A Happy Place Its’t that what we all seek? The ultimate happiness. In our quest for that, lies a long list of aspirations and things that we must achieve to attain the perfect bliss. We need the perfect job, the perfect house, expensive vacations and, the perfect partner. The image of happily ever after is always hand in hand with the our one love!

For happiness is as much a state of mind as it is a social construct. We are conditioned to believe that we need certain things to be happy. Our parents and teachers once told us that we need to study hard enough so we can find that well paying job, or else we will be miserable. As we grow up we crave for expensive pair of shoes or fashionable outfits to glamour our teenage existence. Then the stress of getting into the right college, getting a better job offer than our classmates, a boy friend that others would envy…the list goes on and we keep adding to it…

Happiness becomes all about ticking off boxes, living up to or exceeding expectations. Societal pressure or peer pressure or stuff that fairy tales fed us. We feel, to be happy our lives should be nothing short of a whrilwind romance.

As another new year approaches, we look back at we have and what more our heart desires. Surprisingly, we often fail to notice, that we have ticked many things off our list and yet we want more. For, things that make us happy have changed, we have changed. We have either become too ambitious and nothing is ever enough. Or after achieving what we set out to we realize there’s more to happiness than just material things. And one perfect person bringing us all the happiness, nothing could be further from truth.

For happiness is a state of mind. No matter how much the society conditions us we eventually realize that happiness depends on us and not so much on that list we had drawn out once. Unless we are happy no other person can bring us happiness. And the picture of perfect bliss could very well be me, myself, me in a quite cottage on the hills sitting by the fireside with a book and a glass of whatever pleases me!

As 2023 approaches, all my heart seeks is a simple life in that quiet happy place. Not a big ask or is it?