In pursuit of happiness

Happiness is a state of mind characterised by love, achievement and contentment. It can be physical or psychological or both; and is derived through our materialistic (or sadistic) and philosophical approaches.

When you chase happiness, it eludes you. Joyfulness is the soul’s natural state and all you need is to eliminate everything that comes between you and your cheerfulness.

Our happiness is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slow destructive little things. The happiness is wrecked in two different forms. Firstly, some people, not being able to differentiate between oasis and water, lose present happiness working for future comforts. Secondly and mainly, many people suffer from sleepless nights not with existing problems but visualising future problems with their imaginary effects.

Quotes and Reality:

We know the story of a donkey that was whipped by the washer-man for brayed in the midnight on seeing a thief when the dog refused to do its job. “One must mind one’s own job” is the morale.

Here is another version. When the donkey advised the dog to bark, it said “I am taking rest”. The donkey that read many “success quotes” without properly understanding the real meaning said “You rust if you take rest” and started braying. The washer-man caught the thief and appreciated the donkey. He realised that it is capable of doing night watching also along with its existing job of carrying cloths.

He dispensed with the dog and increased its “grass-quota” for additional strength to be awake all the night. The donkey was happy remembering another success quote “Dreams require effortless sleep, but aim requires sleepless efforts. The more we do, the more we can do”.

With increased pampering by the employer, the donkey worked happily but as years passed by, it realised that it was squeezed of its charm, health and family. But it was too late.

The morale of this revised story is: One should certainly aim for promotion, identify his core-competency, discover hidden virtues and utilise his talents. But above all, one should comprehend what price he is paying for his success..! The price should never be his happiness.

If you work for 22 hours a day, work happily. But not cursing your-self. Everything should be ok at the end of the day. If it is not, then it’s not the end.
 

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