The Two Sides Of Happiness

“Some people bring happiness wherever they go; some others bring it whenever they go”

Which One Are You?

Spreading joy seems to be turning into a forgotten craft. The mounting pressure of making both ends meet has taken leisure out of the equation from most people’s lives. The struggle for survival begins at a tender age and continues pressing the buttons until eternity. It starts from the early school days when other children pick on you, steal your lunch, threaten you for no reason, and create resentment, irritation, and disgust. The teen years kindle hopes of pleasure related to the freedom and widening circle of online friends. Once again, the ‘j’ word creeps in, for causes unexplained.

The enjoyment we take for granted is often short-lived. Brief intervals of this mighty miracle play hide and seek in nearly everybody’s life. Could it be the reason our elders always said happiness and sorrow are inter-connected? Those with a romantic bent of mind might get happiness within suffering. Others strive to embrace the transitory moments.

Taking the foregoing as a cue to savor each moment to the highest possible degree, we need to be the agents of happiness ourselves. Anybody can carry out this act by indulging in unanticipated acts of goodness to strangers. Simple acts of service can further spread more happiness than money. You will yourself enjoy through this practice of bringing happiness wherever you go.

An anonymous individual in Fort McMurray, Alberta, carried out such an act a few years ago and inadvertently set up a universal change we now acknowledge as ‘Pay It Forward’. What he did was a classic act of generosity. There used to be long line-ups due to two separate windows, the first one to pay and thereupon at the next window to pick up the order. One day, he asked the cashier how many coffees they sold at that window in a day. He took the wild guess as a rationale for the long delays and paid out for everybody’s coffee himself. His rationale was that others could save the time of the payment process.

Each passing customer received a Free Coffee. The good act gave these pleasantly surprised customers an urgent sensation of gratefulness. Guess what, this show of service soon received widespread publicity prompting others to match that action. This individual parted with a sizable amount of money for one cup of coffee. He created awareness where so many others picked up the importance of conducting generous acts for complete strangers.

Can you beat such an excellent example of contributing to happiness wherever you go? Once we put our heart and soul into it, the task is not that complex. It does not involve parting with money every time. Every individual act of generosity has the power to bring cheer in other lives. It might include helping the elderly neighbors with groceries or removing the snow in front of their home. It may be an innocent act of holding free lessons for children in the community. If sports are your strong point, training your local midget teams can provide an easy outlet. Those strong enough can always contribute to others’ moments of happiness.

We can find self-centered individuals all around us. In case you want a gentle reminder, you look at some of them once every four years knocking on your door, with umpteen promises for your vote. Such are the faces that contribute to happiness whenever they go to their deserved place, thanks to their list of unfulfilled pledges.

Yes, we hit upon those friends that know how to manipulate. More often than not, they leave us wondering if we should have trusted them. They bring much greater happiness upon exiting our lives. I hope these examples offer enough proof of the other side of happiness. We are free to bring either positive or negative influence of happiness.