"All men seek happiness without exception. They all aim at this goal however different the means they use to attain it."
No, it’s not bad to seek for one’s own happiness. But sometimes we get so much engrossed in our own happiness that we fail to see anyone else standing beside us. We are unable to see beyond us, beyond our world. If we just want our own happiness, at whatever costs that may take, (to hell with others), perhaps we may attain our happiness one day, perhaps….. (because now that we are focusing on only one thing – our happiness). But will that be sustainable? Sustainable for a longer period of time?? Today we want this, may be tomorrow we would no more like that thing, we would start loving something else!!
For most of us, perhaps nothing matters more than us….. our problems, to us, our miseries seem to be the biggest of all in the whole world! Who cares if the child I am teaching is upset about getting lesser marks… I am more upset because I am getting lesser salary for teaching this kid! Most of the time, we can’t see for others…. But thinking only about ourselves, our happiness all the time will and can never give us sustainable happiness, for sure. Sometimes we need to see the world beyond us…….we need to understand others as well.
We are so engrossed within ourselves, we want our happiness, and at the earliest. We can’t wait any longer if that happiness is taking a bit longer to come! We might have enjoyed the best of times a few years ago, we might have experienced some of the magical moments just a few moments ago…but we can’t think of those moments, those good times to ever end……. We want them to stay as long as we want to……. Because we want to remain happy all the time!
But why do we forget that after a full day's sunshine, the sun has to go away, and darkness has to set in to take it's place? That’s the rule….. nothing will stay for ever….. if today we are having the best of times, tomorrow we mayn’t be having that luxury…so should we start cursing? Why can’t we wait a bit longer…for those happier times to return back? Why can't we show some patience? Why do we always put all the blame on God…Why has to He be our favourite punching bag all the time? If something good is happening to us, we forget Him, but as soon as something bad happens, we start cursing Him. Is He doing all this to only us, for virtually no reason? We hold Him responsible for all our misfotunes. During our good times, we may n’t be praying Him, we were busy with ourselves! But as soon as something bad happens, we come running to Him. And if He takes a bit of longer time to solve that problem, we start cursing Him! It’s because of Him only that we are in this misery…isn’t it? The thing is, we can never look onto ourselves, I mean, our mistakes, because we feel we never make any and so never deserved any bad time to befell us, at any moment! Whatever good happens, it’s because we did good, so got good results. But if something bad is happening with us, it’s because God is doing such with us, He is being partial with us……..
We mayn’t understand this…… but He still never hits back at us, when we curse Him for our bad times. That’s why we can never be like Him! He still will accommodate us within Himself.
Coming back to the topic, it is not seeking our own happiness that is selfish; it is seeking our own private happiness at the expense of others that is so. I just need to be normal and wait for the bad phases to go away, till then just carry on and go on and on... but I don't need to fake being happy.
…Because others sense and respond to my happiness, I now understand, one of the best ways to serve others is to be happy. I don’t mean faking happiness, as some do when they smile and claim to be happy but are unhappy and dissatisfied on the inside. Others can very well sense whether we are actually happy or are faking our happiness. What I mean to say is that by remaining content and happy with whatever we are having right now in our lives, we will also be able to improve our relationships wioth people around us, we will be able to spread positivity. As a result, happiness is bound to come to us sooner than later.
I have indeed found that when I treat my life with a positive approach, others too around me found me friendly and welcomed me into their lives. No one wishes to be around a glum person but everyone would want to be with a cheerful one. Before even strangers used to look away but now even they have started to greet me with a smile, reciprocating my smiles. My friends and family have started coming to me more often now and my relationship with them never felt so stronger and deeper before. I have now learnt how to create happiness around me and inside me. I don’t need to tell everyone that I am feeling good, even a simple smile produces the positive effect almost instantly.
If I want to make others happy, I need to be happy myself, I need to know what it feels like to be happy! Being happy within oneself is indeed a very good habit. It's only when we are happy can we make others happy too, not otherwise. We can't pretend to be happy when from inside we are unhappy about something or the other. We only need to accept things, the failings, the sad times and move on. Nothing is this world is perfect, we can only see that perfectness in movies…. Not in real life. Though directors and producers, the movie actors will keep on saying that movies are taken from real life!! But in reality, we need to learn to accept things as they are, not by how the things should be; as to how we want them to be!!! We can never ever be happy when we keep cribbing about this and that, if we keep on looking at just the negative things in everything ---- this glass is half-empty, I am not that taller, I am dark-skinned etc etc….. why can’t we say that the glass is half full!
One of the easiest signs by which you can tell that you are thinking too much about something not being perfect is when you start complaining. Whatever it is that you are complaining about, it’s obviously something you don’t like (or why would you be complaining?). If it’s something you don’t like, why are you wasting your time and energy thinking about it? Spending energy on something gives it importance in your life, whether that energy is negative or positive. However much impact something has in your life, in who you are, is determined by how much importance you give it.
So in short - we can all find what makes us happy and hold on to it and enjoy it. We can make that happiness to last a bit longer if we can share it with someone else. Because not only us but everyone else too deserves to be happy.
