Machaa..dey!...Cleared the course..da . Party tonight.
Honey….I’ve got my first pay cheque!.. dinner tonight..?The last wish of a convict satisfied…Met my family for the one last time..Happy I am to die.
I guess everyone has one reason or the other to be happy. Be it, a young child who receives his much desired toy or, an age-old grandpa who sees his long time childhood friend. Age aside, background aside, life aside, everybody wishes to be happy any time.
Its therefore simple alright? Everyone wants to be happy. But coming to thinking of it, do we all try to be happy always?.
For example, imagine a world, where you could just go on playing your favourite sport, watch your favourite TV program and do whatever you felt like. I guess most of wouldn’t be reluctant to live such a life. Reality check: This is actually possible .isn’t it. As in yes, people could go on living this life. But why doesn’t it actually happen.
Money dai!.... Your dad ka dad will pay for me or what? , is the response. Life is unfair in this way that most of the fun comes with cash. So…assume I give you the cash you need…unlimited cash. Think of me as the Zimbabwean govt. a year before, printing dollars and using them as toilet paper. Guarantee me that happiness shall be attained and you shall never be sad.
Hell Yes…Are you crazy..anyone would take this offer. OK so imagine you are given a million billion dollars, what all would you do? Erm..a lot, well I ‘d start off with buying my dream BMW…! I would travel the whole world, bust loads of cash at the casinos enjoy at the pubs!And?...and yeah I would erm uuh erm..do a bit of social service given that I have so much money.. you know…then, I would again buy more stuff and travel more..oh really... and then..?Oh how did I forget..I would buy loads and loads stuff for my family, my girlfriend, who- not.Go on….I..that’s it? No way..i will keep doing this till I get bored. So ultimately monetary fun ends up boring! Even more sad part…this boredom comes very fast.
Now think of this rationally, take the case of a coolie working at the station, I would say the same guy who toils his body out is also as happy as you are. Scale down your dreams and desires and similarities would be striking. The coolie would want to take his family out for a movie some day when he has a good day at work. He would want to lend a few bucks for the unfortunate . He would also want to travel to nearby places. He would also be having all these fun. This pic which I stumbled upon in a documentary speaks volumes.
Its therefore simple alright? Everyone wants to be happy. But coming to thinking of it, do we all try to be happy always?.
For example, imagine a world, where you could just go on playing your favourite sport, watch your favourite TV program and do whatever you felt like. I guess most of wouldn’t be reluctant to live such a life. Reality check: This is actually possible .isn’t it. As in yes, people could go on living this life. But why doesn’t it actually happen.
Money dai!.... Your dad ka dad will pay for me or what? , is the response. Life is unfair in this way that most of the fun comes with cash. So…assume I give you the cash you need…unlimited cash. Think of me as the Zimbabwean govt. a year before, printing dollars and using them as toilet paper. Guarantee me that happiness shall be attained and you shall never be sad.
Hell Yes…Are you crazy..anyone would take this offer. OK so imagine you are given a million billion dollars, what all would you do? Erm..a lot, well I ‘d start off with buying my dream BMW…! I would travel the whole world, bust loads of cash at the casinos enjoy at the pubs!And?...and yeah I would erm uuh erm..do a bit of social service given that I have so much money.. you know…then, I would again buy more stuff and travel more..oh really... and then..?Oh how did I forget..I would buy loads and loads stuff for my family, my girlfriend, who- not.Go on….I..that’s it? No way..i will keep doing this till I get bored. So ultimately monetary fun ends up boring! Even more sad part…this boredom comes very fast.
Now think of this rationally, take the case of a coolie working at the station, I would say the same guy who toils his body out is also as happy as you are. Scale down your dreams and desires and similarities would be striking. The coolie would want to take his family out for a movie some day when he has a good day at work. He would want to lend a few bucks for the unfortunate . He would also want to travel to nearby places. He would also be having all these fun. This pic which I stumbled upon in a documentary speaks volumes.
The way you live or the way you satisfy your needs, the way you prioritise your wants is ultimately what matters. Happiness doesn’t simply come with money.Having lots of money is obviously an advantage for being happy, but is less leveraged and is not a necessary ingredient for being happy.Happiness doesn’t come with busting a lot of cash at luxurious places. Real happiness comes through satisfaction. Boredom is inevitable; it is like a necessary dissipative force in life, like friction. Makes you NOT do lot of stuff but again it is essential isn’t it. The value of an alternative is often realized only when you are bored. Money can’t make one run away from boredom for sure, but your desires/interests/deeds that satisfy you can.I couldn’t agree more with a Philosopher named Epicurus, whose article I happened to browse through on the philosophy of happiness. Well he claims that happiness is a function of friends, your passion and your way of living. He opines that even if one is rich, he need not be happy and he claims even the underprivileged are happy given the way they utilize their time doing activities that amuse them.
Passion or interests actually defines a person and pursuing itself is in fact a painful process given the distractions and responsibilities we have in life. But then, whatever be one’s pressure level or work stress, everyone should carry his interest along with himself and pursue it in his own way possible. A very simple observation is that, most of the renowned, successful people around are people who have made their work their passion. Lionel Messi, AR Rahman, Steve Jobs and the list of inspirational people you have in your list are all people who derive happiness and satisfaction through their work. Therefore success is in fact the time spent happy in a day. The more it is, the more successful you are.Lifestyle similarly becomes important as one ought to be defining his lifestyle, realizing his limitations. Obviously the coolie can’t thinking of going to casinos but has to find ways to amuse him and the first step is realizing his limitations. Happiness is thus about scaling down your desires, beliefs and luxuries to your level of capability. Similarly, being involved in what you really want to do in life, is way more important than going behind stuff that might appeal to the society. Because again, what you do might not make you rich , but will leave a smile on your face, looking back and that matters a lot, I think!
Socialising is important as well. Spending time with friends and your priorities in life, sharing moments of fame, shame and glory is essential. Priorities matter a ton, cause time in real life is a constraint and optimally spending time with important people in your life is very important. On a related note, making others happy is probably another dimension to the theory. It could be a small deed or a small step from your side. Eventually, if it can make a few faces smile/console a few minds and make them happy, I guess this is best form of satisfaction and therefore the best form of happiness.
Self- analysis or spending a few hours on reliving moments in your past is another way to realize happiness. Memories that are to be cherished have to be revisited. Times that let you down and the way one has recovered and again been happy has to be analysed. For all this, spending a decent amount of time alone, thinking about your past and your roots is essential.
Life is thus an optimization problem with the objective function being to Maximize Happiness and the constraints being your priorities, lifestyle and time. If you are good at OR, solve this and be happy! else these theories should make sense.Ha!
*Having said all this gyan, for I don’t-for-what reason, I feel happy for having written down something that has been going through my mind and I end restating the sad truth :“The art of being happy always:the least specialized!”
