HAPPINESS! WHAT IS IT? To me, it is nothing but PEACE OF MIND! Its a broad spectrum word! Peace of mind comes from:
WEALTH
HEALTH,
FAMILY,
HAVING FRIENDS,
POPULARITY,
APPRECIATION,
LOOKS,
POWER,
MATERIALSTIC POSSESSION, ......... AND SO ON ........
As a child I experienced a very ordinary life as my father was employed in the defence services. His salary was nothing compared to what people make nowadays. Youngsters now, receive a monthly salary of what was my father's lifetime of earning! We used to live in a quarter built by the Government for the defence personnel. I didn't have a fabulous wardrobe or matching accessories to go with, something that I have now. We used to pillion ride behind my father's old bicycle. Going out was a very rare affair, movie watching was four times a month. But, no real outing! We (me and my kid brother) used to go to school by a rickshaw ( three wheeler vehicle) for a year and then by the bus!
We used to go on a vacation once a year, through the train, a 36 hour long journey from Delhi to Chennai. No A/C, we had endure the sweltering heat that was gifted upon us by the Indian summer, but we had nothing to complain. We were just HAPPY to watch the fields and trees on the either side of tracks pass by and let the air caress our face, happy to munch what our mother had packed for us, not outside food was bought! We played and interacted with the neighbourhood kids. Our games ranged from hide and seek to catching one another through the streets, climbing trees, or just building up ghost stories with what we had overheard while the adults were talking. There was so much of interaction with the neighbourhood unlike today's kids who spend most of their time either in front of the IDIOT BOX or the Computer.
We all live in BIG houses but our hearts have become SMALL. We possess so many materialistic things, but are not SATISFIED! We have amassed WEALTH, but are ignoring our HEALTH?! We have a beautiful FAMILY, but are unable to spend QUALITY TIME with the people we love! We have many FRIENDS, through social media or from our workplace or neighbourhood, but TRUE ONES? NOT EVEN ONE! With POPULARITY comes PRIDE, and FAKE FRIENDS, GREED AND ENVY OF OTHERS! When we do something to earn other's appreciation, it only brings DISAPPOINTMENT, as we can never live up to the EXPECTATION of others! LOOKS are something that gives us confidence and boost our EGO, but it is IMPERMANENT in nature and one has to WORK REALLY HARD to maintain that, even then, after a certain time age starts to catch up with us and one has to submit to the WAYS OF NATURE! Again, POWER is impermanent too! We will be surrounded by so many people when we have POWER and become so very lonely the moment it's GONE! MATERIALISTIC POSSESSIONS are either hard earned or handed down to us through our family, and again CANNOT be ours forever and it takes a GREAT DEAL OF INTELLIGENCE AND HARD WORK to maintain!
Anything materialistic requires EFFORT AND TIME to maintain, but also gives the beautiful 6-lettered word, i;e STRESS, And with the arrival of STRESS, our PEACE IS LOST! So, in my humble opinion, if we get attached to any of the aforementioned things, it'd just end up making us UNHAPPY! I'm not saying that one must lead the life of a monk and stay away from the WORLD, but I think that one must work really hard to accomplish one's GOALS, but never LOSE SIGHT of where our REAL HAPPINESS lies! It is INTERNAL!
PEOPLE COME AND GO! MATERIALISTIC POSSESSIONS ARE ACQUIRED AND LOST, BUT IF ONE REMAINS OR PRACTISES DETACHED ATTACHMENT REMEMBERING THAT "CHANGE IS THE ONLY PERMANENT THING", ONE CAN BE HAPPY FOREVER!
I know many might not agree, but as far as I've seen or experienced, POEPLE WHO ARE NOT AT PEACE WITH THEMSELVES, ARE NEVER HAPPY WITH ANYTHING ELSE, THEY ARE LIKE A BOTTOMLESS PIT! NO MATTER HOW MUCH IS LOADED IN, IT NEVER GETS FULL!
Again, some of my notions may be immature, but AS I'M ON THE PROCESS OF LEARNING, PLEASE FORGIVE AND BEAR WITH ME!
