The pursuit of happiness...

Well, I finally cleaned up 60% of the disaster zone (my room) yesterday evening (may be it was not as dirty as I thought it to be) and I really felt good about it. Guess I will be doing the rest of it between today evening and tomorrow.

While looking for some information on the internet, I read somewhere that “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather a skid sideways, chocolate in one hand and your favorite drink in the other, totally worn out and screaming –what a ride!” Wish it could be that way for everyone :-)

Now, that made me think, a time comes in everyone's life when in the midst of all our anxiety and fears, we stop dead in our tracks and a little voice in our head screams “enough is enough”. Enough fighting, crying and struggling to hold on to that last bit of sanity.  And just like a child after a blind tantrum, we begin to calm down and see the world in a new light. 

Now, what about happiness here? Is it fleeting? May be, it really is fleeting. Because we never make an effort to really hold onto it. I feel that sometimes our fears or our ambitions surface too strongly to wash away the happiness and we are left yearning for it again. Probably, this cycle repeats itself carelessly.

Naturally, the next question here is what can we do about it?

There are some people around us, especially our friends who really care for us and always have the best intentions for us. They are all there for a reason. We should hold on to them like a thirsty man holds on to water. These people might vary at different points in our life but happiness will elude us without them.  Probably, we can also try not to harbor any hatred for anyone however bad they might have behaved towards us. This only increases our tensions and affects our health. We need not nullify who we actually are because someone hates us. We humans always tend to believe that the grass is always greener on the other side. But in reality, it is always better to assess and count the blessings which we already have because the other road will always not lead to happiness.  Most importantly, it is always better to define the set of people whose opinion genuinely matters to us. Otherwise we might end up caring or pleasing people who are indifferent, insensitive and narrow-minded. It is best to cultivate multiple interests or even revive our old hobbies and passions. When the going gets rough, these interests might act as cushions for us to fall back on. I know that it is easier said than done. But trust me - reviving an old passion really is a great stress buster.
  

I can go on and on and on. But let me tell you. The simplest thing that anyone can do to bring back some happiness however momentary or fleeting it might be is to smile. On a tiresome and frustrated day, a genuine smile could be all that a person needs. 

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it. - Groucho Marx