What is happiness and what are the ways and means to achieve happiness - Satarupa Mukherjee.

"Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you" as said by Ralph Marston.

Happiness has got various descriptions and meanings. Some believe it to be the ultimate realisation of life, some equate it with materialistic pleasures and enjoyment and some find happiness in peace and serenity and many more.

So people have got different definitions of happiness. But can we all give one definition for happiness combining its varied aspects. Well if we try we definitely can. Combining each and every aspect of happiness it can be equated with two words "pleasure" and "contentment".

Activities that please human beings and give them the feeling of self- satisfaction can truly help human beings to realise happiness.

We live in a fast moving technological world with people scattered all around the globe busy with their own commitments and in turn miss the various emotions of life. Happiness is one such emotion that cannot be provided by technology.

There are certain pros and cons of development as well. Unfortunately we do not have applications that can bring a smile on the people's face and give a feeling of relaxation after seeing the smile on the faces of their loved ones, the inner satisfaction that comes out without any calculation of profit or loss, or rather apps that help us to calculate how many good deeds a day we do.

If we could have such apps then we would have definitely been able to be at the top of the world but the scenario is completely different. Peace seems to be whisking away from our lives taking away all the human emotions along with themselves amongst which happiness is one of them.

Happiness is not a fruit of a big tree that can be plucked by peltering stones nor is it sealed and wrapped with an expiry date nor available in any market at certain price. Like every other thing in the universe we need to put in certain extra efforts to achieve happiness. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but the path to reach it must be carved out by one's own self. The path definitely isnot going to be a bed of roses rather a bed of thorns but yet we should have the strength and courage to overcome every thorn and reach to our pursuits. Every path that an individual niche's outs will definitely give certain lessons and experiences which if followed will lead us to the ultimate realization of life.

There are always solutions to various problems henceforth there are means to achieve happiness as well. Some of which include doing a good deed a day,

• It might be anything like helping the poor and the needy,
• Spending an entire day in any orphanage or old-age home and trying to see the lives of the people staying there
• Helping the physically handicapped people to overcome their challenges and have a normal life.
• Helping people in and around us with a motive of pleasure and contentment not with the motive of materialistic gains

The only secret to achieve happiness is to be happy in someone else's happiness. A mother and a child relation best describe the above statement. A mother sacrifices her entire life in bringing up her child; she can do anything to bring a smile on her child's face. That smile gives her inner happiness that cannot be expressed it can only be felt.

The most important thing that requires a mention here is "Career or Work" that everyone wants the best along with its pleasures, for having the basic amenities of life, which is very important. Otherwise we cannot happiness in our life because if one has to think every day of earning one square meal a day then happiness will definitely have to take a back seat and remain in the clutches of what is commonly termed as "food,cloth andshelter".

Work definitely gives out an amount to carry forward with our days in the form of cheques but above these cheques also we have certain factors that need to be considered that is jobs involving adventure, challenges, and experiences and providing a wider scope of learning definitely delights a person from within and boosts oneself with confidence,faith and belief. This kind of work provides happiness rather than the old mechanised form of work that creates a certain sense of boredom among individuals. Thus happiness is one such emotion that does not requires expression rather requires feelings for its realisation.

-- Satarupa Mukherjee