THE GOAL IS TO BE HAPPY, NOT TO LOOK HAPPY

All the books, literature, knowledgebase which has ever crossed our eyes, must have expressed happiness and success as a reward and not as an effort. Efforts are the values or qualities we put on, in a hope of something to happen. Those values can be hard-work, perseverance, attitude, mindset, warmth, patience, understanding, compassion, love and so on. Success and happiness are the resultant actions of above intentions. I have my own definition of happiness which may sound weird at times, but I thoroughly believe in it. My holistic understanding of happiness lies in the root of 1 to 3 years old toddler. If you meet a toddler, whom you had met before few days and he recognizes you perfectly, then that is the most concentrated form of happiness. They have no developed brain to remember you, but they truly have their own tiny memory cells which can identity you the next time you meet them. They voice their remembrance with their hands, their eyes, their smile, their efforts to come to you, and multiple. They have no differentiation bar on anything. If you have genuinely loved them when you first met, they are bound to come to you when you meet again.

I remember a short story which I read in one of the articles. A well-known industrialist was at peak of his career. Highest acclaims, recognitions, fame, money, respect became his synonym. Everything was under his feet, but he felt like he was somehow searching for something “unknown”. He finally had an encounter with “unknown” which could satisfy his soul. He curtained-off this unknown during one of his public interviews. The question he was subjected to was, where did he find real happiness amongst all that he has achieved. We expect monotonous reply from such celebrities, but his response chimed like a rainbow in the world of black and white. His response looked even more convincing as he placed emphasis on his feelings while explaining. Not all conversations are supposed to end in a result or argument. Few deserves to be truly heard, as is.

He elucidated like a teacher, “I had to transform myself between phases to understand real meaning of happiness. I initially defined happiness as a material gain and means to create wealth. With this, I could not even see the happiness I wanted to touch and feel. I shifted my focus to gain valuables, but its luster did not last long. Then I tried to broaden my window of happiness and curtailed myself from small things as I assumed that happiness is hefty. I struggled, worked hard, and got massive projects like owning a sports team, buying antic and luxuries places but real happiness still looked too far for me. I decided to stop for a while before gazing again into everything to find happiness.

Few days went by and as a part of annual work, I and my friend helped few under privileged kids in an Ashram. I do not prefer to personally go at such places but this time my friend insisted to visit. I went to the Ashram with him and did the proceedings. I had no clue that the next moment would change me forever. I was stepping out the Ashram room full of kids when I was setback by two soft hands wrapped around my leg. I understood that this innocent touch was priceless. I installed myself on the ground near the boy who was making himself comfortable in his new wheelchair. I asked him, “Do you want anything else?”. His response made me glow like a sun, not for my deed towards him but because of his gesture towards me. Few incidents and words make us feel too small and precisely, they are the most invaluable experiences one can ask for. I was awestruck to discern the thought, this miniaturized mind could invent. He said “I want to remember your face so when we meet in heaven, I can recognize you to say Thank You Once Again”. I could not utter a single word to him. The only thing I said to myself was, “The wait was not punishment. It was a preparation for really huge in form of these minute hands.” I not only feel extremely happy from within after that incident, I even learnt to endorse unsung and unseen happiness one imparts to another.

Not all inspiring stories are based on the length of time spent, but on magnitude of foundation built. It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice