The title of this article is the translation of the beginning lines of famous song. It means, “Darkness is a guest just for a night." This thought provoking song prompted me to emphasize the point that, " Tough times will not stay forever." through this article.
Who can stop the brilliant light of a day break?
At the very outset of this article, I would like to impress upon you that, nobody is 100 % happy or 100% unhappy all over the lifespan. This is a fact and should be taken in its real perspective, and look in to the conditions which are everywhere that contribute to happiness.
In this connection I remember a famous saying in my language, which says, that a mother was searching frantically for her baby, forgetting the fact that the baby was comfortably sleeping in its cradle. This saying has a befitting relevance to those people who search for happiness in all the places, not knowing that happiness is well within them.
Its not abnormal, rather quite normal to have variations in life. Night and darkness are not going to stay forever. They vanish with Sunrise. Darkness is a temporary guest. Nobody can stop the arrival of light.
It’s not irrelevant to recall a study, which says that the levels of happiness decline from one’s teenage until 40s. Then the levels of happiness pickup and peak during 70s.
Be happy. Your happiest days are yet to come.
Don’t be startled if I say, “There is no definition for happiness.” Yes, you heard it right. Because happiness is a relative term. Not an absolute term. A moment of happiness for you may not be the moment of happiness for all. For Gandhiji, the moment of seeing India in its pristine glory of Independence makes him happy.
A moment when a starving street urchin tastes his first morsel of food is the ultimate of happiness. Hundreds of examples can be quoted to prove that Happiness is relative. But it doesn't mean that nobody should strive for happiness.
Happiness is a state of mind.
One should strive for happiness, keeping in mind the adage, ‘Happiness is a state of mind.” So next step is to know what makes your mental state happy. So, I think we go by some time tested norms.
Health is wealth.
This simple norm comes with a potential message. Its worth mentioning about my personal experience a few years ago. This happened in Jamshedpur. I was visiting a close friend of mine, whose father was having a big business in Ready made garments. In the night, after our sumptuous dinner, my friend proposed a night show. That was a Rajesh Khanna movie. After the show was over, I entered the bedroom allotted to me and slept. It was the very next room of my friend’s father. I have seen the light in his room was on. It was 2 AM.
Next day, I asked my friend why his father was awake during the late hours of the night. While my friend was ready to answer me, just then his father came and replied me, ‘Son, since 21 years I have been suffering from insomnia. I have all the riches on earth, but not a wink of sleep. Now I realized all the riches in life will not give you that much needed spoonful of happiness. At least, you the younger generation should give utmost importance to health.”
How true he was.
Sound relationships.
Relationships are like bridges. We build bridges to reach the other places. Man being a social animal, he cannot live without relationships with others. Society is a group of people living in clusters. Our relationships start from within the family itself and extends up to work place. In between, we may come across with many others, though not important, a kind of invisible relationship forms. For example, we meet with vegetable vendors. We meet the security jawan at the gate of our own flats or the offices. You may not know their names and other details, but we wave at them whenever we meet them. Why ? Because a relationship is established because of constant association.
How strained and bad relations act on one’s health ?
Take the example of strained relation between husband and wife. After a hard day’s work if the couple start fighting with each other, the very meaning of ‘Home’ is lost. It leaves an indelible mark on the young children. And remember some children may utilize such occasions in a bad manner. It’s believed that homes, where there are constant fights between husband and wife will lead to juvenile delinquency. A husband and wife team with harmonious relations, trust and faith can bring out successful and happy families. The children from such families will become ideal citizens.
Same bad results will follow when one has bad relations with his colleagues and superiors in the work place. It’s true that the success or failure of every work and activity in the work place involves ‘Team work.’ Regular failures in the home or in the work place will act on the brain, which further lead to stress. Stress is the starting point for many deadly diseases like heart and digestion related problems. Studies conducted on the importance of good relations show that happiness will contribute not only in boosting of health but also in lengthening the lifeline.
Work is worship, but….
Anything in limits yields good results. It applies to work also. Work and human life are intertwined. Work is essential to earn bread and butter for survival. Work plays a key role in the human development. But it is essential to strike a balance between work and leisure to lead a healthy life. Addiction to work is no less than a dreadful disease. It leads to mental and physical deterioration.
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
One of the best ways to be happy is to develop the reading habit.A person habituated to book reading will never be caught by the clutches of mental illness. Mind health should be sound in order to be free from stress. According to studies, a healthy mind has the potentiality to slowdown or prevent Alzheimer and dementia. Like any other muscle, the brain requires exercise. Crossword puzzles, Sudoku and chess are the best exercises for strengthening the brain.
