Just a Thought: What’s behind that smile?

Before someone accuses me of plagiarism, I would like to give the due credits of my blog to one of the Times Life authors (no hidden remarks on either Chetan Bhagat or Chopra here. I am sure they have received ample publicity and don’t really need my help  ).

Coming back, The Times of India has been the newspaper of the family for the past god-knows-how-many years. When we were kids, on Sundays, my sister and I would fight for Times Life – the only supplement that used to come in brilliant colors and a smoother-than-satin paper. It used to be fun reading the articles on human experiences, book reviews and food!

The level of excitement does not match that of my childhood anymore, but I still love reading the stories and experiences people have to share. Today the cover article was so simple and touching that I decided to share my thoughts as well.

A very simple question was put forth to some of the celebrities – what makes you happy? (Actually the whole point of the article was that women find more pleasure out of life than men, but that is something I would disagree on because every person is different and every person finds his own reason for happiness, be it a woman or a man)

Until this point, I really hadn’t given it much thought. In fact, such a question never even occurred to me. Happiness was something I experienced while the moment lasted and then forgot about it. But how as simple a question as this could have such varied answers tells that it really is not that simple. Man that was a complex sentence to write!! :D

But reading some of those answers made me realize it really is up to you to find happiness and gain strength from situations. There are going to be moments – some nice, some not so nice. People will come and go - some will stay, some won’t, but you will always be there – happy or not is up to you.

“Women and food make me happy”, says Vir Das. Cyrus Broacha says he avoids people and that makes him happy (it took me by utter surprise that such a great TV personality and comedian stays happy by avoiding people!). A few more men had some more thoughts to share. But my point here is, one is happy if one wants to be. Like say you’ve been bogged down by work pressures and in the end you don’t get the due credit for all the hardwork – what did you get out of it? Baldness, high B.P. and an unhappy family? I say just put the damn glass down once you come home. Don’t let office bother you at home. Spend time with your family and kids. They’ll make you happy and in turn you will reach office in a considerably better mood the next day. And who knows, your boss may actually think “Boy! Here’s a guy who can handle the pressure well, maybe I should promote him!”

Or say there’s this really cute guy at work who you really like but he does not like you. You may be his best buddy, you may even be there for him whenever he needs you but you are just not girl he was looking for! Don’t sit and fret that you don’t have a nice figure or you are not as beautiful as the girl in the next cubicle… forget the idiot who does not even realize your importance. Why the hell does your happiness depend on what that jerk thinks of you?! Be happy for who you are, be happy for how nice and helpful a person you are and be happy that you are you! Get your own identity girl! (ok ok all this because I was watching this show ‘Mahi way’ on TV yesterday and thought half the girls on this planet must be another Mahi and could do with some of my advice ;) )

Be happy for the person that you are and try to find happiness in the little things in life. Do something you like, help someone, bring a smile to someone’s face, appreciate the niceness in someone, appreciate all the people who are there for you today rather than fretting about the fact that a person who was in your life once, left you. For all you know, you might be looking into the past and the most beautiful person is standing here but you can’t see because your back is turned to the present and future!