How to be Happy
Happiness is a shy bird. If you hunt it, it will fly from you. It is better to set a trap for it, and look the other way. Pleasure-hunters miss it. They are restless, discontented people, who, having no inward happiness, seek it in outward, things, where they do not often find it. It is a common mistake to think that money brings happiness. “If only I were rich”, we sigh. Money is not to be despised; it can do much to make life pleasant. Yet the rich are sometimes unhappy, and some poor men sing.
There are some outward conditions that make for happiness. A man who suffers from chronic indigestion or a deranged liver, cannot feel very happy. There is much truth in the famous joke in Punch: “Is life worth living ? It all depends on the liver”. On the whole, good health makes for happiness; and to be happy we should obey the laws of health and keep well.
An idler is rarely a happy man. Most grumblers are lazy people with nothing to occupy their minds and their time. Workers are generally cheerful. A man who has a congenial occupation finds happiness in his work. And even if one’s work is not as pleasant as it might be, the necessity of doing it and doing it regularly, saves one from a lot of brooding and melancholy thoughts.
We should have healthy amusements and hobbies to fill our leisure hours. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”; and a man who has not learnt how to use his leisure time wisely, will not be happy. Games, sport, music, reading, any pleasant and whole-some occupation we most take to, will add much to the pleasure of life.
And pleasant social intercourse is a great source of happiness. Man is a social animal, and few of us can lead entirely solitary lives. True friendship is one of the most precious treasures of life, and blessed is he that has a real friend; but even the pleasant companionship of acquaintances makes for one’s happiness.
But the true source of happiness lies within. Happiness depends not so much on our circumstances as on ourselves. The kingdom of happiness, like the kingdom of heaven ‘,is within you”. In unselfishness, kindness to others, a clean mind, a clear conscience and an upright life—in these lies the secret of happiness.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a hell of heaven, heaven of hell.”
Above all, in forgetting oneself, in seeking the happiness of our fellows will ever be found the truest happiness.
