Happiness and Sadness

 

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.

Based on Osho talks