It takes a lot of introspection and knowledge to understand ourselves. This whole journey of life is about getting to know ourselves and our purpose of life. In fact in simple words the purpose is to be "Happy". Think about it, whatever we do, we seek happiness in it. We want to be happy. We do things which give us happiness...however transient. Somewhere in life we lose a track of that purpose of 'happiness' and make other non-issues our priority and everything goes haywire.
If we focus on one simple value "happiness", we will understand that we can not be happy all by ourselves. For me to be be happy it is very important that my children are happy, my family is happy, my extended family is happy, my friends are happy, my helpers are happy, my neighbors are happy, people in my extended circle are happy, my coworkers and colleagues are happy, the people I meet, see, interact or do not interact are happy and so on... Its an endless chain. Otherwise how can a stranger abusing on the road make you unhappy? How can an air-crash miles away leave you with tinge of sorrow? How can a simple news of people dying of hunger leave you so perturbed? But it does happen. Focus back on 'Happiness'. Be aware that Happiness is the key.. so I begin first to keep my kids happy, my family happy, my extended family happy, my friends happy, my helpers happy... and down to the chain, in my every interaction in this world. Its not very easy. You have to keep reminding yourself.
Had a very good session with X class students today morning and I realized one thing that most of us have been brought up on, which is a very wrong premise, is,"There is a cut throat competition, you have to work hard and prove yourself. Somewhere also conveying to be discreet and not share knowledge because "YOU" have to be the best, no matter what." Always trying hard to look the best and trying hard to get the highest marks itself takes away a big chunk of happiness away. No wonder today studies is seen a burden and not some kind of learning to make one happy. I wish we were encouraging children to imbibe knowledge and evolve as happy human beings. All other values are complimentary. If we focus on creating HAPPINESS around us, we will have happiness inside us.
Now coming back to that bit of wisdom that dawned upon me, if we focus on only 'being HAPPY' we will work towards making others also happy and in the process every one will grow with lesser or may be no insecurity. If Bhutan can work on Gross National Happiness, so can we.
I am working towards it. I do stumble, fall n fail but its a constant process of learning to be happy... which is ensuring that I try to be happy by helping others to be happy.. :)
If we focus on one simple value "happiness", we will understand that we can not be happy all by ourselves. For me to be be happy it is very important that my children are happy, my family is happy, my extended family is happy, my friends are happy, my helpers are happy, my neighbors are happy, people in my extended circle are happy, my coworkers and colleagues are happy, the people I meet, see, interact or do not interact are happy and so on... Its an endless chain. Otherwise how can a stranger abusing on the road make you unhappy? How can an air-crash miles away leave you with tinge of sorrow? How can a simple news of people dying of hunger leave you so perturbed? But it does happen. Focus back on 'Happiness'. Be aware that Happiness is the key.. so I begin first to keep my kids happy, my family happy, my extended family happy, my friends happy, my helpers happy... and down to the chain, in my every interaction in this world. Its not very easy. You have to keep reminding yourself.
Had a very good session with X class students today morning and I realized one thing that most of us have been brought up on, which is a very wrong premise, is,"There is a cut throat competition, you have to work hard and prove yourself. Somewhere also conveying to be discreet and not share knowledge because "YOU" have to be the best, no matter what." Always trying hard to look the best and trying hard to get the highest marks itself takes away a big chunk of happiness away. No wonder today studies is seen a burden and not some kind of learning to make one happy. I wish we were encouraging children to imbibe knowledge and evolve as happy human beings. All other values are complimentary. If we focus on creating HAPPINESS around us, we will have happiness inside us.
Now coming back to that bit of wisdom that dawned upon me, if we focus on only 'being HAPPY' we will work towards making others also happy and in the process every one will grow with lesser or may be no insecurity. If Bhutan can work on Gross National Happiness, so can we.
I am working towards it. I do stumble, fall n fail but its a constant process of learning to be happy... which is ensuring that I try to be happy by helping others to be happy.. :)
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ReplyDeleteVery nice article, Mridul, was only thinking, if it takes the whole world(almost), ie. your children, your family, your helpers, your extended family, your neighbours, people in your extended circle, your co-workers and colleagues, everyone you meet or interact with to be happy for you to be happy, how likely is it that you will ever be happy ? And, aren't you abdicating your responsibility to yourself to be happy ? I think(of course, you don't have to agree) we should take personal responsibility to be happy, regardless of how others choose to be or feel, because we cannot control others. I have decided to be happy, and to follow my dreams regardless of others, and I've made this decision after a long period of depression and a bad period extending many years. And it's working, no ? I've made great friends like you and Ashwin.
ReplyDeleteAnd, coming to the second part of your article, it reminds me of what Rancho said in the movie '3 idiots', follow your heart, do what your calling is, and success will follow. There is too much of the culture or mentality of ' follow the herd' wherein we have everyone trying to outshine the others and follow the 'ideal of success' set by society. And this ultimately leads to feelings of disappointment, stress and depression, that result in unhappiness.
I guess what I'm actually getting at is that we should first be happy to help others find happiness, have happiness to share, to encourage others to be happy and we cannot have everybody's being happy as a prerequisite for our being happy. Thanks.
Thank you so much for a detailed analysis. You are very right, yes we need to be happy first. What I say is that lets be happy but not at someone's expense..that is it. And spread happiness..simple. 'I should not be the cause of unpleasantness in someone's life' if I start taking this much care, It will give me happiness. Happiness grows...happiness is natural and happiness is contagious. A happy..I say genuinely, truly happy person will never spread negativity. That is my belief.
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