Happiness and Sadness
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| Photo Credit: Steemit | Spiritual Life #5 |
Happiness and Sadness
As children, we
become happy at the simplest of things, our parent’s loving touch, a little
gift, sound of music, nature’s beauty and so on. As we grow older and as our
innocence dries up with the reality of life – ‘happiness’ starts coming from
people and objects – here the mind starts defining the meaning of happiness.
And along with happiness, sadness is not far behind – basically both these
emotions are two sides of the same coin.
Our happiness
is now a function of our desires – it becomes an exercise in ‘ifs’ and ‘what ifs’
– ‘If I get a promotion’, ‘If I get a salary raise’, ‘If I can go on that
holiday’ and so on and so forth; on the other hand – ‘What if I don’t get a
promotion’, ‘What if I don’t get a salary raise’, ‘What if I can’t go on that
holiday?’ Thus, our desires start defining our happy or sad state. The more
intense our desire, the sadder we are, more disappointed we are if that desire is
not fulfilled.
In a way sadness is also good, nothing to be afraid of, accept that you are
sad for whatever reason and don’t pretend that you are happy when in reality
you are not. You are only fooling yourself – deep down you know the reason for
your sadness – it is just that your mind is not letting you accept it. Remember
the night is darkest before dawn, and just as in nature, day follows night and
happiness follows sadness in life – it is nature’s wheel and it keeps turning.
It is up to us whether to accept it or not – acceptance of life’s up-down cycle
leads to happiness and inner peace and protest or resistance leads to sadness
and depression.
The solution to our individual state is in our own hands – if we choose
to be happy, we are, else sadness and depression become our lot! Happiness
gives one the feeling of vastness and sadness the feeling of depth – embrace both
as both are needed. People who pretend to be happy are always shallow, they are
mediocre. People who have been touched by sadness become aware of many things
which one remains unaware of in ordinary circumstances. Sadness gives you
depth, an insight into other dimensions of your persona that you were not aware
of. Of course, it is sad, but also beautiful. Even the night has its own beauty
and those who cannot see the beauty of the night, miss a whole lot!
Both the dark and the light, sadness and happiness need to be viewed
from a distance – as a witness. When you learn to just observe from a distance,
you become detached – then the happiness and sadness is not ‘yours’ so to say,
it is just a happening which is a part of life. This realisation will give you
tremendous peace and inner joy – this feeling is true happiness, divine bliss,
accept it, live it.
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