'Someday We Will Be Happy'...That Someday is Today

Author: Anshuman Singh
Type: Life and Happiness

Before reading this post, I would recommend to read the story 'Club 99' (Its a short story and is not going to take more than 2 minutes to read and understand it completely). The link is:
http://anshumansinghchauhan.blogspot.com/2008/07/club-99.html

'Someday We will be Happy'......That Someday is Today

When I first read the story Club 99 the beauty with which the concept of happiness is explained in that story forced me to think on what do we actually do in our life to get this so called happiness. After all Happiness is what matters to us at the end of everything. But we often misinterpret the above statement, as its going to be something special which will happen some day which in fact will make us happy. We interpret 'end of everything' as it appears and wait for that time when we will reach an end point of something which will make us feel happy. Doing this, we miss the happiness which is present all around us in the form of a journey to reach that end point.

We all have something or the other from our past which makes us feel happy, it could be, our 1st class notebook, our collection of stickers, our toys, our study table, our half broken bat, our first bicycle, the roads where we used to ride it, the playground where we used to spend our evenings, moving from the front of our best friends house, old tree which used to be a meeting spot near river, our childhood group photographs of class...etc etc......have we ever asked a question to ourselves, as to what was so special about our childhood, that we still feel happy to think about it, see and touch our old things, walk in the old lanes, searching the old hideouts..but on the other hand, its really difficult to find out instances from our later part of life which will make us feel happy...its only because the things which reminds us of our childhood were the moments where we were happy, living that present moment. There was no fear of future and no regret of the past. It was we in that present moment, at our best, giving our 100% in that present moment, enjoying it at the fullest......but do we ever wonder why now we have to wait for a time when we will be happy, we have to search for reasons to smile, we have to find words before talking to a stranger.....we think what we have is not sufficient and can not make us happy, we think that a little more might provide us something which will make us happy, why, exactly why have this thing happened to us that we often remain either scared or tensed but not happy, although doing any one of them doesn't costs anything, then why do we choose to stay quiet, depressed, tensed, afraid, concerned, frustrated, complaining, regretting, condemning, and much more....when at that time we could have stayed happy? It is because, either we live in future or in past, and doing that we forget what actually matters to us and is in fact in our hand, i.e. the Present. As we grow we make Happiness a phenomenon, just like appearance of a comet, happening only once in years, and that too it last for seconds. Why, Why did suddenly this scarcity of happiness took place in our lives. Why do we have to wait for a saving of some more money to be happy when we have enough to keep us and our family healthy and happy, why do we need to be tensed about getting a bigger house or a bigger car or a new suit or a new pair of shoes or new mobile ....... many endless things just to make us feel happy? Why is it that when we were not employed then we thought that a job paying 5K/month will be enough to make us happy, but now when we are earning much more than expected, why are we still unsatisfied, unhappy and tensed, and keep looking for new better paying job, changing companies, groups, even friends......why? All this is done by us to get a time when we will be happy, but in our present we get so busy waiting for that time, that we forget to appreciate our present, we forget to appreciate the things which we have, which belong to us, which are enough to make us happy & satisfied, we stop observing our surroundings, we stop exploring things, we neglect the happiness around us.....

This attitude not only reduces our mental ability to think and find out solutions but also, effects our actions, our behaviour, our thoughts, our basic nature, our relationships and results in loss of our unique personality.

I still remember how anything and nearly everything appeared like a toy to us when we were kids, we used to live in a world of our own imagination. We used to imagine match box as car and were happy playing with it but now when we own one but still we are not happy and desire for a something bigger, we used to make houses of sand available at the neighbourhoods construction site and were happy watching it, but now when we have enough space for us and our family, then why do we need a bigger house to make us happy, how we used to enjoy listening to one song saved in our toy for thousands of time, but still never got bored and now when we have millions of songs in our computers but still we are unhappy and need more, why were we happy watching only one channel 'Doordarshan' and now unsatisfied with hundreds of available channels....why? exactly why?............We have to ask this question to our self and I am sure the day when we will start finding happiness in things around us, will stay satisfied with what we have, will stop complaining for what we don't have instead will prefer to work in that time, will start enjoying small success, will not be afraid thinking about what will happen in future, rather will plan it , will not regret about what we did in the past, rather will learn from it and will start living, living our present , then we will definitely wont have to wait for a time to feel the magic of happiness.....It will then become part of our daily routine to stay happy and spread happiness, will make us fell at peace and completely satisfied, will help us to bring out our best in terms of potentials, talents and skills and will help us to lead a successful and happy life ahead..

To conclude I would like to say, Happiness is a gift given to us by god, without any wrapper. We purposefully put a thick wrapper of Material things on it and then expect to reach it someday. Dear friends observe and appreciate whatever we have in our present, this will automatically make us happy. One of my friend correctly stated,'Happiness is not a Destination, its a Journey'. Lets not wait for some day or some thing to make ourselves happy. Let us thank god for whatever we have, stay satisfied and happy with it, keep on working without expecting results(GITA), elongate the list of wonderful memories by adding each day to it, lets change 'Staying Happy' from a phenomenon to a habit and live & enjoy our present.

