When we search for something, the first thing we do is to look for it in the most likely place. That may not always work. Sometimes things show up in unexpected corners. Most of the time milk is in the fridge, the phone is on the table, and the keys are in hand. Now why should searching for happiness be any different? Is it possible for today’s man to be happy? A great many people wonder whether or not happiness even exists in this modern, fast paced world. Very often an individual can be in possession of a million dollars, but his heart apparently desires for more. He is still unhappy.
Take the case of somebody who has worked all his life. He has worked hard. He has raised a big family. He is looking forward to that time of his life when he at last could retire and be happy, cheerful and have all the time to do all the things he wanted to do. We look at him after he is retired. Is he happy? No! Because the problem does not lie with him; it lies with life itself. Are we satisfied with the number of years we’re given to live? We may be sitting there thinking about our good old nostalgic days, when we were working hard, or we may think about less time left for us to live. Our main problem in life is happiness. It may sound as a complaint but it is not.
We know from physics that when we throw a stone, it falls on the ground parabolically. And if we again throw the same stone, now with a higher speed, it will fall on the ground but little farther from the first stone because the speed is higher, but again parabolically. Why does the earth not collide with the sun as it rotates round the sun?  Possibly the sun overshoots its start because of its speed and does not fall on the earth parabolically, explained one of my friends.
It is simply a question of speed. The poor guy is trapped between life and death. Our world may not be designed to be a happy world. It may not be possible for us to be happy in this world, and yet nearly all of us have the goal of being happy and cheerful about our contractual existence. Time doesn’t change. It is as young and old as it was born! Actually what changes is you. One’s attitude towards life makes every difference in life. And one doesn’t need to study a thousand ancient books to discover that fact.  Here we have someone who is happy, cheerful, and strong and he finds there is something worth doing in life.  Are you making life or is life making you? You have to change two attitudes in life. One is your attitude towards other people; and two, their attitude towards you. The truth is that all the happiness you will ever find lies in you.

(Dr. Mushtaq Chalkoo is consultant laparo-endoscopic and minimal access surgeon at GMC, Srinagar. Feedback at mushtaq_chalkoo @rediffmail.com)      

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