Sanjay Chandra

Embracing small moments and choosing to smile can transform not just our day, but the lives of those around us, making the world a happier place. I have often wondered if happiness is a choice or an effort. As I have aged, I realise that it is a choice for which one needs to make an effort. I understand that happiness derived out of immersing oneself in the moment is also meditative.

A few years back, I was standing in the airport security queue with a grumpy face. It was an early morning flight for which I had to wake up in the dead of the night. I was also stressed as I had to make a presentation to my Board of Directors in a few hours. In short I had no reasons to be happy.

In this self-made gloom surrounding me, my eyes fell on an old gentleman, standing patiently in front of me. His cheerful disposition even at that early hour, despite the struggle to navigate the slow moving long queue and the broad smile on his face as he walked jauntily for the mandatory check, was enough to light up the faces of everyone around him.

He smiled at the security personnel, asked his name, introduced himself and still laughing, picked up his cabin baggage and moved on with a spring in his steps. The usually taciturn security staff kept looking at the retreating back — with a smile on his face!

We had a laughter club in my condominium complex. These sexagenarians to octogenarians burst into laughter at the drop of a hat, oblivious to the smirks of the other walkers. The laughter is forced, but the young at heart are immersed in the act. They have chosen to work for happiness, unmindful of the worry of the moment.

Children do not need a reason to be happy — they do not even have to fake it. Each moment is a miracle for them. It would not be wrong to say that they live in the moment. The purity and the sheer joy of their happiness is a sight to behold.

I was a young boy of 9. My brother was 8. We were having annual sports in our school. The winter days were gloriously sunny. It was a pleasure to sit on the boundary wall to watch the young athletes. It was an equally satisfying act to clap for the winning heroes.

We lost sense of time, so absorbed were we in the pleasure of the moment. This led my worried and irate father to march to the school and drag us back home. The lasting memory is that of our sitting on the boundary wall lost in the joy that it afforded us and not the subsequent thrashing.

 As we grew into adulthood, with accompanying responsibilities of the daily grind, lines of frown started appearing on our foreheads. We forgot to even smile. We also forgot to make friends. We thought that the professionals that we spent time with could at best be acquaintances. We could not have been farther from truth. Friends are forever a source of joy.

Now that we are in the winter of our lives, we realise that there is so much to be happy about. The act of waking up in the morning, or going about our routine with our hands and feet and many other such acts that we considered mundane in our younger days, are now sources of happiness.

Everyone loves to spend time with a smiling person, avoiding a grumpy face. The world would be happier if all of us chose to be the lighted candle of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “When a happy person comes into the room, it is as if another candle has been lit.”

(The writer conducts workshops on creative writing for young adults and corporate executives. Views are personal) I have often wondered if happiness is a choice or an effort. As I have aged, I realise that it is a choice for which one needs to make an effort. I understand that happiness derived out of immersing oneself in the moment is also meditative.