:)

“Hey, How are you ?”

We come across a dozen of these every day. At school, at work on the road and everywhere in between from people who genuinely care about the answer we give to those who don’t give a ‘furry fluff on a rodent’s behind’. The question serves its purpose of being conversation starter and a social norm.

Would it be surprising if the answer was “I am happy. J Thank you for asking” and  in a non-sarcastic genuine sort of way? Im guessing it would.

Being happy… What exactly does being happy mean? “I have a lot cars, money and women. Afore I’m happy” Moat of you will respond in the negative. But secretly you too wish you had lots of money and cars so that you can be happy. Although I’ve never had lots of money and cars, I wouldn’t mind a few. Lots of money means lots of goodies to feast upon. Lots of goodies means lots of people will admire and envy them. Not you, the goodies you owe. To some people, that is happiness.

“Money doesn’t buy happiness. But I'd rather cry in a ferrari than on a bike” was something I found online. Yeah true. In a way. In most ways actually. Today, Living requires money. Because money is what buys us our “bread and butter”, unlike the Mayan days where folks grabbed a spear and hunted their own bread and butter. But is “bread and butter” our happiness? Personally, I think bread and butter is survival. Not happiness.

I see happiness every day. Not often but  just enough to not lose faith in it. It’s in their eyes. When he was giving out spectacles to little kids who have visionary problems on top of financial problems, I saw it in his eyes. When I see them every morning and I greet them with a “Good Morning, Aunties” I see it in their eyes. When the kids who come from faraway places and less fortunate backgrounds than the most of us, receive scholarships to peruse in their studies, I see it in their parent’s eyes. When a 5 time gold medalist takes a gold medal out of his pocket as proof of his efforts at getting it, I saw it in his eyes. When a colleague talks about his children and how they make his life a blessing, I see it in his eyes. Not caring what passersby thinks of a 20 year old running about in the rain trying to get a paper boat to stay afloat when the whole area is flooded are some instances I see genuine happiness in people. These people are from various backgrounds and infinite to numbered financial difficulties and I certainly don’t see the role ‘Money’ plays in any of it when it comes to them showing the world that they are genuinely happy.

I’ve heard that helping those in need and going out of your way to do it is one way of building a genuine happiness in yourself.  It makes you feel good apparently. But how would you know if you haven’t tried it yet? Treating people the way you’d want to be treated and standing up for honesty, equality, kindness and compassion and not judging others tends to be very hard for some of us. But if I were to tell you, that those are the keys in happiness, would you hesitate to believe me?

Do what you love. Not what other think you’d love. To me, its dancing. I mean, I adore it and life just is not the same to me without it. What is my brilliant excuse for not doing it? I have no time between work and class and work and class. I for one, think that’s pathetic. To be restricted by your own life style to do what your life is meant to be, is pathetic.

Simply said, life is chaos but to be able to answer the question “Are you happy?” with a genuine “yes” and  ( I hope) help someone else to do the same thing would be my purpose in life.

P.S. Life is short. Dont forget to Smile. You are beautiful  :) 

“I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you'd want to be treated and helping those in need. That's what being human means to me. That's what I stand for.  I also believe in dance.”  - Ellen Degeneres.

Well said, Ellen. A woman after my own heart. J

happiness...is this it?