Happiness is something that comes from inner peace and satisfaction. The more internally satisfied we are, the happier we would be. Different people have different levels of inner satisfaction. For instance: some people get satisfied with acquiring success. But the meaning of success is also different for different people.
Some people think whatever we have desired, and if we manage to achieve it, is actually a success. Whereas some other people think that building their own house is eternal success for them. Similarly, some think that having their own car is a source of satisfaction for them. Some even think that getting married or obtaining degrees in their education is a source of happiness. But for many others their love for higher status, wealth, physical beauty etc may also be the source of happiness in their life.
The False Perception of Happiness
To me, these could be means of happiness but not the ultimate and sole source of getting ‘eternal happiness’. These things are only meant for having pleasure or fun in life. Never before, the complex mysteries of this enormous world and the ability of a man to control the unfriendly elements of the nature were attained the way has now been attained today. Central heating, air conditioning, online shopping, open heart and laser eye surgery, and the list continues to near an infinity for all the advancement we have developed or discovered.
Despite of all these discoveries and the advancements in the field of science and technology, never has the goal of ‘happy and pleasant life’ drifted further away, like it has today. Which is why, globally, number of suicides due to depression has doubled in recent decades. Even, the number of anti-depressants consumption has doubled in recent years.
What does it all mean? It means, something is really going wrong. 21st century has told us how to fly in the sky but how to walk on the earth as a happy and content human being is what we are all still struggling with. When we sit down individually, we always ask questions ourselves why we are sad, why we are so depressed, why our depression is lasting too long? We are usually unable to pinpoint the problem. We feel that happiness is something that is in our hand, which is completely wrong.
Real happiness, is all unconditional when we give or spread then we in turn get inner hapiness. Our happiness in recent times has been manipulated as materialism. It is, as if we want to buy the happiness. Buying stuff, investing money and making money is the only source of happiness that has been left for us now.
For me, the sources of happiness could be many but here are a few I trust most:
Foremost Is Patience
Patience is a virtue. When unexpected or unwanted things occur in our lives, such as someone close to us dies leaving us crying behind, we must seek help through patience and spiritualism. This won’t only enlighten our mind but also give us internal relaxation and satisfaction. We should consider it a test from our God, how we are going to react in this situation. Are we going to pray for the one we lost or are we going to blame God who took the dear one away from us. How we are going to react in this intense situation, negatively or positively? If we keep on remembering God and show patience to Him, He will reward us with internal satisfaction, relaxation, will help us in coming back to normal life and eventually will bless us with happiness in one way or the other.
We Must Thank Our Sustainer
Thanking our lord, our creator is also the way of increasing happiness. If we start counting his blessings we will fail. But when He takes a little bit from us, we start cursing our fate. So, usually because of our negative reactions, we bring upon us something worse.
So either in good or bad situation, we should appreciate and acknowledge all that our God has bestowed upon us. We should think that if he has taken something from us, it doesn’t matter because He has still given us much more without even asking like good health, freedom, shelter, food, family, children, wisdom, material things and all such countless blessings.
Compare To Less Fortunate People
If we look around the globe, we come to know that there are many people who don’t have even the basic necessities in their lives. They cannot even eat three regular meals a day. At that time, we should think that how God is so kind to us. These needy people are also like us.
What if I would be in their place? What if I was born with no availability of the basic necessities in my life? This thinking will make us more thankful to our God and we will start realizing how blessed and happy we are. That is why we should always look down to the people who are deprived of all these blessings and wonders in their lives.
So, thank and appreciate God even if we have to eat the same food every day and even if we are not leading our dream life that we had expected. This will overcome the negativity in us and will make us more humble and grateful to our God; and eventually will give us more relaxation and happiness.
Sharing Brings Happiness
If we start to share with others, whatever we have or at least have in excess, we can easily double our happiness. If we begin feeding hungry children by donating to a charity, a return smile that comes on their face will give us endless happiness. True happiness comes when you know that there is someone in this world who is living a happy life because of you.
Good Deeds Earn You Eternal Happiness
Doing good deeds or ‘Righteousness’ also brings immense pleasure and true happiness for us. Doing good, respecting humanity, speaking truth, not deceiving others, taking care of all creatures on the earth including animals, birds, plants etc. are the sources of true happiness.
On contrary, doing wrong won’t only destroy something outside but will also disturb something inside of us. How many times we see that the soldiers who witness or commit atrocities during the war, when they come back from the war, they have nightmares, bad relationships or they cannot go to sleep or they are kept on some kind of anti-depressants and sometimes they even end up committing suicides. This is not only because they go through a physical trauma but also an emotional trauma which affects their lives badly. They can’t get away from the internal trauma. They can’t find inner peace anymore.
Once we get restless or could not find inner peace, it would be easy for us to commit sins and crimes. People often take drugs to get inner peace. They become terrible for the people around them when they are in their restless condition. To get escape from the reality or in other words just to be able to cope and deal with the reality, they try to use drugs. If our faith on God is weak, we definitely would rely on such things like drugs for the escape from reality. We forget that we would never get inner peace from the drugs and alcohol etc.
Some people also try to fulfill their emptiness or hollowness that lies inside them with negative entertainment like uncensored stuff, pornography and prostitution etc. Then at times they realize that the toxic wastes in the form of negative entertainment which they were filling inside them, for the sake of finding happiness, has actually destroyed them completely.
Eventually they have to turn to spiritualism to cleanse their selves from intoxication. This is what the spiritualism gives us a calm and soothing inner peace which prevails inside us and brings happiness to us. I think, everyone talks about peace, prosperity and eventually the eternal happiness but just imagine about a world where we all are actually behaving as ‘Good Human Beings’. What sort of the world that would be where we all try to become kind to each other. No war, no hatred, no poverty… it would be a utopian land with endless happiness.
Nature Brings Happiness
Nature is where the best source of happiness exists. Flowing rivers, green trees, cool breeze, rainy drops, gardening, planting, watching them growing and actually taking care of these plants each day gives a lot of happiness. Nowadays, this connection between human beings and nature has become vague and weak. But if we strengthen it again then it will bring happiness to not only to us but to all those who will stumble upon the wonderful bounties of nature and enjoy it. When we get close to nature it soothes our insides and we are bound to get happiness in the experience.
Ups and downs are a part of the life which means wherever there is happiness, the sorrows and problems will follow it too. If we try to feel good all the times we would end up detaching ourselves from the reality. But if we start doing the right things at right time, the happiness will automatically come to us. We must acknowledge our rights and duties and stay kind to others at all times to stay contented in our lives.