Being happy :) :) :)

Happiness is nothing more than good health and bad memory...Being happy does not mean that everything is perfect, it means that you have decided to look beyond the imperfections...The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love and something to hope for...Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient...Be happy. Its one way of being wise...

And the list goes on...the list characterizing the very essentials of happiness.

The basic thread that binds all the individuals on this planet is their quest to find happiness, their undying, insatiable and the impossible desire to be happy forever and ever... It is this factor that binds the most powerful man with the most harmless of sorts, the good with the bad and yes, the George Clooneys and the John Abrahams of the world with ME!!! :) :) :)

My experiences - good and bad, in life have often landed me on a pedestal where I have had to put serious thoughts behind the factors contributing to that eternal happiness, and, each time it has just seemed to be in existence in a state of utopia. The ultimate nirvana probably comes by with complete detachment. But, what is the point in seeking happiness while living a life in isolation.

Over the life's experiences - sweet, bitter and some more sweet ones, I have just about started to believe that accepting life's situation can to a lot extent bring about contentment. But then, that always has been easier said than done.

This forum has this irresistible pull, it, at times embarrassingly imprisons your innermost thoughts and confessions that lead to revelations of sorts. Just the way it has captured this particular incident in my life.

Last Sunday, I landed up on this particular assignment, a different one from my earlier ones. It got me all excited, geared up for an immediate implementation. The child within me always comes out whenever accosted with challenges, all geared up, excited, enthused, slightly unprepared and a little scared.

I decided to take it up with full vigour, zealous each time the project moved forth, and thankfully my efforts did get paid off, and how, accolades from both my colleague and the client and an offer with an enviable portfolio to handle at another city. Mumbai - the city, as they say, that never stops. The accolades overwhelm me, since they are so very hard to get by in the professional circuit.

Do I jump at the offer??? The careerist within me tickles my feet to just jump at it, to just grab it with all the might, to cherish it, to lap it up and to hold it closely, but ... it is at this time that the girl within me takes over. The innermost girl within...who does not care to attain the supreme professional peak, who naively wishes to keep smiling for eternity, who craves for the small and simple joys of life and the one who harbours this joyful, imaginary world within herself.

Who cherishes a dream walk by the beach...the wind kissing her cheeks, the water tickling her feet, moon shining over winking at her...and that perfect meal waiting for her.

She, who sometimes becomes the happiest self, when, gifted a balloon, when given a ride on a cartwheel and whose gaze still fixes at a flying plane. Who runs to the terrace each time it rains, laughing uncontrollably as the rain trickles down her face. Fiercely independent in her thoughts and in her actions, she, who just wants to be happy.

She, who chooses to remain in her shell for most of the part trying to strike a balance between conforming to the standards of the materialistic horizon and her own realm of world. But then when she does wake up, she breaks all the rules, crushes all the worldly, covetous, over-hyped practical desires beneath her heel and ruthlessly tears apart all the conventional methodologies of life, needless to say, she sometimes creates havoc in the life of my alter ego - the worldly wise one.

The girl teasingly and mercilessly with her naughty eyes questioned if I really wish to give up the cozy, comfortable nest of mine, the world that I have so dearly created, my work here...and seek greener pastures elsewhere. My alter ego fumes up, trying to keep the girl under the closet, but she proves to be too powerful this time, reasoning confidently with a superior hand. My alter ego trying to drag me to the land of opportunities, but the girl holding me with her firm grip. I spent the entire night trying to make peace between them, only to realize at the crack of dawn that you just cannot have it all...you have to let go...that, perhaps is the ultimate truth of life.

Choice, is what we are compelled to make at every point, at all walks of life, sometimes compulsively and sometimes willingly but always with cent percent conviction and hope that it would reap benefits.

Happiness 'indeed' is a conscious choice, not an automatic response (Mildred Barthel).

And this time, I chose to get led by the girl. My alter ego ridiculed at me and just when I was starting to feel dismal about the loss of the seemingly advantageous proposition, the girl, with her hypnotizing and convincing eyes looked at me, smiled and hugged me tightly with this silent promise to guide me be what I want to be.... content and happy....