In search of happiness

Happiness is a circumstance. It is a state of consciousness. Occasionally, human beings experience joy even when they do not discover something to derive joy from. It is all about the contentment of our soul and intellect. When we are in harmony with our soul, we find ourselves encircled by joyfulness and delight. Thus, it is indeed a circumstance of consciousness and a state in which intellect and essence resonate together.
Happiness is to experience delight in whatever an individual possesses. Existence is a journey where one finds it genuinely challenging to attain everything one yearns for. No sagacious individual ties joyfulness to one’s material gains. Therefore, one must live joyfully even if one has nothing to find happiness.
Happiness is something we accomplish after achieving success by overcoming life struggles. Life keeps an individual engaged in a constant battle. The daily resistance life presents makes one abandon one’s aspirations. There comes a moment when an individual chooses to quit and allows failure to dominate. However, if one refuses to yield to failure and keeps striving to achieve success, one soon discovers the right path and meets one destiny bringing joyfulness to oneself. Hence, happiness is a natural outcome of one’s ability to triumph over obstacles in life.
Having said that, happiness is the state one attains when one becomes enlightened. Enlightenment is a state in which one discerns that one’s existence in this universe has a specific. An enlightened individual realises very soon that this life is temporary and this world is not a destination but a part of one’s journey toward one’s ultimate demise. This thought liberates an enlightened individual from all the burdens and gives an enlightened individual something to feel relieved of. Such an individual becomes independent of the desires that this world encourages one to cultivate within one’s essence. Therefore, happiness is a by-product of enlightenment which does not come easily.
Happiness is when one discovers one’s purpose in life. Life without a purpose is like a tree without the capacity to produce fruit. Life turns meaningless and loses its significance when one spends one’s life without setting a specific goal in life. However, when an individual sets a purpose in life, one expands one’s energy to attain the goal and the journey towards accomplishing one’s goals turns out to be a pleasant experience.
Happiness is to serve humanity. In this age of materialism, happiness has become a rare commodity. People keep wandering in the wilderness of fake materialism in search of happiness. However, it remains under the shadow of helping others in life’s difficult moments. It takes a lifetime to fathom the real essence of this virtuous act of assisting others, and most people spend life pursuing their vested interests without realising that it is the act of uplifting others that brings happiness to our lives. This reality that happiness germinates itself from the seeds of expanding one’s horizon to make others grow is a secret that remains unknown to many people, and only fortunate ones find this in their lifetime.
In this life, happiness is the product of patience. Great achievements never come easily. It takes years of effort full of patience to achieve a milestone in life. Patience makes one resilient amid turbulent moments in life, making one invincible to failures. An individual who possesses patience moves forward in life with all the might and power of self-belief. Patience is a virtue, and its product is everlasting joyfulness.
Modern times have made people descend into the profound abyss of disappointment and melancholy. The age of social media has made humans compare themselves with others, which adds to the unjust sadness in their lives.
Moreover, materialism has taken over ethics, which has taken away the joy of making others a priority, paving the way towards the path of chaos and malevolence. Such a path never brings joyfulness in life.
Our youth have fallen victim to the curse of obtaining fame and wealth without making sincere efforts, which has brought the menace of depression to them. As fame and wealth are misleading notions in the modern era, many youngsters feel discontented when they fail to acquire these in a short period.
The essential trait of patience has lost its significance today, and youngsters have been in constant search of immediate success. When they realise that it is a process that demands years of struggle, they lose their hope, inviting sadness into their life.
Most people have also lost track of self-discovery, and they lead a life that others design for them. This is a direct cause of the loss of joyfulness in life.
For most people, their current state is a misery, and such people always remain in finding a way to acquire, without giving in the required hard work, what other people possess. This breeds dissatisfaction in their lives.
Therefore, happiness has become the most precious jewel in the modern world. People in the contemporary world cannot buy this jewel even if they are filthy rich. However, a poor person sometimes finds this jewel in his life without making any achievements in life.
The contemporary era has steered individuals toward a trajectory marked by anguish and distress, largely attributed to the pervasive materialism that characterises the modern world. The concept of happiness has been eclipsed by the prevailing forces of selfishness and insular pursuits.
Only by making ethical and justifiable choices in life, we truly become joyous and happy. Happiness is within our souls. All we need is to allow it to grow and thrive by making us feel contented with whatever we possess without desiring what we do not have.
This is the only path to live a joyous life

The writer is a civil servant. He can be reached 
at waqar
hassancsp@gmail.com.

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