What is happiness

What is happiness? Different people have different ideas. Some people are rich; they think they are happy. Other people have many friends, so they feel happy. Still others are happy because their lives are meaningful¹. Happiness attracts  everyone. For children, happiness often suggests eating something good or playing with toys. For a stamp collector, stamps bring more delight² than meals. And for a scientist, a discovery or an invention rather than anything else gives him greatest satisfaction.

 

There was once a beggar³ who was always happy. The king saw him and wondered why he was so happy because he was so poor. However, the king could have whatever he wanted; yet he himself was not happy at all. Thus we can see one's happiness doesn't depend on whether he is rich or poor. Happiness is a state of mind. As long as one thinks he's content and satisfied⁴, he is happy.

 

As everything exist only because its opposite, happiness exists only when pain exists. Just as a person who does not know failure never knows success, a person, who has not experienced⁵ suffering or sadness never knows what happiness means⁶..

 

Happiness always promises a hope by which people go on living. When they come to the point of losing hope because they have suffered a great deal, it is often the time when happiness comes that will give them the courage and desire to live.

 

Cheer up and be happy. Happiness is not far from you. It's just around you. Try to grasp it and enjoy it.

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