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In Pursuit of Happiness? Scratch That.

        "Happiness is the meaning
         and the purpose of life, the
         whole aim and end of
         human existence"
                              - Aristotle.
   
Barely over thirty, yet the skin on his forehead is heavily furrowed, like a board occupied by jagged cigarette rolls; the eyes, never appearing to hold any light; the shoulders sagging, as if they had been reduced by the load they have had to carry for so long. Other times, he appears as one carrying a perpetual scowl on the face- everyone must know he has no time to fool around. Many of us are either becoming that or are already that way. We say, boys (or girls) are not smiling. Life is hard, the economy has never been good, things are messed up, so we forget that we are persons deserving of true happiness. We carry our worries, fears and anxieties everywhere like a jeweled cross, an amulet in fact. Yet most of us concede that happiness is our primary life goal, the reason we work so hard and go through all the pain. I do not think however, that it makes any sense to be advancing towards that goal with such negative weight, the complete anathema of what we actually seek.
       The fullness or otherwise of our wallets, or the state of our relationships with other humans determining our moods to great extents cannot be good, I believe. Because as we often remind ourselves: life is not always a walk in the park (being what we are, even walks in the park cannot be totally blissful). We ought not to forget that there are issues calling for resolution in our lives and in the lives of the people we care about. So we should brainstorm, think, take action but never never allow the waves that comes with those to carry us away. Fright and anxiety will make us age fast and die quick, let us remember that, everyday. So smile, laugh out loud about something, anything when you are tensed. Wipe the frown off your face with your palms maybe, whenever you notice yourself to have relapsed. Appreciate the glory of flowers and green things. Bask in the beauty of twilights, of birds and flying things. Live. I cannot tell you that life is beautiful (even I couldn't claim to know that, yet). It is left to each of us to decide on that one for ourselves. I am certain about one thing though: happiness cannot just be something we seek, it should be something we create, regardless of prevailing circumstances.

Photo Credit: www.gettyimages.com
                        www.allposters.com

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