Before closing this post I would like to recall the essence of the book 'The Present' written by Spencer Johnson, it says 'Learn from the Past, Plan for the Future but always live in The Present and Stay Happy'

:-)

The NEGLECTED HAPPINESS

As known by all, knowingly or unknowingly, a Human is always left with two options, be it any thing, and the two options are, to love it or to leave it. When it comes to a thing which relates to our daily bread, we have to love it. If not compelled, we often tend to leave the things which are of prime Importance to us, in terms of Happiness, because to gain this so called Happiness we have to put in allot of efforts both physical and mental. But as Human nature suggests, we always opt for a path having minimum hurdles although we know, that the rough path is far more helpful, but in general we prefer to walk on the shorter and slippery path neglecting the bad effects which it might create afterwards. Some call it bravery but in my opinion, its stupidity, until you are going to get killed for not following it. After reading these above mentioned lines, anyone can easily Interpret this text to be another of so called lectures from me which aim on working hard or giving our best in terms of dedication, sincerity and passion. But no, this time its none of them. This time its about our day to day living and the Happiness which we neglect either knowingly or unknowingly. Humans are social animals and although one may always argue either with self or with others, about benefits of single living, but deep inside we all are afraid of being left alone. Indians, for majority of their life stay with their parents or the people who have fulfilled the responsibility of parents for them. When we stay with these humans, let me call them parents for the upcoming part of this writeup, then we assume, that we are entitled to have the best of them, be it Love, respect, money, property, support, favour, warmth, safety..and much more. This assumption unknowingly takes our focus, away from what their needs might be. what they might expect from us, what might make them happy, what might make them sad etc. and this happens because somewhere in our self we have assumed, that its their responsibility to do all the best for us. If you talk to kids (even the grown ups), then they will have an argument, always ready to back up their this false notion, as they proudly quote that "they have not done anything special for us, it was their responsibility as they have given birth to us and above all, all the parents do it for their kids, so whats special have they done?". Having such an attitude was never taught by any parent in this world, but its the surroundings and its the human nature which compels the kid to think like that. He/She is so relaxed from his/her parents front, that he/she don't ever think on exactly what those two people have done for him/her. Parents, who might not have slept for many nights, just to make sure that he/she sleeps well in night. Those who might have sacrificed many of their dreams, just to make sure that their kids get the best. Those who might not have purchased new clothes or shoes for years, just to make sure that that money could be used to get new dresses and new shoes for their kids every year, or to get new toys or games for kids every year or every month or probably every week. Those who might not have left their city for years, so that the money could be used for sending their kids to various parts of the world. Those who might not have eaten out for years, just to make sure that the saved money could be used for their kids parties........this and many more......but have we, as kids have ever thought that why was all this done to us by out parents......this is just to make us Happy..that's it. Our parents find Happiness in our Happiness. They get sad, when we are sad, they get restless, when we are ill, they get angry to make us feel the importance of life and they get happy to see us happy. They feel whatever we feel, and if we might have ever thought of it as why and how could they do it, it because, of their self less love for us, their kids. They always search for love, respect and Happiness in us, that's it. So its our responsibility to make them happy and proud of us. It is our responsibility to make sure , that our parents life and their sacrifices, which they have made for us, should never go waste, as we the kids are their biggest Purpose for living and in a sense the biggest achievement. If we as kids make sure to provide adequate Love, Respect, Honour and Importance to our parents through our words and deeds and we too try to find Happiness in their Happiness, then we can definitely achieve Internal peace and can discover this NEGLECTED HAPPINESS, regain it and live with it. When we have grown up, its time for us to take care of the needs of the people who have donated their life for us, our parents. We should always be faithful and true to them, as a person who can never be faithful to his/her parents, who are the only reason for his/her existence, can never be faithful to anyone else in this world. There is no difference between a child and old aged parents, both require equal attention, love, care, respect, safety and peace. As grown ups its our responsibility to provide them all this. This requires small but allot of efforts, which we often tend to neglect and this is what I mentioned in the beginning of this writeup. Things like, making our parents a major part of our life's decisions, asking their opinion and following it provides the required respect and Importance to them. Before they can expect, if we make sure to take care of their needs, do what they like, try to take interest in their talks, ask them about their past and young age as kids, provide a helping hand in their daily tasks, share our secrets with them, if required say sorry or thank you....all this and many such small things, which look very small but hold allot of importance and requires allot of mental and physical efforts, will provide them immense Happiness and will make them Feel that their life was not a waste as they have been able to make us what they had always wanted. Its not either an Engineer, or Doctor or Scientist etc...but a real Good Human, who stays happy and spreads Happiness. Yes this is the biggest achievement of our parents if they could see that Human in us. So we should all take this as our responsibility to keep this Happiness as no more neglected and live our life with a purpose and be good Human so that the efforts, sacrifices and life of our parents should not go waste.......May God Bless All The Parents a Healthy, Happy and Long Life :))