Everyone's Friend,
Lakshmi! :-)))
WEALTH
HEALTH,
FAMILY,
HAVING FRIENDS,
POPULARITY,
APPRECIATION,
LOOKS,
POWER,
MATERIALSTIC POSSESSION, ......... AND SO ON ........
As a child I experienced a very ordinary life as my father was employed in the defence services. His salary was nothing compared to what people make nowadays. Youngsters now, receive a monthly salary of what was my father's lifetime of earning! We used to live in a quarter built by the Government for the defence personnel. I didn't have a fabulous wardrobe or matching accessories to go with, something that I have now. We used to pillion ride behind my father's old bicycle. Going out was a very rare affair, movie watching was four times a month. But, no real outing! We (me and my kid brother) used to go to school by a rickshaw ( three wheeler vehicle) for a year and then by the bus!
We used to go on a vacation once a year, through the train, a 36 hour long journey from Delhi to Chennai. No A/C, we had endure the sweltering heat that was gifted upon us by the Indian summer, but we had nothing to complain. We were just HAPPY to watch the fields and trees on the either side of tracks pass by and let the air caress our face, happy to munch what our mother had packed for us, not outside food was bought! We played and interacted with the neighbourhood kids. Our games ranged from hide and seek to catching one another through the streets, climbing trees, or just building up ghost stories with what we had overheard while the adults were talking. There was so much of interaction with the neighbourhood unlike today's kids who spend most of their time either in front of the IDIOT BOX or the Computer.
We all live in BIG houses but our hearts have become SMALL. We possess so many materialistic things, but are not SATISFIED! We have amassed WEALTH, but are ignoring our HEALTH?! We have a beautiful FAMILY, but are unable to spend QUALITY TIME with the people we love! We have many FRIENDS, through social media or from our workplace or neighbourhood, but TRUE ONES? NOT EVEN ONE! With POPULARITY comes PRIDE, and FAKE FRIENDS, GREED AND ENVY OF OTHERS! When we do something to earn other's appreciation, it only brings DISAPPOINTMENT, as we can never live up to the EXPECTATION of others! LOOKS are something that gives us confidence and boost our EGO, but it is IMPERMANENT in nature and one has to WORK REALLY HARD to maintain that, even then, after a certain time age starts to catch up with us and one has to submit to the WAYS OF NATURE! Again, POWER is impermanent too! We will be surrounded by so many people when we have POWER and become so very lonely the moment it's GONE! MATERIALISTIC POSSESSIONS are either hard earned or handed down to us through our family, and again CANNOT be ours forever and it takes a GREAT DEAL OF INTELLIGENCE AND HARD WORK to maintain!
Anything materialistic requires EFFORT AND TIME to maintain, but also gives the beautiful 6-lettered word, i;e STRESS, And with the arrival of STRESS, our PEACE IS LOST! So, in my humble opinion, if we get attached to any of the aforementioned things, it'd just end up making us UNHAPPY! I'm not saying that one must lead the life of a monk and stay away from the WORLD, but I think that one must work really hard to accomplish one's GOALS, but never LOSE SIGHT of where our REAL HAPPINESS lies! It is INTERNAL!
PEOPLE COME AND GO! MATERIALISTIC POSSESSIONS ARE ACQUIRED AND LOST, BUT IF ONE REMAINS OR PRACTISES DETACHED ATTACHMENT REMEMBERING THAT "CHANGE IS THE ONLY PERMANENT THING", ONE CAN BE HAPPY FOREVER!
I know many might not agree, but as far as I've seen or experienced, POEPLE WHO ARE NOT AT PEACE WITH THEMSELVES, ARE NEVER HAPPY WITH ANYTHING ELSE, THEY ARE LIKE A BOTTOMLESS PIT! NO MATTER HOW MUCH IS LOADED IN, IT NEVER GETS FULL!
Again, some of my notions may be immature, but AS I'M ON THE PROCESS OF LEARNING, PLEASE FORGIVE AND BEAR WITH ME!
Everyone's Friend,
Lakshmi! :-)))
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