‘Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.’ ~Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Browsing through endless pictures of happy people on Instagram and Facebook makes me often wonder, are they really happy or is it just a made-up smile to look good in front of the camera.
What is Happiness and where does it come from?
I’m extremely bad at processing human emotions, hence I have tough time understand why are people in love, why are they happy, why are they angry or why are they upset. But I do feel contended and satisfied with what life brings and that made me ponder over “what is making me happy”.
Does happiness come from having someone who loves you, or by dining in 5 star restaurants, or hanging out with your best friend or relaxing on a beach or looking beautiful or just sitting near a fireplace in cold winters with a hot cup of tea and a great book.
People often take selfies to capture these moments; they are smiling in all of them surely looking happy (atleast that’s what the picture tells). I look at those people and think to myself, is it happiness or just momentary pleasure, something like an orgasm, it makes you happy for the moment but doesn’t last forever!
I feel happiness doesn’t come with events, its appreciation of what’s happening that gives us pleasure and happiness.
For me the most peaceful moment is sitting in a cozy little café overlooking mountains, sipping on a hot cup of ginger tea and reading a book (preferably alone). The reason this moment makes me happy is not because the tea is delicious or the book is good. It’s probably because while reading the book, I pause, I look at the tea and appreciate its goodness.
A lot of times while dinner when we are watching TV, we get so engrossed in what’s happening on the screen that we don’t even realize what we are eating. The food might be amazingly good, but we don’t even look at it, we don’t appreciate it and although our tummy is full, we don’t get up contented and happy.
‘We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.’ ~Frederick Keonig
A simple act of watching a squirrel nibble on food can make us happy because its not the event but appreciation of the beauty of squirrel and how cute it looks when it holds a nut in its little paws and bites it.
Happiness is how we process the events happening in our lives, how we look at people around us and how we appreciate everything and everyone.
There is goodness all around us, we just have to change the way we look!
