Happiness is a concept often used, misused, interpreted and misinterpreted. In the depths of our emotions, we juxtapose our happiness as a mere feeling and sometimes a derogatory term, which is equated simply with joy pertaining to material things that we want in our life. I would like to believe that happiness is a state wherein I am at peace with my own being. Whether external negative factors come into the picture, I have this fixed state that is not capable of being agitated. Dilemmas are inevitable, but the state should overshadow everything.
Happiness evolves as we grow old. When I was a little kid, I thought happiness would simply be eating ice cream in the middle of summer on afternoons. Having my family close to me, I saw no desolation but only ecstasy. Having that ignorant mind that it’s a ruthless world out there, I remained safe in the hands of the people who were supporting me all the way. Pain was slowly creeping in, but to the extent of it being eradicated through the help of my elders. I saw only bliss until I started schooling.
Blast from the past: I was in grade 5 when I discovered my talent in making people laugh. I don’t know if it’s a talent because there are times when I feel like not making people laugh, and people say that you won’t ever get tired of doing what you love. Weird, I guess. Good thing it comes out naturally; an endowment from God which I cannot trade with anything in this world. And so I had to augment my talent, for that matter. Well, I didn’t enter in a comedy club, because I was just 11 years old, for Pete’s sake! And besides, I still wasn’t aware of certain funny jargons you’ll have to verbalize to make people die of excessive laughing. I don’t know if I’m making sense, but really, I have this passion for performing in front of everybody.
Indeed the only thing permanent in this world is change. The fear of the unknown goes hand in hand with the perversion of the mind that things would be temporary. But for me, it doesn’t matter. Things and people in our life are really temporary, so what? Will it devastate our being human if change happens? All throughout our lives, we have this quest for what would really make us happy. In different aspects, we aim ourselves towards that one fixation of goal. We devote too much to the fact that there is only one goal per person in this ever-changing world. We do not see that diverse experiences will took place and we could dream of many things as long as we’re sure of it. Uncertainties really happen, but if we will look deep down within ourselves, we will know what happiness really is. There are pleasures in life that we can easily get, which would only last up to a certain period of time. Permanence won’t make us contented. Change won’t disrupt our state; instead, it would give us more experiences and more diverse perceptions on what we now consider as the state of bliss. I also believe that happiness is a choice.
In the happiness which we are talking about now, we are not looking for “what would make us happy”, instead, we are defining what happiness really is for each one of us. It would be complicated to define it as a universal kind of thing for it would go against the individuality of every person. For instance, I say that my happiness would be that which is of relating to pain. My idea of happiness could be way different from yours, so we won’t have a predetermined distinctness. Happiness is not a general kind of thing. We have our own descriptions of this concept.
As we establish in our minds what really happiness is for us, we need to equip ourselves with our memories, not only the happy ones, but also those which are tragic but have shaped and reshaped us, our minds and our beings. We really have different views, but seeing in others what would make them happy, we will always spot that the little details make people have that state of mind. That happiness as you call it.