A cute little treatise on happiness

 

(Image source: www.iwatchstuff.com)

“Life is not all about cupcakes and rainbows but I would rather go through life thinking that it mostly is.....”

- From the Hollywood movie “The Trolls” (2016)

Animated movies hold our interest because they make us believe that anything is possible. When we set out to watch an animated movie, we suspend disbelief and logic. Of course, ‘anything can happen’ is too good to be true, isn’t it? However, many animated movies contain the most subtlest of messages. They are made for kids but by adults. Hence there is some adult who tries to get the message across to an adult too. In fact, I can vouch that most messages are for adults than kids as it is they who need to be reminded of a lot of positive things in life.

What if a cute little movie tries to get across the simplest of messages across with its little adorable (actually, not so ‘adorable’ in the sense of the word, as trolls are meant to be ‘ugly’ dolls!) characters? The animated Hollywood movie ‘The Trolls’ is what I am talking about. There is a group of people (‘the Bergens’) who are brainwashed to thinking that happiness can be obtained only if they eat the other group of people (‘the Trolls’, that is). How one of the Trolls manages to get the message across to the Bergens that happiness cannot be sought outside but must be brought from inside forms crux of the movie. No blood or gore, no violence and no profanities. A simple delightful thread of events unfolds. Plus, the comedy in the movie (which is subtle and intermittent), is not slapstick but poignant and clever at times.

Now, let us try to get answers to attaining happiness .

Where can we find happiness?

How can one try to find happiness inspite of one’s circumstances? Not a single soul on this earth is trouble free; nor it is rosy all over. But it is something to be able to follow one’s dreams and push things. Things happen only if you push and with all your heart. A staid squatter is not going to achieve things in life. But in trying to achieve things, one needs to believe it will lead him / her to happiness.

“Life is not all about cupcakes and rainbows but I would rather go through life thinking that it mostly is....”

This dialogue from the movie largely sums up our lives and the search for the non-existent outside rather than the existent inside.

When we try to search for happiness, there is a lot of soul searching involved. A bulk of this is sub conscious eventually leads you to oneself. For example, the lead character in the movie (‘Poppy’, a girl and that’s refreshing!) is full on positive and never believes that any loss can be a loss unless one tries to put all effort in achieving something to alleviate it.

“How do you always look on the bright side?” says a character to Poppy, who is seemingly an icon for all of us humans to emulate few things to get a life.

Like the movie, life is a story about happiness and how far some will go to get it and how far we can go and get it back.

Where does happiness lie?

A lot of people say that happiness is a choice and it is inside us. But how we can convert seemingly unhappy situations in life to happy ones, lies within us. We try to find happiness in acquiring new things, perhaps even possessing things, getting more money etc. It is not to say that these things do not give us joy. A new mobile phone, all said and done, indeed gives  pleasure. But you cannot buy a mobile phone every time you need happiness. You cannot expect an increased salary every other month which will seemingly give you happiness. A car, for example......how many can you buy? This is the limit of material things giving us happiness, though it is undeniable that they are and, to an extent, necessary in life as a ladder to happiness. Thus they are a means to happiness; but they are not all that is happiness.

When can one attain happiness?

One can attain happiness at any point of time. There is no starting point. One need not wait for a particular hour to begin to be happy; it is immediate as it is a state of mind, which means that you have to bring it from inside you.

How can one attain happiness?

Hence happiness depends on when you decide to be happy. Just bring it into existence with your thoughts. This is a really simple sentence but pregnant with wisdom. Start appreciating the smallest of the nice things around you. This helps in enduring the difficult circumstances and tolerating the bad things.

Are others happier than us?

A lot of us feel that the other one is happy – in fact every person other than us seems to be happy – but it is not true. As many people say, if we are allowed to exchange our troubles we will try to do it but will gladly take them back the next day. The grass is always green on the other side.

Happiness, like the mythical djinn, is inside you. Just summon it and you will see the difference!