“The happy Buddha,
mounted his yellow-red scooter,
of wheels made of hope,
a boot stashed with dreams,
and headlight beaming sunshine.
The happy Buddha,
his jowls jiggling in mirth,
his belly roiling with eternal bliss,
went out on his yellow-red scooter
to find a kindred spirit and share his joy.
He came across a rich man,
with fingers warmly snuggled
in deep silk-lined pockets.
He came across a young man,
chiseled in youthful beauty and
strumming with the vigor of health.
He came across an old man,
restful in the memory of a youth well-spent;
And asked them all, “You must be happy?”
The rich man shrugged his luxuriously padded shoulders.
The young man narrowed his spectacular brown eyes.
The old man furrowed his wise old eyebrows; and said to him, “If only…”
“My treasures were a bit fuller.”
“My sinews were a bit stronger.”
“My bygone days were a bit merrier.”
The buddha frowned (a reluctant, almost painful act for our happy rider),
and chugged along on his wheels made of hope,
Until he came across, a little boy,
with dusty knuckles and muddy fingers,
building a castle out of stones.
The boy giggled;
every time an errant pebble,
rolled out of its place,
and brought his castle down.
He clapped his little hands,
He tapped his little feet,
He hooped his little arms,
in circles of delight and laughter.
and began building again,
Again, again, then again.
The buddha watched fascinated,
and asked the same old question,
“Dear boy, are you happy?”
The boy smiled and said,
“Why, yes! Aren’t you?”
-Ana M
The scooter in the picture was borrowed from my son. The philosophical wisdom, also from him.
We have a tendency to defer happiness. We tell ourselves, I will be truly happy once I land a better job, buy a bigger house, build stronger muscles or achieve greater beauty, and so on. And we let the weeds of discontent clog our minds till there is no room left for anything else.
Happiness is a state of being that transcends such conditionality. It is not a shiny package delivered at the end of a seemingly successful transaction. It is not a product of a complicated combination of “ifs” and “buts”.
Happiness is right there, all around us, waiting to gather us in a loving embrace, only if we let it. And the best way to do so is to NOT build an algorithm or narrow set of preconditions for its manifestation. Stop telling yourself, I will be happy ONCE I do this, or IF I had this, or WHEN I get this. Once you liberate yourself from these restrictions that we tend to build around ourselves, you will find happiness every single day in unsuspecting moments. Maybe just because the sky is a brilliant shade of blue that took your breath away, or the FM played your favorite song when you were least expecting it, or a stranger’s kindness moved your heart in some way.
Our days are littered with such moments of grace, of goodness, and beauty. We just need to open our eyes and our mind to see them. Such simple moments are no less momentous than the landmark ones. In fact, they are what construct the fabric of our being, the essence of our day-to-day existence.
We just need to be mindful of them and embrace them with joy and gratitude.