LIFE AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

'Remember the five simple rules to be happy;

-Free your heart from hatred,
Free your mind from worries,

live simply, give more and expect less.”

The above advice by an unknown author is to my mind, the most simple yet most eloquent description for happiness I have ever encountered. By its simplicity and clarity, it underlines, in dramatic effect, the necessary steps needed to achieve the reward of a happy life.
Happiness is never ever an entitlement; it is never automatic nor is it ever inherited or passed on.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in a discussion with students at the Florida International University expressed this concept in the following terms:

"Happiness is not something ready made.

It comes from your own actions"

In his book entitled The Art of Happiness, published in 1998, he further elaborated his vision in these words:

"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness.
-That is clear.
Whether one believes in religion or not,
Whether one believes in this religion or that religion,
We all are seeking something better in life.
So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness."

In all his discussions the Dalai advocated that the aim of successful life is not in the acquisition of material fame and fortune, or even in the public recognition of these acquisitions, but rather in the degree of pleasure and happiness we are able to achieve along the way. He stressed that this right of happiness and the ability to find it, is available to everyone who is willing to make the effort to do what is necessary to achieve it. He went further to identify steps that we must all follow in our pursuit of personal happiness. These include:
-Establishing the right mental attitude and expectations.
-Achieving the correct discipline and calmness of mind.
-Controlling emotions, encouraging positive thoughts and suppressing negative ones.
-Recognizing and cultivating good habits and removing bad ones.
-Learning from our failures, recognizing that suffering is the opposite of happiness.
-Identifying and welcoming positive changes and removing older, unproductive ones.
-Developing long-lasting and deep-rooted relationships based on truth, honesty and respect.
The late Sai Baba, the renowned Indian guru, mystic, spiritual figure and educator, describes Happiness as actually being natural to human beings. He is quoted as saying that “Since our beings consist of consciousness-energy, the nature of which is well-being, happiness is our nature. We don’t need good fortune or any new circumstances to be happy, and we don’t need material goods, fun activities or success or power. It’s possible for us just to be happy, without any reason at all, because happiness is just there, inside us, in the same way that the sky and the air are outside us.”
The well known phrase contained in the U.S. Declaration of Independence as an unalienable right, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is considered to be one of the most powerful and influential statements in the English Language and has served to underline the caliber and quality of the original framers. Unfortunately, as a society we have failed to live up to the advice and expectations of these great leaders. Instead of choosing the path to happiness as one that encompasses a meaningful life, utilizing your strengths and abilities in assisting others, and living with purpose and compassion, we chose to measure our happiness by our conquests, our successes and our material status.
It is a crying shame that our present-day society beset by useless and expensive wars, openly manipulated by greedy business leaders and governed by selfish and self-directed politicians, has lost the fundamental meaning of true happiness. Instead, we have succeeded in replacing this noble and worthy direction by one which aims at projecting the ‘individual’ at all cost while ignoring the legitimate needs of the less fortunate masses. We have no hesitation to glorify, to the point of adoration, the successful athlete, or entertainer, or CEO, or politician, with our praise and our money, even as they engage in a whole range of unacceptable behavior designed to provide personal pleasure and self-gratification. We have replaced the selfless happiness of Buddha and Aristotle with the cult of Individualism. We have sacrificed the true joy of Happiness on the altar of Persons and Personality as we are persuaded that “only wealth can buy happiness”. And we have done all this in the name of progress!
But true happiness should not ever be measured on a yardstick of personal gain, or wealth, or popularity, nor for that matter should it be arbitrarily assumed for services rendered. Happiness is a state of being, a feeling of inner peace and acceptance that combines a whole range of attitudes and expectations. It is a very personal experience and cannot be transferred or exchanged. In this respective it is absolute, in that there can be no ‘relative happiness’ and you cannot share happiness of others unless it becomes assimilated within you. In every respect, I believe happiness is a choice that we each have the option to choose or to reject. It really depends on our willingness to look deeply into our own souls and to determine our own needs and purpose in life and our willingness to choose our happiness.
It is sometimes difficult to understand why others can be so happy even though they function under conditions which we may regard as unacceptable. Consider the example of Mary, a middle aged lady whose life read like a series of disasters that included a life of drug and sex abuse, rejecting religion, dealing with the occult, living in the streets and losing her only son as a young adult, until she found faith and religion. Yet if you were to meet her, you will not fail to recognize a deep seated happiness and love radiating from her and in every word she utters. Whenever she is asked to explain why she is so happy under these difficult circumstances, she will reply:
“Happiness does not mean that we will never get sick or have no problems or experience no difficulties. Happiness means that when we do have them, I believe we will always find that God is at our side, holding our hands and guiding us to find a solution. To me this special relationship with God is what true happiness is all about.”
Mary clearly has learnt the real meaning of happiness and I have no doubt that her faith will continue to support her for the rest of her life.
I believe that the potential for true happiness exists within each one of us and that in the majority of cases they remain buried under the debris of modern living to such an extent as to render them unattainable. In our headlong drive to conform to, and live like our neighbors, we have lost sight of our unique ability to be ourselves, to make choices for ourselves and above all, to recognize the wisdom of the great Greek philosopher Aristotle, who recorded:

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life,
the whole aim and end of human existence.”



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“In Buddhism, True happiness is called Riyaku Sesshua Fusha

"Riyaku" means peace, satisfaction and joy which refer as happiness.

"Sesshu" means embraced firmly and satisfied completely.

"Fusha" means never forsaken and changed.”
…..Buddhist Teaching

You may traverse the world in search of happiness,

When it is within the reach of everyman.

-A contented mind confers it all.

.....Horace

Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them; he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account.
…..Euripides

The word "happiness" would lose its meaning,
If it were not balanced by sadness.
……Carl Jung

Happiness is like a butterfly which when pursued,
is always beyond your grasp;
But if you sit down quietly may alight upon you.
…….Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Happiness is like a kiss.
You must share it to enjoy it.
….Bernard Meltzer

The search for happiness,
is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
…….Eric Hoffer

Happiness is when what you think, say, and do,

are in harmony.

.....Mahatma Gandhi

You cannot always have happiness,

but you always give happiness.

.....Author Unknown

It is a sad thing to look at happiness
only through another’s eyes
…..Marguerite Blessington

When one door of Happiness closes, another opens;
But often we look so long at the closed door,
that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
…….Helen Keller