Isn’t human nature fascinating? You are in the throes of despair – a lost love, a failed interview, a dearth of money or a surfeit of angst, etc., etc. Then something occurs: you receive a wonderful email, someone smiles solicitously, you are blessed by the wind and the rain, you wake up refreshed — whatever it is — and suddenly, once again, you are thrust into the bosom of happiness. This suggests that one of human existence’s greatest pillars – happiness – is real and intrinsic to us all. We are all naturally happy as opposed to morose. As is oft stated, one definition of happiness is “the joy you feel in doing what you love in the service of yourself or others.” Hopefully, the latter is more important than the former.
This statement about happiness, however, appears to be a total lie, doesn’t it – so few of our friends and associates seem to be content? And, this behavior is not going to change any time soon. “Why is this?” you may ask. The answer is simple: most people do not want to be happy. Say what? Yes, it is true. Most human beings, I am convinced, would rather wallow in pain and suffering than to achieve joy and fulfillment. Why? It is overly trite to say that “It is easy,” but that is the truth. To develop the beautiful you, to polish your raw diamond, requires effort – and its bedfellow, time. It takes practice to be good at anything, to gain expertise necessitates effort. Virtually everyone to a greater or lesser extent can learn to play the violin, for example. The master never stops practicing — especially after success and fame have been achieved. From the great violinist, Yehudi Menuhin: “We embark unhesitatingly on the path, in a direction that is absolutely right and urgent, supported by everyone, in the knowledge that this path is but a learning process. We have to keep on learning, creating, applying, by-passing, touching upon, refining and clarifying a number of notions and details that need to be improvised and applied and which, thank God, we cannot foresee. The only rigidity lies in our will, our conviction that we are on the right road and that our initiatives are most pressing. … The best teacher is the one who himself has had to struggle to learn.” (1)
This is the straightforward lesson: nothing is easily realized. But, the point is that something can be accomplished through effort. There will always be someone more beautiful than me; there will always be someone more intelligent than me, but no one can consummate me like I can. The lesson that must be learned is how to access knowledge. Quite literally: “How do I teach me?” One wonderful way to bolster your self-confidence is to read the epistles of great men. They give us solace in our struggles towards the realization of our goals. The great intellectual and nationalist, Jose Rizal (2) leaves us with a thought: As God has not made anything useless in this world, as all beings fulfill obligations or a role in the sublime drama of Creation, I cannot be exempt from this duty, and small though it may be, I too have a mission to fulfill, as for example: alleviating the sufferings of my fellowmen.
A closing thought: It is easy to discuss success and failure. But, due to the fact life is an individual process, this is much harder to attain. Og Mandino,(3) for one, discusses changing your way of living and thinking if you want to be successful to yourself: the caveat being that only you can ultimately judge your value in the world. Why are so many rich and successful people unhappy? With a little reflection, all of us know the answer. They feel unfulfilled by all their power and lucre – sad, just sad.
To sum up: This week, we spoke about happiness and how to achieve it. The answer is through perseverance and hard work. There is no easy answer to live a life well lived.
A philosophical question: Why when we welcome the clear, deep-blue sky, do we also say, “Today, I feel so blue?”
Just for fun — Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli playing together
This week, on your beautiful walk, please ponder your own happiness..
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: Each and every day has a new beginning and a peaceful close. There are only so many in each person’s lifetime. We should cherish each and every day.
Footnotes:
2) José Rizal