I WONDER if happiness is that hard to find that others have gone circling the globe and wandered in faraway land in search of it while others barely move around their huts but still illuminate this expression.
Despite the complexity of life, I believe happiness is just sitting nearby.
Looking for it may bring someone to an unknown world but for me it can be found in the bosom of a loving family, in the bedrock of job security, and in the company of true friends.
A loving family is like a storm-stopper which makes one puff a breath of relief after a glass-shattering kind of day. Life is but a full of sorrows and pains. It offers a mouthful of challenges and struggles. Yet life is not all problems.
Despite these negative impulses, there is family with all its love and care that keeps one smiling. One simple family-get together can take a lot of stress away. A family celebration like a birthday or an anniversary always brings out hearty laughter.
Graduation brings family members together and that’s when the party begins. When all else fail, you can always go back to your family and make a start all over again. It is the family that gives the enduring courage to move further for someone who is in distress.
If family brings happiness, family also causes problems. The many moral issues we encounter today like suicide, early pregnancies, and many forms of criminality can be attributed to the family dis-orientation.
Family makes someone happy but it can also give someone the deepest pain. Imagine how an abandoned child feels upon its discovery or how children react to the separation of their parents. It creates an indelible mark in the heart.
A job gives us security in life’s unforeseen fears. It is relieving knowing that there is something we can rely on once basic necessities call. A number of “what ifs” are eliminated. “What if I get sick? Where will I get money for hospitalization? What if my son or daughter wants to take this course? Do I have enough money to support his/her study?” It is a stress-reliever.
When we feel contented and confident we start to feel happy. It makes us brave and assured of the future. It prepares us for the threats of ignominious scarcity cause by poverty.
Values educators say a job does not only give financial security or independence, it also serves as an expression of oneself. One works because he/she shares his/her talents and skills. Through work, a person fulfills his/her duty as a social being.
In sharing himself/herself, one finds joy. When we do our job, we feel satisfied. This is the reason why one must not take his/her job for granted. Compliance is not enough. There must be commitment in doing what one is paid to do.
Our friends do not only make us smile but can help us bring that childlike laugh we have been missing for so long. They serve as our confidants. To them we share our pains, sorrows, accomplishments, and success. It is with where we can be our true selves, where we do not have to play a different role.
We can laugh on little things without having to worry of criticisms. We can speak our mind without fear of being laughed at. Oftentimes happiness comes from the simple sharing of our daily experiences. To whom do we confide all these things? No one but our friends. They understand no matter who we are and no matter what we had been through.
I love going to seminars and talks about financial security. I have experienced attending to seminars on networking and trading. There is only one thing I dislike when speakers share their opinion about success and happiness. They measure happiness with the amount of cash they have and the brand of cars they drive.
They then compare themselves with the employees in the office and ask the audience who is more successful and happy. People who work in the office may be happier than them especially to those who really love their job.
No amount of money can take that happiness away.
Happiness is every person’s dream. The subject of envy is not so much on the man who have more money but the man who, despite of the many problems, is contented and satisfied.
Happiness’ sources are not gold and diamonds but a loving family, the security of the job, and the affection of genuine friends. Temporal happiness is easier to find than the happiness that lasts but one may have to reconsider finding which kind when we know what gives more satisfaction.
What do you value more?