Book reading is a stress buster. Books are capable of lifting you bodily from the stress ridden world to the magical world of pleasantness. Books impart knowledge, which in turn makes you face the adversities with confidence. Your health condition depends on your ability or disability to face the adversities that you face in day to day life. If you lack the ability to face the occasional adversities, you will be succumbed to insomnia. You will become restless. Consequently your body becomes a breeding ground for deadly diseases.
Book reading expands your vocabulary base. Having a good vocabulary base is the basis for effective communication. Effective communicators form an excellent rapport with the people around. They will be the cynosure of all eyes. It multiples the confidence that paves way to success. Every success adds happiness. A rich vocabulary may also open floodgates to become a writer.
Indulge in an activity, close to your heart.
Its worth recalling the well known saying “ Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
The advantage of doing a job of your liking, even it has nothing to do with earning is you will have focus on it. This makes your end product unique. With this you feel a sense of achievement which is highly essential for keeping you healthy. Another advantage is that, when you are occupied with a job of your liking, you are so engrossed, that no idle and meaningless thoughts will enter your mind. There won’t be any scope of thinking about fears about future and spoiling your mind. Such negative thinking has an adverse effect on health.
Tranquility of mind
This is another aspect that contributes a lot to health. Books are the ready answer for providing tranquil atmosphere in ,myour mental terrain.
Despite all these advantages of books that are instrumental in promoting your health, there is one aspect related with books, the ‘high cost’ may discourage you even though you are inclined towards reading books. But. With the advent of internet, book reading habit can be continued without getting scared of the cost involved. There are many sites that offer free E books. Avail them and reap the benefits of reading.
Stop looking for validation
Many people fear criticism. They are so sensitive, their mental balance is disrupted with the slightest criticism. This state of mental turbulence will lead to imbalances in health. There are only two ways to escape from this onslaught of criticism. Either stop looking towards others for their nod of approval or remain immune to criticism.
If you are confident of your views, go ahead without looking for others validation. Be sure of faith in your knowledge and conviction. If you oscillate, you will be a victim of many dreadful diseases.
It’s an established fact that being cheerful all the time will enhance one’s life.
The very fact that, more and more laughter clubs are coming up all over the globe proves that laughter contributes in a big way in curing many diseases. A good sense of humor indicates about one’s positive attitude. It would be a repetition if I write about the benefits of positive attitude.
There will be a physiological change when we laugh. It means laughing stretches the muscles on the face and body. Side by side pulse and BP go up. As a result we breathe fast and this in turn sends more oxygen to the tissues in the body. This entire phenomenon of stretching of muscles is equivalent to a workout.
With a bit of innovation, if one can combine laughter with body movements like vigorous movement of arms, Laughter will give us the combined benefits of Physical exercise and laughter.
A researcher found that a particular heart rate was reached after 19 minutes workout on a rowing machine . It took only a minute to reach the same heart rate after a riot of laughter session. And a session of 10 – 15 minutes laughter can burn as many as 50 calories.
Some effects of laughter on our body.
Researchers at the university of Maryland conducted an experiment in which 2 groups were shown comedies and normal dramas. After the shows were over, the researchers found that the blood vessels of the group that was shown comedies were found to be normal. Whereas the blood vessels of the other group were tensed up, which resulted in restriction in blood flow.
There are infection –fighting antibodies in the human body. The duty of these antibodies is to see that the levels of immune cells remain high. But, stress will reduce the levels of immune cells. Studies show that humor has the potential to raise the levels of infection- fighting antibodies.
Humor helps in reducing blood sugar levels.
Yoga and meditation are the time tested ways to strike a balance between body, mind and soul. Yoga is a combination of Asanas. Meditation is going in to trance with controlled breathing.
Meditation is sitting in a place far from noises and disturbances and inhaling and exhaling in a slow manner. There are variations in the mode of breathing. And each mode offers a plethora of benefits to the body. The most important factor that decides the condition of your health is the balance between mind body. That means you will attain peace of mind. Peace of mind goes a long way in keeping your body fit.
Benefits of Asanas.
Asanas like Sun salutations or Surya namaskara and Kapal Bhati will help greatly in shedding the weight.The biggest modern day ailment borne out of erratic and fast life styles is stress. Pranayama and meditation are the most effective ways to control the stress .
Now the ball is in your court.
Every human being longs for happiness. And to achieve this happiness all of us strive alike. The ultimate aim of a prince or a pauper is the same, a life with happiness sans diseases. Fortunately happiness is not a thing that is kept under the deep sea or miles and miles above in the skies. It is everywhere. What all you have to do is to find out what way suits you. It is not that the source of happiness is same for all. If some one sees happiness in reading a book written by his favorite author, for some, it is a mouthful of a sumptuous meal.
One need not plunge himself in to the depths gloom and melancholy that a single incident of unhappiness will destroy the life. Happiness and unhappiness are the two sides of a coin. Unhappiness, like darkness will not stay forever. With the first ray of Sunrise darkness disappears beyond horizon.