Happiness is the feeling you feel when you heave a sigh of relief at making it to your meeting on time. Happiness is the feeling that engulfs you when your UPI transaction goes through on a day you forgot to bring your wallet. Happiness is the feeling that intoxicates you when you are next to the person with whom you can be the most immature version of yourself. Lastly, happiness is the feeling that feels like a warm hug when you finally accept your reflection for being unapologetically you. Happiness is a feeling that is not limited to any one experience. It can range from having that perfect pani puri to literally saving a person’s life. But we often confuse what it truly means. Let’s try to understand it better this International Day of Happiness.
Happiness Can’t Exist Alone
Unlike contrary belief, happiness is not the opposite of sadness. The opposite of it is unhappiness. And unhappiness encompasses a lot of emotions from sadness to anger. We are humans who exist in fifty shades of grey and not in black and white. Our emotions are complex. We can’t put it into binaries and expect it to remain that way forever. Sadness may not be the greatest experience one would encounter, but it is still a necessary one as it adds more value to your happiness.
To appreciate the days you feel like you’re on top of the world, you need to have a feel of what it feels like to stand on Earth and stare up. You can’t appreciate a sweet mango enough if you have never tasted a sour one. So, you see happiness needs company too. Someone to help it see how valuable it truly is. But at the same time ensuring that happiness doesn’t become too arrogant and ends up reigning over other emotions and feelings in the process. So, let’s not forget the importance of sadness this International Day of Happiness
Happiness: A Promise To Oneself
Every New Year resolution starts with “I will love myself this year”. By the end of the year, we have successfully crafted a list of flaws that make us unfit to be loved by anyone including ourselves. So, instead of making tall promises how about starting small?
Loving yourself is a process and it clearly can’t be achieved in a year. Especially, if you just stare at the end goal without looking at the steps to reach it. What do these steps include? Ask yourself what is the true essence of loving yourself. Loving yourself essentially means being happy with yourself. And what are the things that make you happy or will make you happy? There you have it! Your own personal staircase to loving yourself. Some steps may not be very steep or drastically different from one another. But that doesn’t mean they are not different or don’t have value.
Promise yourself that you will appreciate and value each moment of happiness in your life be it a warm cup of coffee, or a long-awaited promotion. Happiness is a feeling that you must promise yourself to truly let yourself experience it. This International Day of Happiness promise yourself to stop measuring your happiness and just live it!
