What is happiness?
This is a question that has not bothered me for a long time, precisely because I don’t know how to answer it.
I am not the only one. Through all these years I have lived with all sorts of people: rich and poor, powerful and mediocre. In the eyes of all who have crossed my path – and here I include warriors and wise men, people who should have nothing to complain about – I have always found that there was something missing.
Some people seem to be happy: they just do not think about it. Others make plans: “I’m going to have a husband, a home, two children, and a house in the country”. While this keeps them occupied, they are like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they don’t think, they just keep moving forward. They manage to get their car – sometimes even a Ferrari – and they think that the meaning of life lies there, so they never ask the question. Yet, despite all that, their eyes betray a sadness that they themselves are quite unaware of.
I don’t know if everyone is unhappy. I do know that people are always busy: working overtime, looking after the kids, the husband, the career, the university degree, what to do tomorrow, what they need to buy, whatever it is they need to have in order not to feel inferior, and so on.
Few people have ever told me: “I’m unhappy”. Most say: “I’m fine, I’ve managed to get all I ever wanted”.
So then I ask: “What makes you happy?”
They answer: “I have everything that a person can dream of – a family, a home, work, good health”.
I ask again: “Have you ever stopped to wonder if that is all there is to life?”
They answer: “Yes, that’s all there is”.
I insist: “So the meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?”
They answer: there is no answer. They change the subject. But there is always something hidden there: the owner of a firm who has still to close the deal he has always dreamed of, the housewife who would like to have more independence or more money, the new graduate who wonders whether he has chosen his career or has had it chosen for him, the dentist who wanted to be a singer, the singer who wanted to be a politician, the politician who wanted to be a writer, and the writer who wanted to be a peasant.
In this street where I am sit writing this column and looking at the people passing by, I bet that everyone is feeling the same thing. That elegant woman who has just walked by spends her days trying to stop time, controlling the bathroom scales, because she thinks love depends on that. On the other side of the street I see a couple with two children. They live moments of intense happiness when they go out with their kids, but at the same time their subconscious is busy thinking about the job they might not get, the tragedies that might occur, how to get over them, how to protect themselves from the world.
I leaf through magazines filled with famous people: everybody laughing, everybody very happy. But since this is a segment of society that I am quite familiar with, I know it is not like that: everyone is laughing or enjoying themselves at the moment that photo is taken, but at night, or in the morning, the story is always quite different. “What can I do to keep on appearing in the magazine?”, “how can I disguise not having enough money to afford all this luxury?” or “how can I manage this life of splendor to make it even more luxurious, more expressive than other people’s?”, “the actress whom I am seen with in this photo, laughing and having a great time, she could steal my part tomorrow!”, or “I wonder if my clothes are nicer than hers. Why do we smile so much if we loathe one another?”
To end, I recall the words of Jorge Luis Borges: “I will not be happy any more, but that doesn’t matter, / there are many other things in this world”.
Do not doubt the search
Sri Ramakrishna tells of a man who was just about to cross a river when the teacher Bibhishana approached him, wrote a name on a piece of paper, fixed it to the man’s back and said:
‘Fear not. Your faith will help you to walk upon the waters. But the moment you lose your faith, you will drown.’
The man trusted Bibhishana and began to walk effortlessly across the waters. At one point, however, he had an immense desire to know what his teacher had written on the piece of paper fixed to his back.
He got hold of it and read what was written on it: ‘Oh God Rama, help this man to cross the river.’
‘Is that all?’ thought the man. ‘Who is this god Rama anyway?’
As soon as doubt entered his mind, he went under and was drowned.
Enjoy the moment is happiness )
Happiness is living your life the way you want to without any fear of being ostracized by society.
What is Happiness?
I do believe that happiness does not exist at least not as we think it does… For me happiness is like the air we breathe, we can’t touch it, we can’t see it yet we breathe it. Like the salt in the sea, we can’t see it, we can’t touch it yet we can taste it… Happiness is a state of mind one can reach time to time but not stays in… Can we stay sad 24/7? Even if we have just lost the most beloved person in our life the smile of a child will ease our sorrow… Can we stay mad 24/7? Even if we just lost our more precious belonging due to an exterior factor the touch of a beloved one will ease our ire. Now can we stay happy 24/7? I do not believe so because we aren’t alone in heaven and that my little piece of heaven stops where yours is starting. I’m trying to be as happy as I can and as long as I can knowing that time will come when sorrow or anger will take over and that I will have then to be all “The Warrior” I can be to fight those feelings back in order for me to return to my “HAPPY STATE OF MIND”… That’s what I think… :)
What is happiness?…
We all keep wondering about this. Philosophers too have been working on that. Trying to find a way to it, through mind, spirit, etc.
