THE SIMPLE THEORY OF HAPPINESS




















“Doing what you like is freedom;
Liking what you do is happiness.”

Frank Tyger

When a dear friend of mine, who lives abroad, had come down to Mumbai, I had gifted her copies of two of my books – ‘Flowing With The Wheel’ and ‘Good Old Stories Good Old Tenses’. This was almost two years ago. Today, my friend sent this message:

“My ten-year-old daughter is addicted to reading your two books – ‘Flowing With The Wheel’ and ‘Good Old Stories…’. I am surprised as she does not like to read for more than five minutes, but was stuck with ‘Flowing With The Wheel’…”

My mind rolled back to my own ten-year-old days… I was interested in many kids’ things, but not reading and writing. Something or someone always comes along to ignite in us the thirst for reading and writing. A couple of amazing teachers had, without their knowledge, had come to do it to me… Stories they recounted had fired my imagination and nudged me to read…

And writing?

Well, this was interesting. I began to write little Notes in my private diaries because I was shy and scared to speak. Writing quietly relived that tension and made me feel good about myself. Slowly, I showed my Notes to some of my close friends… When they said, “Wow, it’s beautiful!”, I felt confident and motivated to continue writing… I was about 17-18. This habit of writing my daily Notes, eventually, became my daily Blogs… The Blogs became my books… and, all these things became the fountainhead of my happiness!

The fact, that some of my friends and even their little children, who are scattered all over, read my Notes is purely incidental. I still write to ‘relieve my tension’ – make me feel light, confident and happy.

Today, one of the things I told my friend was to encourage her ten-year-old to write her own Notes… and do it freely, without the fear of being judged or analyzed. My friend was excited. But, I cautioned: “Don’t try to manipulate the process… Just be by her side as she blossoms.”








Happiness is always spontaneous, and it comes from very simple ways. Today morning, another friend of mine, shared this message:

“In 1922, Albert Einstein was touring Japan. At his hotel, a bellboy delivered him a message. Einstein didn’t have a tip, so he just wrote down a Theory of Happiness and gave it to the bellboy. This note recently sold for 1.5 million US dollars! What Albert Einstein wrote was this:

“A calm and modest life brings more happiness
than the constant pursuit of success
combined with constant restlessness.”



Whether or not this episode really happened in Einstein’s life is immaterial to me. What is material is the simple ‘Theory of Happiness’…


And, the scrap paper, on which the theory was reportedly scribbled, seems priceless!





Hope, the little Princess finds this treasure, soon!



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: www.freeimages.com

Video: 1. Masaka Kids Africana 2. Eddy Kenzo



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