Happiness!! Isn't it something
that we never understood but we always wanted to savor? But what is happiness? How
can we achieve it? Is it available on sale? Is there any way we can earn it? Can
we live with it forever?
Seems pretty difficult questions.
We may try few random answers but as you go on thinking deeper, you never get
to the bottom of these answers. And wait! If you all are expecting me to answer
these questions here, today, in my blog then you are wrong! I am just going to
tell you all wonderful people a short sweet story!
As it goes… Once upon a time when
the Sun was still round and the frogs still made that queer sound and the trees
still grew from the ground; there was a city well known all across the globe. In
that noisy city lived two twins. Sonu and Monu, like any other
twins they two loved each other a lot no matter what happened and how far their
sibling quarrels went.
When they stood facing each
other, people wondered if it was only one and the other a mirror. They looked
exact the same only difference, Sonu was seven and half minutes older than Monu. They
had studied separately but grew together. They had different tastes but shared
everything. They now worked in separate firms but lived together. To look at,
no one could make out who was who among them, but being with them also made no
difference, they both were equally patience and soft spoken.
As days passed, Sonu started noticing changes in
Monu. Monu was growing restless, his face clearly reflected the depression in
his heart. It was a clear bright full moon day’s night with the thousands of
naughty little stars twinkling at each other as though they were cracking PJs
and having fun among themselves and a big round white ball, just like a
weightless cotton ball freely floating in the air, when Monu was sitting on his
armchair and staring at the night sky without really enjoying the beautifully
lit sky.
Sonu walked into Monu’s room and
placed his hand on Monu’s shoulder. Suddenly waking up from his thoughts, Monu
turned back and looked blankly at his brother. Sonu smiled peacefully and sat
on the bed beside the armchair and looked outside the huge window. The silence
prevailed for few minutes.
Breaking the silence, Sonu said, “Monu,
do you notice that tiny little star between the three bright stars?”
“Where?”
Sonu got up and moved across to
the window. Pointing his arm towards a group of stars, he said, “Right over
there, two stars are very bright and the third one is little dull. Right in
between those is a tiny little star. It looks so small, but when it shines just
look at it. It has the strength of overpowering all three of them only if it was
nearer to us”
“Yeah right”
The silence again grew. After few
minutes, Sonu said, “What’s the problem Monu? Why are you depressed these days?
I haven’t seen you happy since a week. Is there something bothering you?”
Monu turned at his brother for a
second and then again turning back to the sky, “I am not sure what is biting me”
he continued, “but something is really wrong with me. I am not able to find
happiness in anything that I do. I am not finding any success. Whatever I do,
whereever I go it just seems that everything is irritating me.”
“This is pretty bad Monu. Why
dint you tell me before?”
“I don’t know Sonu. I just don’t know
what to do. How to set things right? All this has been drilling my mind since a
week.”
“It’s so easy. Just walk back and
mend everything that went wrong and be the same as you were earlier. Everything
will start falling in place and as they say, ‘Time heals everything!’”
“Yes Sonu you are right. That’s what
I had decided to do tomorrow. But…” Monu break in between and fell short of
words. He was still lost in searching the brightest star in the sky.
“But what?” Sonu asked.
“But what if nothing falls in
place. Even if everything falls in place but will it be the same after that? What
if
I start feeling the same again?
What if I grow more depressed? It seems to me that happiness is a myth”
Sonu, suddenly turning towards
his brother said, “No Monu. Why are you speaking like that? Happiness is not a
myth. It’s just everywhere, it’s in you, around you, it’s in air we breathe, it’s
in the water that we drink, it’s just in everything we do everything we feel
and what not.”
“Then why am I missing it Sonu?
Can you tell me how can I get that happiness?”
“Monu! It’s the simplest thing in
the world. Imagine happiness as Oxygen and everything else as other components
of air. Now when you have air around you, you will definitely intake it all,
including the dust, the smell and even this Oxygen. It’s then deep in your
body, the air is filtered nicely and your body chooses only the Oxygen and kicks off the
rest.”
“Sonu, I am not getting” Monu said
looking at Sonu with his eyes wide open and his jaws dropped down.
Smiling at his brother, Sonu
continued, “You got the Oxygen part? Right?”
“Yep” Monu nodded, still with his
eyes wide open.
“Now coming onto happiness.
Whatever you intake is a mix of everything brother. You just have to filter out
the rest and grasp in the happiness. You will have to feel that happiness,
enjoy it and then respond back.
Now look you saw the sky, what
did you see? Practically nothing. Because you were busy enough not to filter
out what you took in. I was free enough to filter my view and notice that tiny
little star shine brightly and found happiness in that.”
The expression on Monu was
changing but his eyes were still wide open while he turned to find that tiny
little star.
Leaving Monu to enjoy the picturesque
view of the sky, Sonu continued, “Now Monu imagine you are working hard at your
office and suddenly your manager comes barking at you. Do
you take in that? Yes you would. But I will never take it in. I will listen to
him, take in if his words have any work or advice for me and forget the rest.
They are the dust particles. Instead I just simply turn back to my laptop,
start working, do my work, and enjoy a cup of coffee, because that’s Oxygen. That’s
were happiness lies.
You are having a chat with your
friend. Something turns up and he suddenly irritates you or annoys you. You
have choice on how you react. Either shout back on him, start a quarrel, turn
the environment sour, end up in a disgusted quarrel resulting in a bad mood and
hurt friendship. Else, think for a moment, filter out his anger, understand his
position, take in the real friendship that existed among you guys, console him,
if you fail, change the topic, if even that turns useless, just remain silent. When he is
back out of his anger you will be the first person he would talk to and thank. That’s
happiness. Wasn’t it easy to filter?