The only people I’ve heard about, who can really be happy in this life, have always been the Saints, those who have brought real miracles into this world.
As you might have noticed, most of times that I give an example from life, I take my self as first. I often regret that and think that instead of rushing and doing that another time, I could take someone else, but I see that the way the world is seen it comes through our eyes first. Then others point of view helps to complete, and after that we reflect over it and make conclusions…
Well! To fully understand a Saint’s spirit it is needed to be a Saint, something which honestly…
Sometimes I keep thinking if real happiness has forcefully to be related with the presence of God or not.
Each Sunday hen I go to the church, I will hear the words : “Our archbishop, the truly happy one”
I’ve been always thinking about that, I’ve been wondering: “Is he really living in a constant happiness?” Something used to tell me that those words couldn’t just come out from nothing, just like a fake tittle, there must be a real reason why they say so.
One Sunday, not far from now, a priest died. He was an extraordinary person. He has done a lot for Albania and was a very great friend of the archbishop.I haven’t had the possibility to him myself but I’ve heard of him.
That Sunday I just couldn’t see anywhere the shining archbishop’s face as usual till at the end of the liturgy I saw him wearing in black. He gave us himself the bad news and he did that almost in tears. He was holding himself, but those tears was so bitter to my. He was destroyed, because he had the most love and admiration for his good friend, who was now gone.
I immediately thought about when I lost someone I loved that much too.
I am sure that if God wants to give us some lessons he hits us where it really hurts.
The next Sunday I would have had the my answer…
It was the time when the liturgy was over he was spreading the wafer to us. That would have been the moment when I’d have had the possibility to see him by close and know.
His face wasn’t in pain. He looked calmed and in peace. I suddenly thought about wishing him a happy day, and so I did. I immediately saw his face shining again. He spoke in greek to me, because he is greek, and than he wished the same to me. I don’t understand a word in greek but at least I could understand his happiness.
I am starting to believe Paulo that Happiness and Love are very best friends.
You might think about those who are lost. The love we have always had for them doesn’t make us really happy when we loose them. Thank God I still have my parents alive and my dear sisters who cam make my day a living miracle because of the love we have. I have no children, which by the way I might loose and feel forever unhappy, I don’t know if I could, but it seems that the love that we share for those who still live in this world can make us happy, and the more we learn to give this love the more happy we are.
I am repeating the fact that the lost I had left a great mark in me and a huge hollow in my soul. That person was someone who used to hold my whole being, and to read my soul without needing me to tell my problems. God! I never believed I would have lost that person so soon. Never!
But one other thing I would have never believed is the fact that I could have been really happy again, but now I am. Not because I went over that person, or because I have everything I want, or because my dreams are coming true, but because of LOVE.
The joyful archbishop’s face was a sign to me…
To make me see that compared to love, our wishes, dreams, thought, etc. turn into ashes and then into nothing.
Maybe Jesus really meant this when he said : “Do not love this world!” Not for making us or our dreams seem truly miserable but because there is something which stand above all of these, which really matters.
I had just a sign to believe in, but still I don’t know for sure.
I forgot to say something I do not because of habitude but because I mean it every time I write it:
♥♥♥LOVE♥♥♥
Olta
If you can’t find happiness in little things than you will never be satisfied no matter what you get or how easy or hard your journey to get it is. First take a look around and be happy for all that you already have that many in this world are unfortunate not to have (and there is a long list for this – find your own one – that’s the beauty of it). And than start upgrading. And don’t just stand and wait for it to arrive. Set you goals and work to get them. And if it doesn’t work than what? Try harder and it will. Patience and willingness will lead you to them. But when you do start upgrading don’t forget that you already have something to be happy for and that you simply wanted something more. And if it never works out, well- you will not be unhappy – just not upgraded. Maybe anything isn’t possible (i don’t know i’m not an expert :)). Set another goal and don’t loose hope and faith (there are so many thing to fight for – you just have to figure out what you want in specific moment of your life). In constant trying to find a happiness you will never be aware of it even if it hits your face. Even if it is laying next to you all the time.
i do have faith in GOD and i do believe in his ability. when we live without any bond in our life, we are happy.
if you do anything and expect anything in return, you will find even the shadow of happiness.
