Some questions are ubiquitous, aren’t they? You will find them everywhere – on survey forms/emails and feedback sheets in restaurants, hotels, and government buildings… you name it.
One of those questions is: are you happy?
This is one of those questions whose answers are probably more varied than any other question ever! Everyone has something to say about this. We all have a take on what happiness means.
Happiness, to me, is an ethereal concept. I don’t think I will ever be able to define it; I doubt I will even try.
I recently finished one of the modern treatises on happiness; I will not name names. The writer was eloquent.
But I felt like I didn’t get anything tangible out of it.
Happiness remained as elusive and abstract as it was when I started reading the book. I was not too fond of the feeling of still wanting.
So, naturally, I turned to my eternally patient friends that bear with my impromptu weekly surveys. I ran a survey to understand what happiness meant to the sorted kind.
I got various answers – depressing, philosophical, too philosophical, fun, and positively insane!
Happiness is money.
Happiness is relationships.
Happiness is a handsome husband that knows how to cook.
Happiness is being excited for every single day of your existence.
Happiness is performance.
There were some great responses there.
However, when asked what happiness means to him, one of my friends told me this with a straight face:
“Happiness is being able to pee when there is an urgent need.”
This answer is one of the closest I have ever come to understanding happiness. Very clear, concise, tangible – no room for ambiguity.
My friend unknowingly taught me a crucial lesson that day. Answers to tough questions can be straightforward.
If we let them.
Friends of Words 