There is no price to be paid for
happiness. Yet it is the most prized and priceless possession!
I
met a young man just now who said he had chosen to lead the marketing function
for an institution that groomed next gen leaders, instead of joining a tech
start-up, because the marketing role was closer to his idea of “happiness”. I
salute the young man. How many people really care to follow their bliss, or
choose to do what gives them joy? Most people’s choices are driven by the
earning potential these choices offer than by the opportunity to be happy doing
what they end up doing!
You
cannot be happy by working harder, being more successful or by having more
wealth. You can be happy only by being yourself. Your natural state is
happiness. And if you are unhappy, it is in going back to that native state is
where you will find happiness again. Within you. That state can be found by
stopping to think who we think we are. You are not your degree, you are not
your position, you are not your apartment or car or bank balance. You are you.
Just you.
I
met someone, a noted movie actor, sometime ago who was saying he was upset with
the way certain sections of the industry were treating him. He was well past his
prime but felt he must still be treated like a star. And he was suffering
because of the way some young turks in the industry were ignoring him. His
suffering came from his idea of himself. Not from his real Self. His real Self
was pristine, past its professional prime, but beautiful, remarkable and
talented. But his idea of himself as a star was hurting him. That was the cause
of his unhappiness.
There
is no blame game in this. All of us have a skewed idea of who we are. Because
we are often asked this question – ‘what do you do?” So, we end up thinking
that we need to have a calling card, a vocation, a social perch, a money-making
crutch to answer a question that really means ‘who are you’ but is disguised as
‘what do you do?’. Now if you answered this question saying I am a doctor, a
lawyer, an actor or a teacher, you are fine; you are socially correct and
‘respectable’ therefore. But supposing you said, in response to the ‘what do
you do?’ question: ‘I live’ or ‘I enjoy’ or ‘I just be’, you would be seen as a
‘socially (in)different being’. But those answers are the ones that really
pertain to you. And if you understand the question, understand the answers to
be true, only then will you understand happiness.
Happiness is loving what is. Simple.
So, stop wanting and start being. You will be happy. Instantaneously!
No comments:
Post a Comment