What is your definition of ‘Happiness’? Have you ever pondered on why your monkey mind keeps jumping from one ‘accomplishment tree’ to the other?
According to my observation Happiness is a ‘Variable’. A variable is something that will keep changing with the passage of time or other dependent factors. Your happiness can never be constant, it can be Consistent for a particular duration but never permanent. The things you want today, may not be required by you tomorrow and vice-versa. That’s the exact reason why your monkey mind is jumping from one accomplishment tree to the other.
It took me a long time to realize that what really made me happy has never been a constant. I used to find myself being unhappy or constantly complaining about the things that were not there or were missing from my life. We all have been big ‘complainers’ at some point in our journey, from complaining about the day not going according to your plan or complaining about the luxuries that you can’t afford. Unhappiness is often dragged in by this ‘complaining’ and ‘regretting’.
The view from where you are seeing your life, might not be the same for another person. People usually suggest a change in perspective or to consider somebody else’s point of view, when we are stuck under certain circumstances. It’s true, a change of perspective helps, and so does a different point of view. What may not be a happy lifestyle for you, might be a mere dream for another.
One person’s candy is often another one’s meal.
In a TEDx Talk by Barry Margerum – 2018, he said that, “Because we want everything to go the way we want when the world is a windy road, we get stressed out.”
Since childhood we have been told to be cautious, to be away from the uncertainties, to play safe and be safe. What happens in reality is, that there is no such thing as a ‘Predictable life’. There is a reason why we don’t get a manual on ‘how to live’ the day we are born. But we still can try to create our own manual for ‘being a happy soul in the midst of a windy road’.
“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” – Charles Dickens.
People nowadays have started keeping a gratitude diary, and it indeed helps in lifting up the fog in front of our eyes that prevents us from seeing happiness in little moments. I myself have been maintaining a Gratitude diary for some time now and it really cheers me up to see that, ‘if noticed’ many little things happening around you each day can bring abundant happiness!
Make sure to train your eyes for seeing the good in uncertainties. Life will always be Unpredictable and you can’t keep blaming it for your failed expectations. If you really want to be happy, just try creating your own happiness by having a change in your perspective. No matter how hard it may seem, it will be worth it because you will be choosing your own happiness instead of just doing nothing and frowning over the unchangeable past.
Well, we all know that Happiness is truly a ‘Gift’, and I really hope that you are able to find your happiness in the “Present”.