Happy Hours

There was a time in my life when getting up every morning and trying to be happy was next to impossible. Everything around me seemed gloomy and I wasn't able to laugh so hard that it would hurt. I won't say that I was depressed, that would be a very serious term. I would rather say it was somewhere between unhappiness and depression. I would sit hours doing facebook looking at other people's achievements, photos, travelogues which would end up making me even more sad. Sometimes I would listen to music but would not prefer to sing along or get up and dance at a hip hop number. There were days when I saw old photos, re read chats but never typed those old friends a "Hi". I would go to office do my work, I won't say I did any fatal errors there but didn't actually enjoy it as much as I do now. All this made me a little gloomy and perhaps I was losing my confidence. One fine day I was browsing the Internet and saw some article about positive thinking. That actually made me realise that I did not feel happy and the very first step was to accept that feeling. And when I tried to analyse I realised there was no specific reason for me to behave like that. Sure my life wasn't perfect but it wasn't a failure either, I knew people with more troubles. That article on positive thinking that I had come across said that if you have food to eat, a roof above your head, a job to pay your bills and no fatal diseases that are incurable then you have all the reasons to be happy! I realised that my reason to be gloomy and upset was that I cared too much and took certain things seriously that should be ignored. That often left me stressed out, loosing enthusiasm and vigour.

So, the first thing I decided to do before it was too late was to remain active and pick up something nice that lifts my spirit and leaves me cheering. Moreover as boredom and idleness actually are the root cause of all human problems I decided to kill them forever. I took small steps at a time and started with making coffee in the morning. So, instead of getting up late and having my breakfast in front of the television without actually watching it, I watched the milk boil for me to add sugar and coffee. If my coffee was perfect then the very first task in the morning was perfect and if nothing else turned out to be right that day then at least I had my perfect morning coffee to think about. Small things do matter, that’s why it's essential to be a god of them. The next goal was to organise stuffs that not only made me happy after doing it but was kind of a stress buster. I started with my desktop, it had like 100 icons most of it unnecessary temporary files. I sat down and properly arranged them reducing it by one fourth. Sounds small but it was a clutter of years and gave me a sense of satisfaction. So, I was encouraged to do similar activities. I installed the softwares that I was planning to since a year. I had three pendrives, two of them 16gb and one 32 gb. All packed with stuffs that weren't copied to my laptop which had one drive completely empty! Sounds crazy isn't it, but happens right? So, I copied all of it to my laptop and made room for more data to come in. After all the whole world is about data, big data and information! I then realised I had some five watches and was using only two of them, reason being a damaged band or a battery drain out. So, I went to the service centre and got all of them repaired. It might sound silly to you but more choices mean more happiness. Next I heard about a charity program in the radio about donating unused clothes to the poor. I looked at my closet that had actually more number of unused stuffs than used ones. So, I pulled out all the clothes that I had either forgotten about or had no suitable place to wear. Believe me there was a plenty of it. I asked my friends and family to do the same. They enjoyed the activity too and we decided to go in person and gift it to the poor. And when that happened we actually realised why it is called "The joy of giving". It was their smiles that brought in the true happiness.

Now I read more and read till the end. I sing along when I listen to music. My personal blog is more active than it used to be those days. I am more regular in the Toastmaster speech club. I cook more often. I can now laugh at silly jokes and crack one myself too. I can now be happy and spread happiness because I find it in the simple pleasures of life.

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Trial and Error

I came across an amazing line in one of the young adult books of "John Green". It says, why is it named "trial and error" but not "trial and success"? Perhaps it's trial-error-try-it-again. I think the truth is that the probability of error is often more than success. A grand success is actually a sum total of endless failures and the lessons learnt from each of them. It's about failing and each time failing better than the previous one. True that the world actually belongs to people who don't give up, who try it just one more time when everyone else has given up. I have realized that success belongs to people who know how to smile at the face of disaster and who believe in rising from their ashes like a phoenix. 

Coming to motivation, I think we can be motivated only if we seek motivation and desire to be encouraged and prepared to learn. If we wish to get inspired it can happen anywhere and anytime, be it listening to an old friend talk about life or meeting a total stranger who seems to be happy and spreads happiness. It can be in the middle of a desert watching people work in spite of the scorching sun, watching someone climb the Everest yet again on television or seeing someone practice football drenched in rain. 

I think we learn only when we wish to learn and we succeed only when we are ready to face failures. Well it's always said, "Where there is a will, there is a way". True indeed!