Happiness Crystal
On the other day I was talking to my friend CVR and we were comparing the pay structures of various professions. He was of the opinion that money and material wealth is not important for happiness and one should not be looking at a happiness index measured by wealth. It all started when I said, driving a Toyota Prado gives me happiness. He retorted that when I would actually get to drive a Prado, I would still be unhappy because then I would be looking at a Maybach!! Then I asked him what one must look for when we say happiness. He replied that often unquantifiable things like writing poetry, working hard or composing music give happiness and its better to pursue them instead of having materialistic aims.
I thought over it for a moment. I shared his view 100% and infact, I had even written about it here a couple of yrs of ago. But, to my mind there appeared to more that what it meets the eye. Three questions come to my mind here :-
1. Can happiness be a product one just one factor alone? To amplify, can any one factor be the single contributor to happiness of a person?
2. Is having a materialistic aim like wanting to own a bigger car, a crime, a road that leads away from happiness?
3. Are the two aspects of materialistic view and spiritualistic or artistic view of roads leading to happiness mutually exclusive?
Well, I look at it this way. Happiness comes from every sphere of life. I have the power to derive happiness from the most mundane things in this world to the most audacious ambitions I nurture and persevere to achieve, however materialistic they are. To tie down the source of happiness from just one aspect is unrealistic and foolish. We must take a holistic view of happiness index. Materialism and Spiritualism can and does coexist. They are the different faces of the same crystal.
I will try to illustrate this with an example. Today, I am an amateur blogger who writes occasionally but I would someday want to write a best selling fiction novel. Among other things, writing gives me a lot of happiness. Driving my present car, a B segment Ford, gives me a lot of happiness. Aspiring to drive a maybach one day also makes me happy. And dreaming to become an author of a best selling fiction also makes me very happy. Now, these are just a few faces of my happiness crystal. I may, after reaching my destination that I have set for today, aim for further more. So does that mean that after reaching there, I will still be unhappy?? No. Not if I include the journey of myself from a amateur writer to a professional author, as one face of the happiness crystal. And include the journey from a driving my poor ford to cruising in my luxury maybach as another face of the happiness crystal, I shall ensure happiness all along my journey. In life, we arrive at a destination only to commence a new journey and if this journey itself gives us happiness, then we can be happy for most part of our lifetime. And they say, success is a journey and not a destination!!
So, here I am, a one time occasional writer scribbling my random thoughts, graduating to become a full time writer, working hard enough to pen down a fiction that would get me the professional satisfaction and in turn would make me richer, would permit me to go for that dream maybach!!! Its all about synergy. The faces of the crystal synergise to produce a combined mental positive state of happiness, satisfaction and peace of mind. Not one face of the happiness crystal alone claim all the honour, but just one face alone can rescue when all others fail to radiate. That’s the story of my kaleidoscope where my happiness crystal is rotating fast. I cant make out which of its face is radiating and which is not. But the myriad picture called Life that I am seeing everyday is very colourful!! At the end of the day, it is all that matters.
On the other day I was talking to my friend CVR and we were comparing the pay structures of various professions. He was of the opinion that money and material wealth is not important for happiness and one should not be looking at a happiness index measured by wealth. It all started when I said, driving a Toyota Prado gives me happiness. He retorted that when I would actually get to drive a Prado, I would still be unhappy because then I would be looking at a Maybach!! Then I asked him what one must look for when we say happiness. He replied that often unquantifiable things like writing poetry, working hard or composing music give happiness and its better to pursue them instead of having materialistic aims.
I thought over it for a moment. I shared his view 100% and infact, I had even written about it here a couple of yrs of ago. But, to my mind there appeared to more that what it meets the eye. Three questions come to my mind here :-
1. Can happiness be a product one just one factor alone? To amplify, can any one factor be the single contributor to happiness of a person?
2. Is having a materialistic aim like wanting to own a bigger car, a crime, a road that leads away from happiness?
3. Are the two aspects of materialistic view and spiritualistic or artistic view of roads leading to happiness mutually exclusive?
Well, I look at it this way. Happiness comes from every sphere of life. I have the power to derive happiness from the most mundane things in this world to the most audacious ambitions I nurture and persevere to achieve, however materialistic they are. To tie down the source of happiness from just one aspect is unrealistic and foolish. We must take a holistic view of happiness index. Materialism and Spiritualism can and does coexist. They are the different faces of the same crystal.
I will try to illustrate this with an example. Today, I am an amateur blogger who writes occasionally but I would someday want to write a best selling fiction novel. Among other things, writing gives me a lot of happiness. Driving my present car, a B segment Ford, gives me a lot of happiness. Aspiring to drive a maybach one day also makes me happy. And dreaming to become an author of a best selling fiction also makes me very happy. Now, these are just a few faces of my happiness crystal. I may, after reaching my destination that I have set for today, aim for further more. So does that mean that after reaching there, I will still be unhappy?? No. Not if I include the journey of myself from a amateur writer to a professional author, as one face of the happiness crystal. And include the journey from a driving my poor ford to cruising in my luxury maybach as another face of the happiness crystal, I shall ensure happiness all along my journey. In life, we arrive at a destination only to commence a new journey and if this journey itself gives us happiness, then we can be happy for most part of our lifetime. And they say, success is a journey and not a destination!!
So, here I am, a one time occasional writer scribbling my random thoughts, graduating to become a full time writer, working hard enough to pen down a fiction that would get me the professional satisfaction and in turn would make me richer, would permit me to go for that dream maybach!!! Its all about synergy. The faces of the crystal synergise to produce a combined mental positive state of happiness, satisfaction and peace of mind. Not one face of the happiness crystal alone claim all the honour, but just one face alone can rescue when all others fail to radiate. That’s the story of my kaleidoscope where my happiness crystal is rotating fast. I cant make out which of its face is radiating and which is not. But the myriad picture called Life that I am seeing everyday is very colourful!! At the end of the day, it is all that matters.
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