Monday, February 14, 2011

Happiness - A state of mind!

We and we alone are responsible for our happiness. People find a 1000 ways to be complex when it is so easy to be simple. There are a 1000 reasons to be happy about, but many people manage to find some reason or the other to be unhappy about. People who always have problems tend to suck out positive energy from us.
These are just some snippets of gyaan that I received of late from a friend in the course of a long discussion. After some pondering, I realize that, these are axioms that we find hard to assimilate, but in themselves, quite elegant in their obvious simplicity. Quite often in life, we worry and fret ourselves to tiredness about mundane things. At these times, if we remember this gyaan, it would do us a lot of good. To begin with, we would ask ourselves, is what we are worrying about worth worrying about in the first place? 

A few years back, after a most memorable outing - when we had went to a village in the outskirts of Bangalore- another friend had said, on the way back, "Nobody in this world is an altruist".  Every now and then, I remember this remark too, though, when it was said so casually then, I was a little jolted. To each, his own interest comes first and it is only natural that, when given free rein, each one of us would try to maximize our own happiness first. In the process, if others feel happy, then, fine, else, how does it matter? On very few occasions, we do endure some agony and unease, but, hardly without a future expectation of reciprocity. Thus, selfless nature seems, at best, a holy myth!

Enjoying the present moment in the best possible manner with the people one feels comfortable with - this is simplicity. As I read in somebody's status message, "Speak your mind because those who matter will always understand and those who don't matter, won't bother".

As we age, the people who matter to us are very few and hard to find. The worst part is, it is difficult to hold on to them. Any person-person relationship becomes much more complex and fragile...it can break so very easily especially when it takes so much effort to build them. 
All of this brings me to the topic. Happiness is just a state of mind. If we resolve to feel happy, no matter what shit happens around us, we can beat the living daylights out of the demons that try to engulf and cloud our thoughts! The rambling post comes to an end here...its highly unorganized, an outcome of a clouded thinking process...as I read the first paragraph, I don't even know what made me write this post.

5 comments:

Surabhi said...

People who matter will always have an influence on the state of mind. One can't really be happy with letting things take their own course.. (may lead to further detailed open discussions)
As one grows old, one can retain friends, relations if one understands that people change according to changing age, priorities, etc.

Pink Mango Tree said...

"There are a 1000 reasons to be happy about, but many people manage to find some reason or the other to be unhappy about" - so true!!!

This is yet another enlightening post for you, Shiva! :)

Shiva said...

@ Surabhi: "One can't really be happy with letting things take their own course.." - I guess, you would agree if I say, we should know where exactly we can change the course of things...

@ Shalini: :) All credit to my friend...

Rajasekar Murugan said...

though tagged as a rambling post,simple,effective,multiple insights as ingredients had been added well along with your sweet end_disclaimer as toppings ;-)
way to go,keep writing. natpudan,raj

Shiva said...

@ Rajasekar: Thanks dude :)