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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