A Truncated Word on Happiness (From Eat, Pray, Love)
"Happiness is a consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away you innate contentment. It is easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments." (Eat, Pray, Love)
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I am ambivalent. I didn't think that happiness could take a lot of work. For me, happiness comes easily and smoothly, yes. It sparkles from a realization that there are things you cannot change, people you cannot have, and hopes that are crushed...but life is still good because there are so much...so much more you have and can have. Life is still good because you have what you need, always. Life is still good because within me, there is still a smile...a love. I do agree that happiness needs maintaining though. But, maintaining comes naturally...true, you stay away from people who hurt you, stay away from books that break your heart, from songs that make you depress...but, come to think of it, true happiness should not be affected by mundane things like that. If one is truly happy, regardless of the distance from a lover, regardless of the sadness of a song's melody, and regardless of the solitude of the winter, there remains a flicker of happiness. You just need to focus on it so that it grows, swiftly, easily, naturally it grows.
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At this point in my life, I can honestly say. I am happy. I do not need to list down all the things that make me happy because there are so many...but for starters, I am happy because...I am free. I am loved. I love. I dedicate myself to a work that is also my passion. I see different hues of the world. I taste really good food. I blend with good people. I have hope and dreams. I have no regrets. I am happy. Along the Taoist philosophy, I am happy. The need not to meddle with the affairs of nature so that the innate state of contentment flows and grows and surrounds me. So I guess, in the end, I am happy because of no reason at all. I am just happy because happiness is the most natural state of all, and I recognize that. Thank you, Lao Tzu.
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Let me deviate a little...A word on happiness for the wanderers of the world...uprooted, mobile, and free:
If you feel the need to navigate the world and see what is out there, go ahead. If you want to see the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and dance with the shamans of Gujarat, if you wish you sing with the aborigines of Tasmania, and straddle a horse in Phoenix, if you think you have to smell the aroma of spices in Venice and climb a mountain in Sumatra, if you want to swim across the English Chanel and wade in the waters of Yangtze, if you feel the need to visit Maldives and drink soma in Dhaka, go ahead.
I understand your need to know, to explore, to conquer, and to experience. I feel it too.
I am sure there is happiness as you traverse one point to another. But, whenever and if ever you want to stop...either temporarily, just to take a breathe and reflect, or permanently... You know what to do: attraversiamo.
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I am ambivalent. I didn't think that happiness could take a lot of work. For me, happiness comes easily and smoothly, yes. It sparkles from a realization that there are things you cannot change, people you cannot have, and hopes that are crushed...but life is still good because there are so much...so much more you have and can have. Life is still good because you have what you need, always. Life is still good because within me, there is still a smile...a love. I do agree that happiness needs maintaining though. But, maintaining comes naturally...true, you stay away from people who hurt you, stay away from books that break your heart, from songs that make you depress...but, come to think of it, true happiness should not be affected by mundane things like that. If one is truly happy, regardless of the distance from a lover, regardless of the sadness of a song's melody, and regardless of the solitude of the winter, there remains a flicker of happiness. You just need to focus on it so that it grows, swiftly, easily, naturally it grows.
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At this point in my life, I can honestly say. I am happy. I do not need to list down all the things that make me happy because there are so many...but for starters, I am happy because...I am free. I am loved. I love. I dedicate myself to a work that is also my passion. I see different hues of the world. I taste really good food. I blend with good people. I have hope and dreams. I have no regrets. I am happy. Along the Taoist philosophy, I am happy. The need not to meddle with the affairs of nature so that the innate state of contentment flows and grows and surrounds me. So I guess, in the end, I am happy because of no reason at all. I am just happy because happiness is the most natural state of all, and I recognize that. Thank you, Lao Tzu.
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Let me deviate a little...A word on happiness for the wanderers of the world...uprooted, mobile, and free:
If you feel the need to navigate the world and see what is out there, go ahead. If you want to see the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and dance with the shamans of Gujarat, if you wish you sing with the aborigines of Tasmania, and straddle a horse in Phoenix, if you think you have to smell the aroma of spices in Venice and climb a mountain in Sumatra, if you want to swim across the English Chanel and wade in the waters of Yangtze, if you feel the need to visit Maldives and drink soma in Dhaka, go ahead.
I understand your need to know, to explore, to conquer, and to experience. I feel it too.
I am sure there is happiness as you traverse one point to another. But, whenever and if ever you want to stop...either temporarily, just to take a breathe and reflect, or permanently... You know what to do: attraversiamo.
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