How to find happiness and stay happy

How to find happiness and stay happy

Many of us have this compelling urge to make changes to our lives, minor or major, hoping to elevate ourselves to a new level of happiness. We inadvertently begin to believe that a bigger house or a higher job designation would make us happier than what we are today. While aiming to achieve higher and higher in life is not wrong, seeking happiness through these achievements is not healthy. The belief, that a house with a swimming pool will render more happiness, transforms into a vehement pursuit of the same, which invariably thrusts us into a realm of greed, jealousy and deteriorating self-esteem. If happiness is what we’re looking for, we don’t need to go too far because happiness is within us!
Long time ago, there lived two friends in a village in Bhangmun. Farming being their sole means of earning a livelihood, they worked hard at it taking good care of their crops. While Ajay always
looked across his field and envied the lush green meadow on the other side, Vijay was content with his toil and soil for all its worth. A rich man of the village had heard about the hardworking Ajay and Vijay. He also knew that the former was always eyeing for more while the latter was content with what he had. He decided to put them to test. One night when the whole village was asleep, he asked one of his men to keep two pots full of gold coins in their house. On day break as the 2 men were ready to set out for their fields, they noticed an oddly shaped bag stashed in a corner of their back yard. As they untied the knot their anxiety changed to astonishment as they unraveled the pot of gold coins. They wasted no time in counting them and counted a total of 99 coins each. Vijay was mighty thrilled at his unexpected fortune. However Ajay began to wonder who would have left the pot and why is ‘one’ coin missing. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to make the 99 coins 100, by working even harder through day and night. He sold his wife’s jewelry, ate just one meal a day and toiled long hours to reach his target.
Many of us are like Ajay. Instead of being content with what we have we put ourselves through unnecessary pain in the pursuit of happiness. Think of it; if 99 coins cannot make us happy, what difference will one coin make? Our happiness index is not an element of destiny nor does it rely on external circumstances or situations, it is a composition of our inner self. When we learn to conquer our mind we will become the master of our circumstances. With great care and assiduous practice, make the mind rest on your divine nature. Rather than changing jobs, transformation from within will help us reach our anticipated level of happiness, anytime, anywhere!