La felicidad es eso por lo que todos luchamos, ese sentimiento de plenitud que perseguimos y que deseamos encontrar en el futuro, para solo para darnos cuenta que la felicidad estaba en nuestro pasado…
La Felicidad no existe…
Very beautiful thing to talk about! Just yesterday evening I was watching TV there was the same question: What is happiness for you? Answer? there was no answer.
I think we just can’t say clear that what means to be happy for every man on this planet, cause each man has its own vision of life. Mr. Paulo wrote very beautiful in the begining of Brida:
The people are sorted into 2 parts. 1st part is consist of people who works hard on there idea, but when they got it, they stop and lock themselves in 4 walls. 2nd part are the people who try hard and when they got their aim they begin to work on something new. now think which are more happy? I think 2nd.
On TV they were talking that when a man does his favorite things he is happy. I agree with that. Can we live in life full of only happy? It is hard to answer anyway…
la felicidad,… seria tener todo lo q as soñado.. y con esto no digo tener un carro una ksa, mucho dinero.. para nada… la felicidad es un serntimiento de compartir con las personas que se quiere todo lo q tienes en la vida, sin ver, y sin importar lo que suceda, es apegarte a DIos, y seguir adelante luchando cada dia para ser mejor… muchas bendiciones para ty paulo.. eres el mejor escritor que conosco
Happiness.. it is really hard to answer,some people would say that is through love that they most feel happiness some says that through God that they feel true happiness and most people says that through reaching there dreams or having everything they wanted would make them happy or what happiness is for them..for me it is always a choice..to choose being happy over something that makes you unhappy..appreciating God blessings everyday and waking up each morning thinking that this is a God gift. Happiness for me is not a goal but a choice that needs to be choosen everyday if we wanted to live a fuller life.
HAPPINESS is never stop living, to embrace life and enjoy it without limits, with all the pain and tears, laughs and joys.
Happiness is about good times but mostly bad times , because only the bad gives us an awarness of our joyfull and good times.
In order to be happy one should never take a pause, never stop living,never stop making friends , falling in love, hurting people and getting hurt as well, its only when u experience challenges and dark situations that u appreciate few good moments life offers you.
in life, darkness always rules over light and bad times always exceed good ones, but HAPPINESS is the combination of both and the lesson that we manage to learn threw going on living…
so in order to be happy really happy , one should experience every feeling , because people who knows no misery and no difficulties is a sad and empty person, and a happy person is the one who didnt miss any experience and who get to die while he’s still living because even death can’t tear the life of, of him .
Happiness is when the heart if light and full of joy and when it has sacred wisdom – that is happiness.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Paulo
P.S.: The H. Grail is on its way to you
thanks for your question, paulo. you might not read this. it already hundreds of answers,meanwhile, i just open your blog tonight. but im still writing this, because your question is intriguing, as always :))
the real happiness is to know, to find out, always in the state to find, that we are nothing, life is nothing and the Creator of this life is everything.
the real happiness is.. out of the nothingness and unite with the creator of this reality.
is it Death? yes.
The real happiness in this life is to be able to die before death.
(to die before death, is the title of Bawa Muhaiyaddien’s book, I once read)
hum.. thanks for the question, paulo. answering this, is a journey for myself. May you always be productive.
i believe that the only way to be truly happy is to find God, everything else is temporary,but God remains.Im not talking about religion, but a personal God,our Creator.
Happiness is knowing that somewhere there is someone who only cares for you, someone who will pick you up when you fall,someone who only knows you, who will hold you when you cry and embrace you when you smile, “Happiness is when you know that person is just for you….”
Thank you Paulo for this question. Although we often forget about it, this is the most important one, isn’t it?
