What Happiness Means to Me! – Chitra Jha

 
What does happiness mean to a free spirit like me?

Josh Billings said, “Don’t mistake pleasures for happiness. They are a different breed of dog.” I completely agree with him. So, let’s first get clear what we mean by ‘happiness’ that we are talking about. Happiness involves making loving choices, one day, one moment at a time and our entire life gets filled with sheer joy.

Of course, happiness means different things to different people and yet we are all looking for it all the time. In fact, our entire search, our work, our family life, all that we do are geared towards finding real happiness. We invent things, entertainments, and foods, all in search of happiness.

We look for it outside of us and that is the mistake we make. Happiness is deep inside us. It is our very core; it is imprinted in our DNA. All we need to do is look within. Have you ever wondered how a smile comes to your lips when you see a gurgling baby; when you see little pups playing; when you listen to birds chirping or butterflies dancing?

Beautiful fragrant flowers make you joyful. Beauty in any form brings happiness to heart. Where did this happiness come from? Did you pay for it? Did you invite it? Did you invent it? No, something that was deep inside you just surfaced. That is the real joy, real happiness, real ananda, and it is inside you.

It is possible to remain in touch with this beautiful state all the time. You can stay in touch with this inner joy if you believe that you are an expression of God (and so is everyone/everything else around you). God is experiencing himself through all of this creation.

Just as we experience joy through the things that we create, including our children, He experiences joy through us. This joy is inherent in our nature. Let us pledge ourselves to access this happiness/joy/ananda, whatever you may call it, 24×7.

Let us look beyond the word ‘happiness’ to the reality ‘happiness’. Realty is a thing to be experienced. Let us open our hearts to this experience. Then God will smile through us and heaven will descend upon earth. Such is my dream and I know its fulfillment is right here in this very moment.

Let us savor this moment. Ah, happiness, so elusive and yet so within reach!

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. – Hosea Ballou

Chitra Jha is a healer, writer, corporate trainer and verbal ability instructor.