Happiness above everything else

                   Photo by Tatiana Syrikova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/baby-in-white-onesie-holding-wooden-blocks-3933250/

 

Life presents itself to us and we don't know what to make of it. A toddler may be the most sorted of all as he or she goes about finding happiness in everything that they do. If they don't find it, they cry and make a fuss till happiness is restored to them. Their life is a cycle of eating, playing, demanding, sleeping and repeating the cycle. They are for the most part happy.

As they grow and begin to understand the world around them, they get caught up in what their circumstances, society and personal predilections lead them to do. But all of that often denies them happiness. The trouble with humans is that they are highly evolved animals who have forgotten that they are fundamentally not very different from your average lemur or blue whale.

The Idea behind Life

The idea behind life is to live it and that only requires one to find food to eat, shelter to afford protection to oneself against the elements or enemies and find a mate to ensure that life carries on. It is when you add layers to what existence means to you that you invite unhappiness. Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating the life of a caveman or an ultra-minimalist, but a life of peace, tranquility and happiness, as opposed to a life of avarice, jealousy, conspicuous consumption and never taking time off to enjoy and savour what one has.

Your job, the money in your bank account, your aspirations for your family and yourself, the house you live in and the car you drive cannot be what you obsess with. You should not obsess about anything. All the “important" milestones of life will happen, or some of them will happen or will not happen at all. You can work towards those and everything may go according to plan. You may get lucky and things may go much better than planned or things may go totally contrary to your plans. You are never going to have total control over these things.

One Life to Live

But you have just one life to live and if you don't on an everyday basis find happiness and meaning in your existence, you are denying yourself of the very essence of life. Why should you not be as happy as the richest man in the world? Turning this logic on its head, why shouldn't the richest man in the world weighed down with the concerns of the world be as happy as a shepherd tending his goats in the high Himalayas?

So Many Reasons to Be Happy

Look around you and there are so many reasons to be happy-the mild winter sun warming your back as you read a book seated in a rocking chair on your porch or the smile on the face of your child. You could derive pleasure from driving your car (however small or modest or large) down a rain-swept boulevard next to the sea. Or you could attend a virtuoso performance by a classical violinist. You could hike up a mountain or volunteer with a charitable organization. There are a million things you could do to make you deeply happy. You ought to do them, as being happy is the purpose of life.