We are all looking for happiness, yet I think we are looking in the wrong place. People, posessions, careers – they all parts of the external world. Yet, happiness comes from within.
Happiness is the state of being, when you are in harmony with yourself and you act out in alignment with this harmony. Mahatma Gandhi said: ” Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”. No matter how perfect it looks from the point of ’standard’ success, if you are not in peace and harmony inside, it won’t matter.
Happiness is the feeling of openness and ‘connection to Source’. Well, how can you accurately describe the Feeling with words?
Love, Happiness and Creativity have the same core, I think.
May be I am an idealist, yet I think we can learn how to be happy, i.e. being open and connected and in peace. It is the skill – for some may come naturally, for some – need to learn.
Wish all be happy,
Olga
For me happiness is to be happy and content with whatever there is already. Happy = grateful. Being in the present moment and experiencing it to the full.It is not dreaming or thinking about mistakes of the past. It is just being here now. And floating from now to the next moment now. It is a difficult process. Sometimes I manage to do it for a whole day and evening. Other times it is just a small part of the day (and I get sucked in the dramas of the ego). But I think happiness is much easier to achieve. It is our minds that make it so difficult. In fact there is nothing to achieve. No bargains or negotiations. Happiness is available to everybody. It is just here and now. ¨If you want to be happy, be.¨ Leo Tolstoy.
True Happiness is given with God, for He is all & only Good. Life is a test, God is the answer to all the questions. Know you, know Him. Live happy.
I think everything in live is a change of happiness and sad times. How can something like happiness “be found”? Ok, perhaps we can find a moment of happiness but not a state of happiness wich will last forever.
Perhaps we’re searching for something that doesn’t exist?
everyone has a different point of view , but i think that a human being will never be happy if he/she spent his/her life just to make sure that they have every thing , most of the people spend their lives asking for this and for that and they forgot to live their moments , they forgot to enjoy waht they really got , and some people spend half of their lives collecting stuff , and they spend the other half wondering how to use these stuff , ,,,
and my dream is to spend the rest of my life with the one that he really really love me , thats all waht i’m asking for …
thank God because i’m able to see , to think , to laugh and to love ……. people never know what they really have tell they lose their gifts …..
I THINK happiness can be truly achieved by serving others…..the moment we lose our ego but keep self esteem high, we find that we r taking most right judgements to ourselves & others. other importent factor is abolishing the tendency to expect from others….if we rely on a person but hr doesnt turn up , we need not to feel sad or disappointed….but take it as his good intentions that atleat he tried to….
all these things r tough to follow in reality but that is what we call the spirit of service…spirit to come out of sadism & thanking god for the beautiful life he has given…life is not about expecting things but to give thins to it….thats the only path to happiness…
I do not know what happiness is.. I haven’t found it yet… I’m unhappy… yes I can “feel” happy for certain moments, yet my path is long and, at times, hard… my life is not mine because I’m here to help and protect others… yes, I am a warrior of the light… I am a tool in God’s hands and I follow the path that He has chosen for me and I do it with a smile on my face most of the time… the times that I do not smile is when I feel sad to know and see how the world is and where it’s headed… yet, I keep on walking the path coz I have faith that God knows best…
I do not care about things that most ppl do: status, appearances of having a better life than my neighbor, work, etc… I go through life obeying God… in that I don’t mean man made religions… I mean God with whom I have a connection and dialog with…
I learn the lessons that I have to learn and teach them to my daughter, for there’s lessons that she can learn without having to end up licking her own wounds… I licked my own wounds with the passing of time, which brought along many battles where my sword had to fall upon others and some swords fell upon me, and hopefully my daughter will learn the lessons without getting as many scratches and scars as I have…
Today, I am not happy… I feel sad… sad coz I see what’s coming for certain of my loved ones… too many ppl fear… fear stops everything… too many ppl do not care about their loved ones and/or neighbors… that! makes me sad…
I love to feel my heart soar, knowing that I will go through another battle and I’ll be ok no matter how many scars and wounds I get…
Right now, it’s an interlude for me… status quo… where I can try to rest a bit… nonetheless, I’m on my guards coz I know the battle’s not over yet…
