Where on Earth does one find happiness?
A while ago I began asking people I came across, "When was the last time you actually laughed? Laughed just for yourself, laughed not to please anyone and not because it was expected; the last time you actually were happy and laughed like a fool, unbothered..." Everyone brooded for a while and almost everyone had a default reply, "10 years ago." Wow! that was just a number; the actual could be longer.
Troubled with life and the suburban drudgery and chronic dissatisfaction that comes along with it, people have forgotten to be happy. This started my mission to 'Rediscover Happiness'.
Sometimes, I watch my lil' son smiling to himself and making those funny noises, babbling that strange language which must mean a lot to him and he is happy. He feeds, sleeps and sometimes appears to be lost in thought and he transends that feeling of happiness to everyone around him. Everyone, even those serious ones become child like in his precense as they try to mimic his movements and speak his language. He seems to be living Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs upside down. He has all his basic and other elementary needs (those which we, the adults crib for) met/given/provided with happiness. And He, needless to say, is self actualized and transcends the same to everyone around. No wonder people like to be around children.
It hurts me to have to accept the fact that he will slowly be moving downward in that hierarchy of needs, in the course of survival and must climb the hierarchy all over again to reach the point he is already in now as time goes by... as people would expect him to speak their language(s), compartmentalize him into customs, values, mores, traditions, etiquette, culture, religion(s), codes and ethics... someone accepted and admired so much now, will soon be a victim to this compulsory norms and conditions for survival, to gather that acceptance among the people around him who so unconditionally love him now; and I will be watching this transformation (helplessly).
Soon, very soon I shall be asking him "When was the last time you actually laughed? Laughed just for yourself, laughed not to please anyone and not because it was expected; the last time you actually were happy and laughed like a fool, unbothered..." and probably he will help me rediscover happiness as time goes by.
Bottom line: "Man, unlike the animal, has never learned that the sole purpose of life is to enjoy it." Samuel Butler
A while ago I began asking people I came across, "When was the last time you actually laughed? Laughed just for yourself, laughed not to please anyone and not because it was expected; the last time you actually were happy and laughed like a fool, unbothered..." Everyone brooded for a while and almost everyone had a default reply, "10 years ago." Wow! that was just a number; the actual could be longer.
Troubled with life and the suburban drudgery and chronic dissatisfaction that comes along with it, people have forgotten to be happy. This started my mission to 'Rediscover Happiness'.
Sometimes, I watch my lil' son smiling to himself and making those funny noises, babbling that strange language which must mean a lot to him and he is happy. He feeds, sleeps and sometimes appears to be lost in thought and he transends that feeling of happiness to everyone around him. Everyone, even those serious ones become child like in his precense as they try to mimic his movements and speak his language. He seems to be living Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs upside down. He has all his basic and other elementary needs (those which we, the adults crib for) met/given/provided with happiness. And He, needless to say, is self actualized and transcends the same to everyone around. No wonder people like to be around children.
It hurts me to have to accept the fact that he will slowly be moving downward in that hierarchy of needs, in the course of survival and must climb the hierarchy all over again to reach the point he is already in now as time goes by... as people would expect him to speak their language(s), compartmentalize him into customs, values, mores, traditions, etiquette, culture, religion(s), codes and ethics... someone accepted and admired so much now, will soon be a victim to this compulsory norms and conditions for survival, to gather that acceptance among the people around him who so unconditionally love him now; and I will be watching this transformation (helplessly).
Soon, very soon I shall be asking him "When was the last time you actually laughed? Laughed just for yourself, laughed not to please anyone and not because it was expected; the last time you actually were happy and laughed like a fool, unbothered..." and probably he will help me rediscover happiness as time goes by.
Bottom line: "Man, unlike the animal, has never learned that the sole purpose of life is to enjoy it." Samuel Butler
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