My Happiness Jar

I started my happiness jar recently; And every time something really happy happens, I add a word in it. Just to keep a record of how beautiful a few days were that went by. Try it. Colorful little chits that hold memories of colorful days of life.

As I started to add to it daily, I couldn’t help but realize that it really were the small small things in a day that made me the happiest : met a friend after ages, had a good day of work, came up with some brilliant ideas & implemented some, came across some real good inspiration and felt moved, got some really good praise & felt appreciated. Small things. Big smiles 😀

There was love in each little happiness. Even when it was work related, it was the love of doing something I liked doing. We often question the super power called ‘love’ & its abilities to move the world, set things straight, bring smiles, make us feel good. All my questions got answered when I got the chance to attend INK 2012 at Pune in October this year. It is said that when you really seek an answer, it will present itself to you in the most unexpected way possible. I will tell you how:

I went as a volunteer and the whole volunteer pool was allowed to attend the opening day of INK. Brilliant! Glad that I got to listen to maybe the best of the lot of speakers and fellows on the 1st day itself. Have even shared the Awesome Shankar Tucker’s The Awesome song (in my opinion) in my previous post. But there are things that move you differently.  Sometimes, you get caught unawares and things blow you away when you least expect.

One of the speakers at INK was Dr. Nitin Ron, a neonatalogist and a mountaineer. Queer combination isn’t it. But when he started speaking, every word made my being at INK ‘worth it’. Here was a doctor who healed premature babies and helped them live on. And he was telling a full house that science wasn’t enough maybe. Love & compassion played a very very important part in their healing. The stories of miracles which happened at his hospital moved everyone in the audience. It moved them, I’m sure, from a position of doubt (if any) to a position of concrete belief that love heals. Perhaps faster than time. His talk can be viewed here – Nitin Ron at INK

Anyway, coming back to why I started writing this post – I was trying to just figure out what love is for me. And I found out that –

Love is about having that one special person in your life who is ‘the sin qua non(sole purpose) of your existence’. Yet, it is also about  NOT HAVING that one person, because then you find many people who make it worth it – in their own different and beautiful ways! (simply put – it means love can also be there in your life while you enjoy singlehood) 😉

Love is when you can be silent and yet have a beautiful conversation with your own self. Only you know best; who it is that you love most and what you could do for them. I have realized; it is really not important to talk always. Sometimes, you acknowledge someone’s presence more in silence. Because then it means that the person makes you comfortable in your own skin.

Love is when I hold my best friend’s hand and give her a tight hug when I meet her after ages. Love is when I crack the silliest jokes with her and an instant flashback happens. Love is also when I scream with rage at another bestie whom I couldn’t meet. Love is weird really.

Love is when I care like a child for a few people who inspire me and are the reason I am what I am today. Love is when my mom makes the best things in the world for me yet keeps scolding me for some reason or the other. Love is when dad cracks a joke about me getting married and I get angry and then he cracks another joke to make me laugh. Love is when my always silent brother talks so much in front of me that I have to ask him to keep quiet! And mom says, “stay back. At least he talks when you are around.”

Love is when we release sky lanterns with a hope that there is a better tomorrow for all of us. Love is also when we release sky lanterns because we find them beautiful without any reason.

Love is when I realize that there is someone who cares for me so much that I am convinced nothing will ever go wrong with me.

Love is when I unknowingly crack the shittiest jokes and suddenly the whole atmosphere around lights up. Love is when my mom joins me in those silly jokes.

Love is when I realize that I have one person with to whom I do not have to write my inhibitions and emotions. Love is when I know that I’m so comfortable with her that I can say things to her which I will probable share in writing with others 🙂

Love is also when I read a beautiful book and it just makes my day and night and a few more days to come.

Love is happiness. Inside my little jar. In small words and their big meanings. Inside my Happiness Jar.

An excerpt from the book ‘This Is All I Have To Say’ by Swapan Seth; on Love (A serious recommendation that this book be read. If nothing, it will make you smile like an idiot for an hour after you shut it). You may ask why this excerpt. Because – you always need to be open to love & not close your heart. Whatever might have happened ever, never forget to love. Because that is all that matters. Read on :

Suddenly from a crowd of people, it will spot you.
Lurking as it invariably does behind a curtain of hesitation. Wondering whether you will recognize it or reciprocate it.
If it makes you skip a beat, go out and embrace it.
Love is life’s glue. It is what binds people.
Love with desire. Love with dignity. And love deeply.
Love fiercely. And love fairly.
Many are lucky in love. And many are unlucky.
Don’t worry about that. You will fall in and out of love.
Love is unreliable.
It has many disguises that confuse people.
Get confused. Get deceived.
But don’t get cynical about love.
It takes its time to find you.
It searches the universe before it gets to you.
And when its true face stares at you in the eye,
Hug it and make it your friend.
Because love is a life long companion.
Not everyone is lucky to have it.
Most people tuck away their love in their hearts.
Wear yours on your sleeve.
But be unfaithful.
Love many things.
Love your family. Love your friends.
Love your interests. love your work. Love a book.
Love a tune. Love a poem. Love a wine.
Love a flower. Love a work of art. Love a smell.
Love a place. And be generous with your love.
The more you will give, the more you will get.
And love unconditionally. Love is not a contract.
It is merely an obligation to being alive.
And never expect love to come back in volumes in which you give it to others.
There’s always a little that spills as it journeys back to you.

Because, love isn’t about who was, is or will be there in your life. It is about who are YOU.

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