HAPPINESS

I was just browsing the newspaper when I came across an advertisement on “Joy of giving week”I was left to wonder that we have become so selfish that a week has to be celebrated to teach us the joy of giving.So my thought process started working this way.I am always confused and frustrated when this question “What is happiness?”arises. Happiness ...everyone answers when asked what they would like in life. Where do we get happiness and when are we happy?.This question really has got a lot of answers.For a kid of 5 years its just a handful of sweets he/she wished ,as simple as that As we grow older our aspiration for things and ambitions grow that we never feel happy ,eventhough we have all the basic comforts. But even with the child after getting the sweets he wanted it starts waning, aspiring for other things .Its simple small things when we are young which grow to bigger things ,ambitions ,as we grow up. Ultimately its attitude,that matters. There used to be a cartoon in which a man goes searching for happiness and finally finds that he cant get it anywhere but within himself. There is a common belief that happiness is something that can be achieved and held on to it. We look forward to that time in which we can finally be happy, but it continually recedes. We want to get to the top of the Wheel of Life and stay there. When in high school, we think, "If I can just graduate then I will be happy." Graduation, however, is not fulfilling, and we decide "If I go to college then life will be better." But a college education does not bring happiness. Maybe it will come upon finding the right job, or getting married, or having children, or retiring. The goal remains elusive. The "happiness that lasts" is never found because it is actually impossible to get happy and stay happy. If life is based on obtaining happiness, then we will always fall short because life is always changing .what we think as happiness today is not happiness after a few days. Its far better to seek joy. Joy is related to happiness but it is a deep impression. For being happy one always is self entered but for joy this self centered feeling is not there. By helping the needy,by bringing joy in the life of a person. It may be nothing,just give water to a person who is thirsty..you can see the smile which immediately lights up your heart. Helping a blind person to cross the road makes you realize how lucky you are and this deed also gives joy which in turn makes you a person useful to society which brings happiness into you.
Joy is an experience which connects us to that which is "Greater" than we are. It connects us to the creative power that is more than the "I" or ego. Joy gets us out of ourselves and in contact with this "Other" and with others. Joy can sustain us throughout the four phases of life. I still don't know if what I think is correct .these are my own conclusions about happiness and joy.