Happiness is here, in the now. It is the “truth”. The
tragedy is you are unhappy because you are not present in the now!
I remember a story. There once lived a boy,
whose family was very wealthy. His father was a workaholic who only wanted to ensure
that he made more and more money and that all his wealth was safe. He had no
time for his wife and son. One day the father took the boy on a trip to the
country, where he aimed to show his son, how poor people live. The father hoped
that if the son understood poverty he would grow up to be a responsible lad and
a worthy successor to him. So they arrived at the farm of a very poor family,
as regarded by the father. They spent a few days there. Upon returning home,
the father asked his son if he liked the trip.
“Oh, it was great, dad,” the boy replied.
“Did you notice, how poor people live,” asked
the father.
“Yeah, I did,” said the boy.
The father asked his son to enlist his
learnings from the trip.
The boy took a deep breath and went on to share his learnings: “Well, we have
only one dog, and they have four of them. In our garden there is a pool, while
they have a river, that has no end. We’ve got expensive lanterns, but they have
stars above their heads at night. We have the patio, and they have the whole
horizon. We have only a small piece of land, while they have the endless
fields. We buy food, but they grow it. We have a high fence for protection of
our property, and they don‘t need it, as their friends protect them. They are
always happy.”
The father was stunned. He could not say a word.
Then the boy added: “Thank you, dad, for letting me see how poor and how unhappy
we are.”
The boy spoke a truth that we often don’t see.
In our obsession to build our careers and accumulate assets we are sometimes
missing out on simply being – happy! Happiness has become a pursuit whereas it
is always within you. Imagine wearing your glasses on your forehead and
searching for them all over the house. That’s what we are doing with happiness
as well. We can be happy right away, just now, but we are so consumed by our
work, careers, meetings and schedules that we end up missing that opportunity to
be happy in each moment that we are alive.
My young daughter recently introduced me to
Pharrell Williams whose song “Happy” (from
Despicable
Me 2 / G I R L) is a big hit on social media. I heard the
song and instantly liked it. It has simple lyrics and the most significant part
of the song, the hook, gets you going…
…Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do…
Virginia-born Williams, a song-writer, rapper
and musician, is just 40 but he sure knows what people across the want to be. They
want to be happy. Williams’ “Happy” song has become the template
for thousands of videos and covers on YouTube that show people in different settings,
from different backgrounds, in different countries and cities just letting go
and sharing with us what they do when they are happy. The videos have a certain
beauty – a rawness, a refreshing, energizing quality in them. They are cool
because the people in them are not acting. They are just themselves – being who
they are and happy! In the “Happy Bangalore” video, for instance, the conductor
and driver of a KSRTC bus are goofing off, grooving to Williams’ song. In
another Indian city, a middle-aged lady is really enjoying her jig on the
street. To me, Williams’ idea of the song and his appeal to people to “clap along if you know what happiness is to you”
is the best thing that could have happened to the world in recent times.
Whether it is Barcelona or Berlin or Bangalore or Boston, people are shedding
all their inhibitions, letting go of all their pain and worries, and are showing
off how happy they are. Sustaining this energy and continuing to be happy despite
the circumstances will require a more determined, personal effort! But at least
Williams, like a Pied Piper, has led the way.
Catch the “Happy” virus here Pharrell Williams Happy and hopefully we
will see your own cover version of the song on YouTube soon?
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