You are rushing to office and
almost running on the pavement when a car speeding by spills dirt onto your
trousers. You shout at the guy without getting anything. Curse yourself. Scold
your luck. Hate the world. Kick the pavement. Decide not to vote the government
and by then you are left with nothing more to think and reach office late with
rest of your day spoilt. But if, in the same situation, imagine you spend a
moment filtering the things and taking in the right decision and giving out the
right reaction by ignoring the car, decide to be more careful next time, hurry
to the office, wash off the dirt, walk to your seat, tap on the shoulders of
your teammate, crack a little joke on what happened, ask him for coffee and
then start work. You know now what you did?”
Monu nodded his head signaling a
big NO.
“You just chose happiness dumb! Imagine you are sitting with your
girlfriend.”
Watching Monu blush, Sonu stopped
for a second and then continued, “Monu. I said to imagine, you don’t really
have a girlfriend. Now stop blushing like a girl and listen.”
Monu’s face turned serious and he
tried punching Sonu on his right shoulder. Escaping the punch, Sonu continued, “Now
you are with your girlfriend sitting in a Coffee shop having a nice talk.
Suddenly something turns wrong. She starts yelling at you. But you remain
calm and console her. If not successful then let the time do its magic. You chose
happiness and saved your wonderful relationship.
Let me tell you one more situation.
You have been assigned to a new project. You are learning new thing, working
hard, spending your whole day, but still nothing is working out. Results aren’t
coming in. You start getting irritated. Curse the project and start hating
everything. See now you just took in dust instead of Oxygen and that will only
result in bad health!
Instead you stay calm, start
thinking back. Find out solutions, learn again and again. Take help, take
advice. Rearrange your work. Start all over again. Aim at the results and
concentrate on the work. You now took in the Oxygen and that would only result
in a better delivery of your project, which is nothing but a good health and nice
mood, which is nothing but happiness!
A guy stares at you in bus, smile
at him, else ignore him and look at the beautiful world outside. A guy is
sleeping our shoulder in train, get up from the seat walk to the door and enjoy
the cool breeze. You drop coffee, look at the design the flowing coffee is
making and try to make out the map of the country the design is resembling instead of cribbing. You
fail in a test, concentrate more on your studies, and enjoy the subject. You
are getting beaten from you teacher and feel ashamed, it’s your mistake, stop
cursing your teacher and your fellow friends for laughing at you and stop thinking it as end
of your schooling, instead learn from it and prove him that you just changed
into a boy he always wanted you to be and your fellow classmates
start admiring the boy at whom they were laughing few days ago. You don’t get recognized
for your team award, forget it, work hard, else look out for what you missed
and make that up. You had a quarrel with your wife, ignore it, instead walk
into the house in evening carrying a bouquet of roses and surprise her. The
food isn’t tasting good, adjust, it’s not your last meal. You are sweating
badly in a queue, and the smell is driving you crazy, try holding your breath
and look at your watch for how many seconds you can do so and remember the
times you played the breath holding games with your friends in swimming pool.
You watch sunrise, pick the
beauty. You go to a waterfall, try enjoying the chilled water. You are walking alone
on a road completely exhausted, pick the cool breeze and the wagging tail of dog trying to pick its
best food from the garbage. You watch a film forcefully, try having fun among
the lines of the film, or else enjoying the heroine's beauty. You end up waiting for
your friend on a sunny sweating day in front of shop, stop being annoyed and
use the time in having a soft drink or taking a stroll in the shop or noticing
a naughty little boy licking the ice cream that melted and flowed down on his arm till his elbow and his mother trying to avoid him in doing that while opening her wallet
to take out her hankie to swipe off the ice cream off his arm.”
Monu was now smiling imagining
all these little things and the happiness that popped out from them. He was lost in a world of his own. It seemed his body was now being
transformed into the minute Alveoli of the Lungs that observe only the Oxygen
into the blood! He, in his heart, now pledged he would always take a moment and
think twice and would choose the right reaction he would give on every action
that happened on him.
His face that portrayed a sullen silence
since week was now glowing brightly like the small kid carelessly licking ice
cream off his arm.
He turned at Sonu and his eyes
were already thanking his brother. Sonu was also smiling happily noticing the
change in his brother’s face.
After a silence of few seconds,
Monu turned back at Sonu and asked, “Sonu, how did you manage all this?”
Sonu smiled at him and said, “Few
years ago, when I was travelling in bus, I noticed the writing on the back of a
Truck. There was a long line written on it, with may be ten to fifteen words.
But because of the speed of the bus, I could read only the first four letters.”
“What were those?” Monu asked,
not able to control his curiosity.
“They were, ‘Happiness is a Choice’”
“I am happy I could read only
those and chose in only those words”
“Did you never bothered about the
remaining part of that sentence?”
“Monu, as I read that, I then and
there itself made a choice of not bothering about the rest and from that moment
my application of ‘Happiness is a Choice’
started. I had got the message what I needed.”
“Very true Sonu. Happiness is
definitely a choice. I will from now on make the right choices.” Monu said
turning back at the tiny little star which was still shining naughtily challenging the other bigger stars!
I would like to take a moment more in telling you readers that the
topic on Happiness was suggested to me by one of my SundayReader…
And, the quote ‘Happiness is Choice’ is inspired from the “Mr. Monk
Goes Camping” episode of my favorite serial, Monk…
Vishal…
