How do you define Happiness?

          How do you define Happiness? 

There is no one in the world who does not want to be happy in life. Everyone regardless of nationality, race, religious faith, gender, or age craves to possess a blissful life. However, there has never had a fixed definition of happiness since happiness is a  sort of intangible quality and different people perceive the meaning of happiness in different ways. Accordingly, the requirements to be cheerful and the pursuits of happiness vary from one person to another.

           
The majority of people tend to link happiness to success and popularity. These people are more likely to be happy in life only when they achieve the prestigious record of success,  and they have distinguished themselves as successful individuals in this present-day competitive world. Others define happiness as material possessions and belonging to high social class. For those people, happiness means earning substantial profits from their lucrative business, possessing a mansion in the poshest part of the city, and leading a life of luxury. By contrast, some people have a tendency to find pleasure in the state of being contented with what they have got and making others happy.

           
In my view, several factors are of paramount importance in order to achieve happiness we all are longing for. First and foremost,  physical soundness plays a vital role to lead a life filled with joyful moments since Lord Buddha had pointed out that `` Being Healthy is a Blessing ´´. Because, if we are robust, we can do whatever we are passionate about with all our hearts and pursue our goals to our heart's content. In this way, we can gain tremendous self-satisfaction, and boost our self-esteem that is one of the contributing factors of happiness. Another factor that I find important to be happy in life is economic stability. Because, it is impossible for a person who lacks basic necessities in life such as food, clothing and shelter to find the life enjoyable and meaningful. Furthermore, I think doing what we love is another important attribute to happiness as we cannot achieve happiness from doing what we are not apathetic about. More importantly, it is crucial, in my opinion, to count our blessings so as to taste happiness to the fullest extent. In other words, we should be grateful for the good things we have got in our lives such as unconditional love and lifelong support from our caring family, and having reliable friends who stand by us through thick and thin. Because, we, human beings tend to take what we have got for granted. Moreover, as the saying goes ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence ’ ,we  are less likely to be pleased with what we have, assuming that other people have better situations than us.

             
 In a nutshell, the way we define happiness is different from each other. Thus, based on our own definitions of happiness, our pursuit of happiness and the way we attain happiness may not be the same.

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Kyal Sin Phu
Sunday Special
The Global New Light of Myanmar

9 June 2019