No, it’s not bad to seek for one’s own happiness. But sometimes we get so much engrossed in our own happiness that we fail to see anyone else standing beside us. We are unable to see beyond us, beyond our world. If we just want our own happiness, at whatever costs that may take, (to hell with others), perhaps we may attain our happiness one day, perhaps….. (because now that we are focusing on only one thing – our happiness). But will that be sustainable? Sustainable for a longer period of time?? Today we want this, may be tomorrow we would no more like that thing, we would start loving something else!!
For most of us, perhaps nothing matters more than us….. our problems, to us, our miseries seem to be the biggest of all in the whole world! Who cares if the child I am teaching is upset about getting lesser marks… I am more upset because I am getting lesser salary for teaching this kid! Most of the time, we can’t see for others…. But thinking only about ourselves, our happiness all the time will and can never give us sustainable happiness, for sure. Sometimes we need to see the world beyond us…….we need to understand others as well.
We are so engrossed within ourselves, we want our happiness, and at the earliest. We can’t wait any longer if that happiness is taking a bit longer to come! We might have enjoyed the best of times a few years ago, we might have experienced some of the magical moments just a few moments ago…but we can’t think of those moments, those good times to ever end……. We want them to stay as long as we want to……. Because we want to remain happy all the time!
But why do we forget that after a full day's sunshine, the sun has to go away, and darkness has to set in to take it's place? That’s the rule….. nothing will stay for ever….. if today we are having the best of times, tomorrow we mayn’t be having that luxury…so should we start cursing? Why can’t we wait a bit longer…for those happier times to return back? Why can't we show some patience? Why do we always put all the blame on God…Why has to He be our favourite punching bag all the time? If something good is happening to us, we forget Him, but as soon as something bad happens, we start cursing Him. Is He doing all this to only us, for virtually no reason? We hold Him responsible for all our misfotunes. During our good times, we may n’t be praying Him, we were busy with ourselves! But as soon as something bad happens, we come running to Him. And if He takes a bit of longer time to solve that problem, we start cursing Him! It’s because of Him only that we are in this misery…isn’t it? The thing is, we can never look onto ourselves, I mean, our mistakes, because we feel we never make any and so never deserved any bad time to befell us, at any moment! Whatever good happens, it’s because we did good, so got good results. But if something bad is happening with us, it’s because God is doing such with us, He is being partial with us……..
We mayn’t understand this…… but He still never hits back at us, when we curse Him for our bad times. That’s why we can never be like Him! He still will accommodate us within Himself.
Coming back to the topic, it is not seeking our own happiness that is selfish; it is seeking our own private happiness at the expense of others that is so. I just need to be normal and wait for the bad phases to go away, till then just carry on and go on and on... but I don't need to fake being happy.
…Because others sense and respond to my happiness, I now understand, one of the best ways to serve others is to be happy. I don’t mean faking happiness, as some do when they smile and claim to be happy but are unhappy and dissatisfied on the inside. Others can very well sense whether we are actually happy or are faking our happiness. What I mean to say is that by remaining content and happy with whatever we are having right now in our lives, we will also be able to improve our relationships wioth people around us, we will be able to spread positivity. As a result, happiness is bound to come to us sooner than later.
I have indeed found that when I treat my life with a positive approach, others too around me found me friendly and welcomed me into their lives. No one wishes to be around a glum person but everyone would want to be with a cheerful one. Before even strangers used to look away but now even they have started to greet me with a smile, reciprocating my smiles. My friends and family have started coming to me more often now and my relationship with them never felt so stronger and deeper before. I have now learnt how to create happiness around me and inside me. I don’t need to tell everyone that I am feeling good, even a simple smile produces the positive effect almost instantly.
If I want to make others happy, I need to be happy myself, I need to know what it feels like to be happy! Being happy within oneself is indeed a very good habit. It's only when we are happy can we make others happy too, not otherwise. We can't pretend to be happy when from inside we are unhappy about something or the other. We only need to accept things, the failings, the sad times and move on. Nothing is this world is perfect, we can only see that perfectness in movies…. Not in real life. Though directors and producers, the movie actors will keep on saying that movies are taken from real life!! But in reality, we need to learn to accept things as they are, not by how the things should be; as to how we want them to be!!! We can never ever be happy when we keep cribbing about this and that, if we keep on looking at just the negative things in everything ---- this glass is half-empty, I am not that taller, I am dark-skinned etc etc….. why can’t we say that the glass is half full!
One of the easiest signs by which you can tell that you are thinking too much about something not being perfect is when you start complaining. Whatever it is that you are complaining about, it’s obviously something you don’t like (or why would you be complaining?). If it’s something you don’t like, why are you wasting your time and energy thinking about it? Spending energy on something gives it importance in your life, whether that energy is negative or positive. However much impact something has in your life, in who you are, is determined by how much importance you give it.
So in short - we can all find what makes us happy and hold on to it and enjoy it. We can make that happiness to last a bit longer if we can share it with someone else. Because not only us but everyone else too deserves to be happy.
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