Defining Happiness


On this international day of happiness, I took time off, to think about my past and tried to figure and write about what really makes me happy. To put it differently, I wanted to introspect and understand what happiness actually means to me. I looked up all over the net to “literally” find the meaning of happiness. Google and Wikipedia threw up answers that only a psychologist would have understood and would have been satisfied. It defined happiness as an emotional state coupled with positive emotions that included joy and content or even a metric for success ,as if it was a high school grade to be rated.
So if it were to me, I’d define happiness as a state of mind when our wishes come true.  The wishes could be anything, a small joy in winning a prize, or a huge one where you were landed with that dream job.
Here goes the list of things, both small and big, that would give me happiness and joy
  • Winning a prize. Well, who wouldn’t? I’d always love to compete hard and participate in contests and being chosen the winner would give me the maximum happiness

  • Listening to Music: If there’s anything that would change my mind immediately from being dull and sad to happiness, I’d definitely rate music to be top of that list. Especially A.R.Rahman’s music is something that gives me the extra boost, when I most need one.

  • Winning a match: Irrespective of whether I am playing or my favourite sports team is playing, I’d gain immense happiness when I/we win. I’d always root for Manchester United in Football, Ferrari in F1 and if these two teams happen to win, that gives me a great level of happiness.

  • Spending time with friends: The best way to spend your time is to spend it with someone who’s close to you, probably family and friends. So it’s no wonder that I am usually the happiest when surrounded with good company, hanging out and chatting away through the day
  • Food: The key point to my happiness undoubtedly lies in food. Especially when you are hungry and crave for some good food to eat, and you go home to find some delicious food awaiting you. Additionally, you can see the happiness literally in my taste buds, when I see my food coming from a distance, in a restaurant. If that food happens to be pizza, I may probably consider doubling that happiness
  • On a hot summer afternoon, when you are drained in heat and exhaustion, the biggest joy & happiness comes when you buy a chilled bottle of Coca-Cola and you gulp it down in one go. That energy, a rush of adrenalin and happiness ,soon after you drink it, should definitely be among the key moments of happiness in my life
  • Some of the other things that gives me happiness would be : Seeing others happy , watching a little baby laugh ,watching my favourite movie again and again and the list goes on

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