Can You Be Truly Happy?

GEORGE greeted everybody with a smile. To him, life was a precious gift to be enjoyed. His happiness and optimism were his trademark​—even more so as he started to suffer the pangs of old age. Till the day he died, George was known as a happy person. Are you happy like George? Do you view each new day as a gift to be enjoyed? Or does the prospect of a new day make you apathetic or even apprehensive? Is something robbing you of happiness?

Happiness has been defined as a state of well-being that is relatively permanent. It is characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to a deep and intense joy and by a natural desire for the state to continue. Does happiness like that really exist?

Today, society promotes the view that people would be happy if only they were rich enough. Millions keep up a hectic pace in their frantic efforts to get rich. In doing so, many sacrifice personal relationships and other important things in life. Like ants on an anthill, they are constantly rushing about, and they have little time for reflection or for one another. Understandably, “the number of people diagnosed as depressed keeps going up,” says a report in the Los Angeles Times, “and the age of onset [of depression] keeps going down. . . . Antidepressants are on the drug company best-seller list.” Millions take illicit drugs or try to drown their problems with alcohol. Some go on spending sprees  when they feel depressed. In one survey, “women emerged as the most prone to indulge in retail therapy,” says the British newspaper The Guardian. “They were three times as likely as men to shop when depressed.”

However, true happiness is not found in a store, a bottle, a pill, a syringe, or a bank account. Happiness is not for sale; it is free. Where can we find such a precious gift? We will discuss that in the following article.