What is contentment?
It is essentially the fulfillment of a need. I need food i have a pizza thus i feel contented. I need a car i buy one and i feel contented. Fulfilling our mental & physical urges is contentment.
What is joy?
We experience joy when we overcome a challenge, cross a hurdle. For example i need a car so i work to get a fat bonus and on getting it i have fulfilled a challenge which makes me feel joyful because i am contented. I come first in class or i claim a 5 wicket haul, these things are hurdles surmounted by us which makes us feel joyful.
Going by what i said above then what is happiness. Based on the above two definitions what we all perceive happiness to be is essentially not happiness at all. Then what is it??
Happiness
We feel happiness when we create meaning. In other words when we contribute something to the world that not only creates meaning for us but also for the world then we truly experience happiness. For example lets take dancing. If one knows lets say a particular form of dance and shares it with another person who is thrilled to learn it. This creates meaning for the student but it brings happiness to the teacher. Graham bell invented the phone and created value for the world. It did bring him joy because he was successful in making his invention viable but more than anything it made him happy because he created value for the world.
So is happiness fleeting or permanant?
Happiness is fleeting if meaning created is only for oneself. It is permanent if it is created for the masses.
Why is this so??
I will prove this fact by a simple question that you have to answer honestly. What makes you most happy to see yourself smiling or a total stranger smiling because you made his life slightly better?
I will end this with something very basic that quantifies happiness
Happiness = Wanting what you have / Having what you want
Kindly share your thoughts on the above piece...Thank you
No comments:
Post a Comment