Recent news says that just switching off your mobile phones can make you happy. Emails and text messages cannot give you the kind of happiness which can be given by spending time with family and friends. I think this is true to a great extent and personally my definition of happiness is family, good food, time for myself and my hobbies. But are we able to give quality time to each. Probably ‘no’ and that is why life today has taken the shape where we like to spend more time with electronic gadgets than family. What is the result of this? Unhappiness, that further leads to many problems like fluctuation in blood pressure and blood sugar, depression, memory loss and unhappiness. Recently a friend of mine, merely 30 years of age has been diagnosed with blood sugar. Reason given by the doctor is sedentary job, change in daily routine and less time for family and yourself.
If you want to define happiness then there is no single definition of happiness. Its meaning differs from person to person and even with countries, definition of happiness changes. As per the findings of a study conducted by the Humanities department of the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, Indians feel happy when there is peace and harmony. Further according to this study which took over seven year to complete, 50% of Indians are not happy. Very astonishing indeed. What is holding us back? Why cannot we enjoy life when we need just family to stay happy?
The answer is – we are running, running after materialistic things, thinking all the time that someone has bought something but we haven’t, our work, job dissatisfaction, our future and so many other things, but most of us do not take any solid step to overcome these. Moreover we are not satisfied with the way we are living and we are very collective in nature rather than individualistic which means that we get upset when not only ours but our friends’ families get upset. Though the zeal to achieve something great and concern for others should always be there, but somewhere down the line there should be satisfaction in your heart and it should say “All is Well”. Apart from this there are other things that are adding to the unhappiness in India such as increase in the commuting time, the crowd, ever increasing pollution, garbage here and there, rising prices, corruption, consumerism and many more.
But to be happy and overcome all these, we have to be optimistic and stop waiting for the right moment to come. Instead, ask yourself few questions, like,
What is the real happiness for you?
Jot down all the things that are stopping your way to happiness and start working on those. Do not think that conditions will improve in a day.
Make the list of activities you do in a day and check what out of these make you happy.
Find the answers to the questions that make you unhappy.
Moreover happiness lies in the mind. Consider this as a destination not the path. Do not wander to achieve perpetual happiness as it will automatically come to you if you are satisfied from within and your surroundings. Take initiative to do good to the society as a whole. Do not just sit and crib over the situations. A small act of kindness and rightness will bring happiness and objective in your life.
