True happiness is not attained through self gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose– Helen Keller
I love to kick start my writing with a catchy line. And since I was running short of one of those, I decided to borrow one from Helen Keller. Well, here I’m writing about a simple question, whose answer is not-so-simple. The question, what is true happiness? Think for a couple of moments and if you have a satisfactory explanation, don’t bother reading any further. Else…
Scientifically speaking, happiness is a state of mind in which the chemical composition of brain changes, making the person experiencing this change, feel good. Alright, then what triggers this? This question is highly individualistic in nature. Because different people think differently. And as per me, different people should think differently. To some happiness could be writing a poem, to some, listening to a particular genre of music, while to some others it could be sitting with friends sipping some whiskey.
This highly personal nature of the phenomenon of happiness has brought in a fair amount of confusion amongst people. So, our society constantly tries to define the boundaries for being happy. These could range anywhere from having a dinner at the fanciest hotel with your family to owning a luxury car. To my observation, the capitalist society tries to brainwash people by linking happiness to materialistic possessions. Essentially there is no relation in between being happy and possessing tons of wealth. Quite often than not, confused souls fall prey to this trick and then starts their pursuit of accumulating wealth. People get so much overboard with this idea that they forget what they really wanted, when they started this blind folded run.
What amuses me is that when few (very few, indeed) show no interests in the pattern set by society, people make no hesitation in concluding their being abnormal. On the other hand if you crave for all the luxuries in life, it is considered perfectly normal. I find this just hard to digest. Probably many succumb to this sort of pressure and alter their thinking in life. By the time they realize their mistakes, their grand children would be about to make the same mistake. Life… happens.
It is possible to happy sans having any wealth but seldom without being able to share your feelings. I will leave you with this thought. Amongst all your happy moments so far, how many times do you remember yourself happy because of "things" and "not people"?
