One Little known fact about Happiness.

by Paul Washington Uduk

I slept and dreamt that life was joy,

I awoke and saw that life was duty,

I acted. And behold, duty was joy.

-Rabindranath Tagore

Are you happy?

Seriously, do you feel happy?

Everything you need to be happy is already within you.

So, why aren’t happy? Why don’t you feel that pleasant emotion that signals to you that you feel happy?

If you seek happiness, you are not alone. Billions of us do. We go about our day looking to that one thing that will complete us. That one person that will fill the void we feel and those activities that will make the existence of time disappear.

We pursue fame, fortune and freedom in hope that in them we will find the one thing we crave: happiness.

So, what has happened that has made you lose touch with your happiness?

Perhaps it’s because you are not aware that everything you need to be happy is already within you. Or, you have forgotten because you have been through so much lately.

Take a moment and think about the word service. It’s quite different from servitude.

Imagine for a second that an act you performed made someone else genuinely happy. Perhaps a smile you gave made a stranger smile and completely changed the course of his day. Something you built or created made someone’s life easier and you got lucky enough to meet this stranger who swore by his last breath that you transformed his life.

How would you feel? Happy?

Maybe not; perhaps you would enjoy the thrilling feeling of solitude. Relax all day with remote in hand and your flat screen in appropriate sight, tuned in to your favorite channel.

Even though these played out scenarios have their place. The former sends a better sense of fulfillment. A sense of contribution, a feeling that mixes with other activated drives that blend to give happiness.

But, how can someone feel happiness when the irritation of the external world is so intense and glaring, so overwhelming that you feel helpless and angry; angry at the fact that no one seems to care. And when you actually settle down to do something meaningful, the world just can’t seem to leave your valuable attention to rest.

I’ll tell you what I have heard and found to be helpful. Leave the world to be what it is. Do what you positively can. Do what you can to make the life of the person next to you easier. Seek to express and be. There is more to you than you know and focusing on the world only steals your attention from what’s truly important: Your happiness. And, it can only be found within you, by you.

 

We are always getting ready to live, but never living.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks for Reading.