Are we ‘REALLY’ happy? by Sakshi Gawande
By Volunteer Sakshi Gawande – FHI Mumbai
Of late, a lot of people have been telling me that I look happy. And I have come to believe that. But my perception about happiness, I think has changed entirely when I went for Fly Higher India NGO – FHI’s event to Ankur Baal Vikas Kendra, Titwala, Mumbai. The theme for the month of February ’19 was “Broaden your Horizon”.
Mumbai is such a big city in terms of length and breadth. The place we were visiting was around 2.5 hours away from the place where I stay. Unlike any other Sunday, the Sunday of 24th February started on a very negative note. By the time I had reached the designated venue, I was tired. I was tired because I had to wake up early and travel so far in the sun. But, once I reached there, all that feeling vanished. Not exaggerating, it did not even take a single minute to connect to those “Happy” souls.
Without putting a total damper on things, when we’ve lived with trauma and conditions attached to our lives, I don’t believe we own that particular feeling. True happiness comes from the soul. This is what I learnt from the children that day.
On my way back, I started to think that why is it that the people who are from a well-to-do background, very often, find happiness in money, materials, luxuries. I narrowed my thoughts and started thinking about myself. I still could not answer the question, “Am I really happy?” Those children had every single reason to crib about they are or have gone through, and I genuinely have none. In reality, it is them who should be complaining about everything but they were content with whatever they had. On the other side, there was me who had every possible thing that any other child born in normal circumstances could have but ironically I am never really happy and content with whatever I have. The feeling of wanting more has always resided within me since childhood. Right from wanting an extra toffee as a kid, to wanting the very new gadget as an adult.
But thinking of happiness and self satisfaction led me to think of another question, what is the gap that prevails between the underprivileged and us? Does it even exist?
Analysing this difference in the ideologies has been an eye opening experience for me. Analysing this gap, led to the broadening of my horizon about a happy life and happy existence. I got a chance to have a deeper sense of myself and distinguish between the right and wrong. Now that I know the things I should be focusing on, I can firmly say that I am on a journey of staying happy. I have taken off and I am ready to Fly High! Higher from all the trauma, stress, materialistic good that I as an individual at some point in my life have gone through. I have promised myself to Fly High! And Fly Higher! Because in the end, I am going to be the person who is incharge of my journey and of my destination and I have got two choices, either to crib or to Fly High towards a happy place and a life of self-satisfaction. And I, for sure, have definitely made my choice.
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