He sat gazing at space. His was looking for a hope deeply ingrained in his imagination. He has always looked for a bright star that gave happiness to whoever sees it. His grandmother told him so: for that day, she held his hand and went to the window. He was in tears, feeling sad. When they reached the window, she started telling him about a star which appears every night, glimmering and giving happiness to whoever sees it. Yet, whoever sees it, being the happiest person ever, should make someone happy every day, then look at the sky only to see the star which will give him endless happiness. Days elapsed, and the boy always tried to make someone happy: for he might the star. Years elapsed, too. He became a young man who gave everybody happiness. In so doing, he knew the meaning of happiness which filled his life. One night, he looked at the sky, but not to see the happiness star, but to send his grandmother a gratefulness message: for she taught him that happiness is in man’s heart.
Many people tackled happiness. According to one American survey institute, a happiness factor, “depended on the meaning and motivation of man’s life…” Man can spend most of his life seeking happiness or satisfaction. Yet, he might end up finding none: as if he was after a dream.
Happiness is neither a dream nor a far-fetched hope. Rather, achieving happiness has to do with whoever knows its secret. As man seeks happiness, he lends it a different meaning from his fellows’. Taking a quick look at people’s concept of happiness, we see that most of them believe that it resides in buying what they do not have: be it possessions, authority, or potential. Whenever they come across something which they do not find it is what they wanted, they seek something else. Thus, their life passes in perpetually seeking something they do not have. They never find happiness, which reminds me of the “Missing Square Theory”.
The theory postulates that when a man sits in a room and gazes at its ceiling to find a missing square, then this square continues to attract his attention as long as he remains in the room, whereas he does not see the rest of the squares! Thus, many people see nothing save the missing square in their or others’ life. In effect, they lose happiness and satisfaction, and get lost in a whirlpool of rejection and criticism.
Thus, happiness is in our hearts. It is a lifestyle we choose we when are not introvert, and realize the value of what we have. Indeed, “Happiness is not acquiring what we do not have, but understanding the value of what we have.” Thus, what we have makes us realize a lot; but most important is having happiness.
