A Query into a Person's State of Happiness

Happiness is a state of being. It is a feeling of contentment regardless of your state of affairs. Hence, there are some people who may not be rich, good-looking, or have perfect families, but you see the glow of fulfillment in their faces.

On the other hand, there are others who may have all the traits and material things  that anyone can envy, but still...they're unhappy. They have such low self-esteem that waking up in the morning is an ordeal. They get so engrossed with their own selves, that they define happiness as when something good only happens to them.

Alright, they tell me I don't understand. How right they are! I don't. I believe, that you can never be happy if you only think of yourself and that the universe revolves around you. Of feeling,  on  how people see you, equates to your state of well-being. How sad!

Nobody can dictate your terms. No creature can say that you are beneath them and don't deserve a space in this world. Nobody can affect you, if you don't let them. Happiness, therefore, depends entirely on how you see yourself. It's the whole gamut on how you love and accept your own strengths, weaknesses, triumphs and defeats.

It is how you rise up to every challenge, and face the winds of fortune even if it knocks you down. It is liking yourself, even if you get defeated and bloodied that your body aches all over. It is feeling cathartic after crying buckets of tears at seeing your broken dreams  and all the wrongs that have been done to you.

The world is not perfect, as you are not perfect and it can sometimes be a lonely place. This feeling of sadness can hurt horribly - where you make a query and no one answers, and; when terrified, there is no one to hold your hand firmly. How in some days, you just want to duck your head in the sand so you will feel no pain. You think that in so doing, you will find a place of contentment in a world bereft of all sadness. There is no such place. There will always be loneliness, pain, and sadness.

Go ahead, feel it! It is part of being alive. Feel the agonizing pain and scream for all it's worth. But such is the world. Surviving would mean acceptance of all its shams, pains, and tribulations. Happiness is acceptance of all experiences - whether good or bad. It is the knack of  staying happy and not let the dreadful things affect you. It is being kind to yourself  and  see it  as a work-in-progress --- still imperfect, but on the way to being a finished product.

I am often asked, if being  happy is an easy task. I say yes! I have learned to love each day and feel triumphant of all the little things  --- finishing an article, seeing a seed sprout, finding a plant robust after I care for it, blooming flowers, a sister's cooking, my mom's endless prattle, receiving my sibling's gifts, endless talks with a cousin, and having a daughter that I love dearly, among other things.

Happiness is also looking forward to new things that you can do each day. That every waking day is a gift from God and you must be thankful to be a recipient of it. It is also seeing God's little gifts in the most unusual places --- a cat softly purring after a good meal, a Samaritan helps you when you unintentionally dropped your groceries in the streets, a smile from a little child peeping from her mother's arms, a tete-a-tete with a long time neighbor, seeing the blue and clear skies after a typhoon, and hearing the twirping of birds atop the tree.

You ask me, if I am happy?  Oh, definitely YES! I have everything that God has thrown my way!


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