Les Amicales ou Les Misérables!

Isn't it strange yet so commonplace how we become upset and distraught over the slightest mishap…and yet fail to see happiness in anything other than the overtly obvious? I do not claim to be any different when it comes to feeling grouchy and forlorn when things don't exactly happen the way I want it to happen. Even the very simplest of drawbacks is enough for me to pull a long face…much to the chagrin of many around me. To shake that feeling off is much easier said than done for me. It takes a long time for me to get back to my cheerful self.

I wonder if the case were similar for everyone in case of happiness too. Like say, we were to take every instance of happiness, even if it were only for a moment, as a blessing and revel in its glory for a while. What a happy place this world would have been! I reckon it's all a matter of mindsets.

Earlier, I was a staunch believer that people are born in a certain way and they remain so forever. There were the perpetually happy people (the kind I identified myself with), the naturally sad ones, the 'always-with-a-scowl' people and some people who were just plain frustrated with everything and everyone! I believed that there's just no changing them. It just won't work. And even if they did appear to have 'changed' for whatever reasons, they'd put up a poor show! Duh!

Today, I believe I am in a position to be more judgemental on this subject…having seen more of the world and having come across a wider variety of people from all walks of life. Irrelevant of their genes or family history, I feel that people turn out to be what they are because of their thoughts…and depending on the way they look at life itself. There is an ancient Tamil proverb that translates into something like this: There is nothing called bare hands; bare hands have ten fingers and they are your biggest treasure. That's what I call some serious positive attitude!

Happiness and sorrow, and their intensity, depends to a large degree on how YOU want to look at it. I may be interrupted here with the question of eternal loss. One may ask, 'What bigger sorrow exists than the loss of a loved one? Are we to smile in the face of bereavement?' It is indeed true that smiling in the face of such adversity is not according to human nature. Anyone who does so is looked down upon with contempt. That is not what I meant. But trying to look at if from an angle totally different from the one the rest of the world is looking at from can bring about a sense of tranquillity within our own troubled self. It is in instances like these that I resort to being a child at heart…and try to believe very strongly that the departed soul has finally become a star in the sky and that I can see him/her everyday :') The calming effect these thoughts have on my mind cannot be explained, really. This is just one instance…albeit one of the most difficult ones, where positive thinking can help us a long way.

I am a born dreamer…and I find a lot of pleasure in the beauty of the subtler aspects of life…simple things that people so sadly fail to notice. They know it's there…but never halt to take more notice or acknowledge its beauty of existence. Women, typically, may stop at a shop window and stare longingly at a diamond necklace or at a beautiful dress or a pair of attractive footwear. 'Well, that's what women always do, don't they?' ask the men. Let's make the context a little more general then, for the benefit of both sexes. Say you're on a round trip of Europe. You're standing in front of the Swiss Alps for the first time in your life. Will you start posing for the camera or clicking photographs in frenzy or will you just drink in the beauty of the moment? Will you notice the little yellow butterfly that fluttered by? Or the tiny solitary bloom on the side of the hedge? Or even the freshness of the air? Most won't. 'We didn't come to Europe to stare at a butterfly', you'd argue. It's not WHAT you notice that matters. What matters is enjoying the moment. Your mind's one storage device that is a tad too difficult to corrupt with viruses…if you know what I mean. J You may lose data on external storage devices. But what you store in your mind will stay with you (let's leave out the unlikely possibility of us getting Alzheimer's at some pointL) forever.

I try to find happiness in smaller things and I try not to limit it to material things…like when a dish I tried out comes out well, or when I'm the first one to reach office J or when I see a flock of birds taking flight when my favourite song is played on the radio (total filmy style J). I have often been asked by people how I manage to be so irritatingly optimistic. I guess it's largely because of the way I look at life. You never know what's in store for you in the next instant. So live every moment as if it were your last. 50 years later, when you look back on the path you've treaded, you'll be sure to find a whole lot of smiley faces scattered all around the path! J

Stay happy! And keep a look out for that little yellow butterfly! ;-)