The Tide of Happiness

One man said, “I have everything but I feel empty.” The other one said, “I have nothing yet I am happy.”

What is happiness?I once asked my Religion teacher who taught us the meaning of life but she seemed at astray on how to answer. I probed deeper by reading insatiably yet all I have gleaned is its scholarly definition.

I explored further with the same query from my college professors, “What is happiness?” They gave me long incredulous look then immediately proceeded to lengthy lectures about living in gratification, peace and love. Still, I was not convinced.

As I gaze at the stars tonight and while the sweet cold breeze played with my hair, I was reminded of those many times I asked that question. Strangely, as the stars teased me with their simmering sparkles my heart felt like it was about to burst with…happiness.

I then realized that happiness is a journey not a destination. It doesn’t matter how I ended up but how I go through it. The marvels of the stars reminded me of those steps I trekked and I ended up with wisp of smile on my face.

I think back of yesteryears and spectacle sensations filled my heart. All the time I was asking that question the answer was inside me.

It was happiness that I have felt when I spent time with my family and friends. It was happiness that I have felt when I saw the dawn of learning on the face of my pupils. It was happiness that I have felt when I went up on stage to receive the fruit of hard labors. It was happiness that I have felt when I did good things for my friends and strangers without expecting anything in return…

All along I was having the journey of happiness…

I once lay placid amidst the surge of the ocean of pain and suffering but it was a voyage where faith and hope was my anchor- a journey of happiness.

I think back of the time that I drank my favorite tea and had a good smile. The moment that my niece kissed me and said, “I love you.” and my heart overflowed with incomprehensible feeling. The instant that I looked up at the skies and was greeted with vastness of its beauty, my eyes feasted with happiness.Happiness is a state of mind…I can have the world but I can’t be happy. On the other hand, I might have nothing but I can be the happiest person alive. Happiness is also a matter of perspective.We long to be happy but we imprison ourselves to specifications. Thus we say, "I will be happy if only…"

Such could be the cruelest thing we can do to ourselves. It is the kind achieved by secular search and could be gone so fast like a sand castle. The sense of real happiness bubbles from within. The world is a big ship where we are all voyagers of time. Sometimes we feel overwrought and in despondency how to go on. Happiness could be elusive and we can only see the enormity of the sea of grief. The port of victory might be imperceptible but then we just need to wait for “the tide”.

As we dock and feel the tide of happiness, the completeness of our soul became its herald.

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