This post is some sort of answer (I don't know if I should say "answer", but works for now) to a very interesting post I read a few minutes ago (if the author of said blog gets to read this, she'll know). This is also a bunch of thoughts I've had in my mind for quite a while now, reading said post made me remember and I thought it'd be nice to share what I think, maybe some day someone in need might read it. =) Ok, let's go!
People usually believe that "being happy" means to always be laughing and smiling, to have all your problems solved or to not have any problems at all and to have all you wish for. But the sad truth is that those things only exist on TV (Yes, you've been told a lie your whole life, sorry!). No one can always be smiling, no one has all his problems solved and even if they are, there will always be more to come, and also, no one can have ALL they want. People have a wrong idea, which gets them confused between "happiness" and "joy", but they're not the same. Joy is that feeling you have when you're with your friends or your family or that special person and you feel like everything's perfect right at that moment and you wish you could freeze time and live forever in that very instant of your life. People think that "being happy" is to have that feeling of joy at all times, which is impossible, and even if it was... it'd become boring after a while, or at least that's what I think! =P So, this is the part when it gets hard for me to explain, because for most people, who have lived their whole life in that lie I told you about, it's almost impossible even to the point of being unthinkable, that happiness can be something other than that. But let's try to explain, we don't lose anything if we try and we have so much to win if we succeed!
So, after a few years walking this earth, I've finally got to understand that "happiness" is a choice, you don't need anything to be happy, and even more important, you don't need anyone to be happy. Once you finally realize about this, you will also realize that there are very few things that can actually take you down.
I remember a friend telling me years ago that Buddha said "pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional". When I heard those words the first time I didn't understand what Buddha tried to say, but later I found out for myself. There are things in this life that are inevitable, like pain, hunger, the death of a loved one... and no, they're not fun at all, but it's up to you to pick one of two choices: you hang on to that feeling of loss and pain and let it corrupt you from inside, or you let go and go on. In case anyone's wondering: I used to take the first choice years ago, so I'm not guessing how it feels to let that feeling in, I know it. It's up to us not to suffer. You lost something or someone? Too bad, cry and let it out... but don't let it kill every single part of who you are for months or years. Let go of that thing, that moment, that place, that person, and start living now. Learn to see all you STILL have, instead of thinking of all you have lost.
You got to this world with all you needed to be happy, yourself! No expensive clothes, no shoes, no watches made of gold, no fancy sunglasses, no flat screens, no computer, not even another human attached to yourself (ok, some did get those, but you get what I mean), if you got here with nothing but yourself, why do you need to own it all to feel complete, when you are complete already?
And that takes me to the conclusion of this "bunch of thoughts": What is "Happiness"? To me, Happiness (and I'm writing it with capital H on purpose) is a choice, a state of mind, a decision you make every single second of your life, every time you have to choose how to react or how to feel about any situation. To me, Happiness is a way to live, a philosophy that you live every day. To me, Happiness is not to feel joy all the time, it's not to have all I want, but to feel I am complete, to feel I don't need anything else but what I already have, and also, to be sure that no matter what comes next, I will still feel complete!
Once I heard a jewish guy saying that when they wish peace to each other, they don't mean the
"peace" as we know it, which is something like "the absence of conflict"... that peace they talk about is that feeling you have when all your needs covered and you feel you don't need anything else. Which is kind
of what I think Happiness really is.
So, what is Happiness to me? In a few words, to be Happy is to feel complete, to be at peace at all times, no matter what or who. =)
Now that I've said that... I hope you all can be Happy! ^_^
