oil spill from the spoon.
The message, this story conveys is: One has a
right to enjoy the grandeur and pleasures of the world but should never forget
his duties and responsibilities to his very existence. Everyone needs to strike
a perfect balance between work, family, health and social and environmental
responsibilities. If one tries to escape from any of these responsibilities or is
not able to fulfill any of them he/she starts losing on this creative process
of our emotional health which becomes a major deterrent in people seeking true
happiness. Often people get themselves mired in a web of expectations that circumscribe
the extent of their knowledge about true happiness.
Interesting Read: Lets-Simplify-Life
Self-Awareness & Self- Belief
It’s
very important to know and connect with the Self which is not possible without
an effective self-communion. Everyone has a different taste for happiness so
one can never say that the other is happy or sad. Many are happy with an
ordinary life with their minimal resources while others keep cultivating the
habit of pitching in their relentless efforts to excel. An excellent cannot
undermine an ordinary one and vice versa. Know Thyself so as to have the
gumption to decide upon your parameters for being happy. The way we think about
our Self, we start believing the same for our existence and create an image for
ourselves; this Self-image gambles with our emotions so keep changing (just
like your WhatsApp DP) and enhancing it. There’s no such thing called ‘external
validation’ so do what you like to make yourself happy as money and profit are
not the only measure of your success and happiness; it will surely teach you to
feel better about yourself.
The Theory of LESS & MORE
Express
less, expect less but explore more and experience more. This easy rule helps
find true happiness as we need not search our happiness; it lies within; within
the very core and when we limit our expressions and expectations we conquer our
grudges and malice which are the root cause of sorrow. Exploring our inner self
and experiencing the clarity of emotions generate a different kind of joy which
is beyond any ecstasy of material gains in life. Ruminating about the
mistakes done in past encourages self-judgment and does nothing good in future
too, so stop the tendency to question your self- sufficiency and self-efficacy.
When you explore the values which take precedence over everything in your life
you are in a better position to define and determine your true happiness.
Liberate Yourself from the Clutches of Desires & Attachments:
Let’s ponder over the last words of Alexander,
“I wish the path leading to my graveyard should be strewn with all the gold,
silver, gems and precious stones which I have earned in my lifetime. Let the
spectators know that despite spending all my life conquering the riches and
lands of the world, not even a grain of gold will be there with me when I leave
the world. Let the people understand that it’s a sheer waste of time, energy
and peace of mind when one yearns to be rich.”
Desires
fill us with a sense of emptiness; the emptiness of not having something and we
begin to feel unhappy and dissatisfied. Desires make us demanding and lead us
into attachments. When one is achieved, our mind starts yearning for the other
because desire is the mind’s tendency to always be in this state. They never
let the mind be at peace and deprive you from your inner happiness. A life of
GRATITUDE and contentment is the happiest state and helps us eliminate our
desires and attachments.
Imagine Your Happiness
There
shouldn’t always be a logical reason behind your act; it can simply be done
because you want to do it and it’s fun; it makes you happy. You can imagine
happiness, create it and live it and be your own ‘happiness expert’. Imagine
your happiness and train your brain to stay happy , remove ‘NO’ from your
thoughts and imaginations and work on programming the process of becoming
happier with each passing day. Some scientific studies suggest that human
imaginations have the power of great transformations if trained well as they
create mind environments. We are even wired for it; when we imagine we become
more creative and that benefit both body and mind.
Happiness
can’t be encapsulated in a formula neither be attained through the theory of one-size-fits-all
for everyone. But the fact that works for all is; it can be experienced in
savouring the moment, when human mind savours something; it is completely
engrossed in it and appreciative of the experience. True happiness can be felt
in sunshine, in the flowing water, in the air we breathe, on the smiling faces,
in a child’s innocence, in extending a helping hand to the unfortunate ones and
happiness can be experienced in just being alive at this moment and being hopeful
to see one more sunrise of your life.
Swami
Rama Teertha once said, “Your only duty is to be happy”. It’s all up to you how
do you find your true happiness.
So, Make Your Effort. Go, Grab it!
