Happiness!

Happiness is that positive and imperceptible spark of energy, achieving which is the ultimate goal of human existence.We yearn to be happy and make a list of 'if and then' scenarios in our minds.These finite set of mental mapping encompass our life's priorities. Each and every action and reaction in our life are by products of these 'if and then' mind analysis. The person acquires and makes a bunch of such scenarios either through his own experiences or by observing others around. Eventually they act as a guiding light in his/her life. A pure case of bounded rationality. You felt happy shopping a new dress and pair of shoes, then a trigger registers, and an inner voice guides you next time when you are sad, it screams 'Go shopping'! How much can one accumulate? There has to be a saturation point. This materialistic way of feeding one's inner peace is short lived and definitely evasive. Our mind works strangely and a lot of conscious effort is needed to tame it. The upbringing of a child forms a vital source of this so called 'if and then' repository at the early stages of his/her life. What parents regard as important, what they would value the most and for what the children would have been rewarded the most etc., all of these become a part of the child's repository. Some would want to live their dreams through their children. So they assume all that they were deprived of which would have made them happy and given a better life, they start providing to their children and expect them to be happy and indebted for bringing them up thus nipping the bud before it blossoms. The child's mind frame gets modeled by the whims and fancies of  parents during early childhood. When they start schooling, the real 'nature vs nurture' struggle begins. Parent's and teacher's expectations, peer pressure overshadows ones real talent and interests. A widely accepted yardstick of "the more you succeed in pleasing others, the more happy you can be" gets imbibed and they start having a facade to please the gawkers of their life. This builds a false perception about life's purpose and makes the person a 'prisoner of gawkers's expectations'. Can happiness really exist in captivity? I highly doubt it, for happiness is elusive! 

To realize what it is to be happy and content, all that we need is to avoid aping or detesting others and being our own selves doing what we are good at.


Share your joys and sorrows, smile more, be empathitic, be happy!