I follow the signs God puts on my path… I have been physically ill for a month and havent gone to work… and God showed me that I have to move back to my hometown to help my soul-sister who’s been through a lot lately (end of a relationship with her daddy’s baby boy… her brother just died… wondering how she’ll provided financially for her kids and pay the rent alone, etc…)… I have to go there coz God showed me, through signs on the road, that I have to go there…
I was suppose to go in another city to help another of my friends do a healing center… yet, at the last moment, God, showed me by changing things amongst the ppl that were suppose to go help create the healing center, that I had to take a pose from that project and go help my soul-sister… and that when she’ll be ok, I’ll return to my initial path and move to that other city to help create the healing center…
We need to follow the signs on the road… the omens… and not get entangled with the superficialities of life…
At work one day, I was listening to a team lead tell me how he’s always wanted to open a boutique in London (UK)-we’re in Canada-… and I asked him “why dont you?”… and he replied to me that he couldnt anymore coz he was stuck in a government job with good money, a good pension plan and that he was too old to be dreaming about such a thing as a boutique in London… and that, anyway, there was a lot of boutique in London like the one he always dreamed of doing… I said to him “you’re only stuck here if you want to… if you dont wanna be stuck, then there’s no job, no money, no pension plan nor no age that can stop you from following your dream”… I told him to read your book “The Alchemist” which, surprisingly, he had never heard of.. he said that he’d think about it… that was like 2-3 months ago… He’s still working at the government job…
What is happiness? I dont know, but I do know that we cant find it when we feel stuck… We always have a choice… always… We have the choice to choose and we also have to choice to not choose… either way… it’s a choice…
We also have the choice to look within us for God and His voice… He guides us all the time and never falters… We’re the ones who choose to listen or not to Him…
Eventually, one day… when we’ll be near our last breath… God, if he hasnt done it before, will show us true happiness… I just guess that, by that time, it`s gonna be too late to post the answer, of what happiness is, here on this blog lololol… that`s ok lol… coz searching for happiness is like searching for the Holy Grail… you cannot find it… it finds you… and it`s usually already inside of you… all buried deep down… like a diamond surrounded by coal lol…
Beijocas Fofas Paulo… e bom de ver como voce escreve… a paciencia que voce tem… de mesmo que o amor que voce nos tem…
Grando abraco (xi-coracao – em portugues de Portugal lol)…
Sly
P.S.: obrigada pelos links que voce poem sobre a voca fan page no facebook…
Happiness is being able to share, or rather, give yourself to the world. This is hard to attain, because real happiness entails selflessness.
Happiness is something that calms the soul, gives ourselves inner peace.
Happiness starts in believing in yourself, and that in the end, not everything is only about you. Its about what you do and how you touch other people’s lives.
I am not able to be happy. The happiness is a harmony, and harmony is a state of mind. I know that it is necessary for me for happiness – faultless health, to love and be favourite, absence of material problems. Once, me have told that I will be never happy, because I will not have not enough something. Indeed. I do not have not enough man, I do not have not enough sex, I do not have not enough money. But I live, sometimes I joke and I smile. Because I the young, clever and beautiful girl. I still trust in love. Also I believe that all the best at me ahead, because to me as early as 20 years…
Happiness is also a feeling of contentment something which can be avhieved by giving
just help a person in trouble and see how content you feel
All of us know how content we feelwhen we do something for our loved ones
People are trying to catch happiness different kind of stimulants, example: new car,house,fine dining,alcohol,sex, ext.
Happiness is founding your inner child in you.
La felicidad es satisfaccion, la satifaccion de haber logrado las metas que desde niños nos fueron inculcadas y las que nos trazamos a medida que transcurre nuestra vida…Una mujer catolica es feliz por haberse casado por la iglesia, jaja o al menos dicen que ese es un momento de gran felicidad, sin embargo esto se le fue inculcado, por ciertos valores familiares y religiosos. La meta de lograr una carrera en la universidad…no puedo negar que senti una inmensa satisfaccion cuando logre graduarme y sin embargo no fue lo que esperaba…existen muchas cosas que nos llenan de satisfaccion pero todo necesita su complemento y a pesar de que logremos cumplir todas nuestras metas y sueños siempre quedara algo que no nos dejara ser realmente felices..por eso..no creo que exista la felicidad total..existen satisfacciones!!