Physical Happiness - Being healthy and free of physical pain
Emotional Happiness - Being contented, being harmonious with others and free from emotional pain or trauma or negative memories
Mental Happiness - Clarity of mind, avenues to generate value through mental application and sense of purpose
Spiritual Happiness - Helpfulness to others and understanding oneness with God and with All
Happiness, joy, peace, grateful, blissful, blessed are some terms used to describe the state of being happy.
The narration above is not comprehensive; it cannot be as there is a high possibility that the 7 billion people on earth perceive happiness in different ways. But there are some common themes on when someone feels happy. Examples are:
- I felt happy when my daughter was born
- I felt happy when I got married
- I felt happy when I was recognised at work
- I felt happy when I could buy my dream home
- I felt happy when I was a medium to educate 70 children
- I felt happy when others joined pranic healing inspired by me
- I felt happy when I got promoted
- I felt grateful when I was miraculously healed
- I felt blessed for having such wonderful parents
- I felt at peace to be with such lovely friends
- I feel loved all the time
- I felt happy seeing that movie
- I felt happy drinking my favourite alcohol
- I felt happy binging on that delicious cake
- I felt happy breaking the law
- I felt blissful having romantic date with my girl friend
There are numerous ways in which people can feel happy. Some of these are ethical and some unethical. Some of these are just for emotional satisfaction (e.g. alcohol) while others are for physical gratification (e.g. binging on junk food). Feel free to agree/ disagree as this is the author's opinion. The bottomline is that what we often call happiness is a short term gratification of senses. Happiness in true sense is harmony of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual self. When all of these work in harmony with a sense of positive purpose, is when true happiness can be achieved. That doesn't mean that we completely ignore those occasional movies, or drinks with friends, but the key is in moderation, so that you are not deviated from the larger sense of purpose of life. This is very important to understand. Arhatic Yoga for example teaches how to systematically align all the aspects of your personality. It also teaches various methods to remove negative thoughts, addictions, negative habits and behaviours. Just one year of practice of Arhatic Yoga can lead to personal development equivalent of 10 years or more. Spiritual Happiness is the most potent form of happiness. This comes by helping others, by leading a life of purpose, by leading a life of great example. It is not easy, but it is worth trying for, worth waiting for and worth living for. Once Spiritual Happiness is achieved, everything around suddenly starts making sense. The sad experiences become learnings, and the happy experiences become gifts of the universe. As we start seeing divinity in every person and every being, our true nature is revealed and inner peace manifests in the most beautiful way in and around us.
For happy relationships it is important to recognise the divinity within your life partner. We must have gratitude, respect and love for our life partner. Gratitude is thankfulness to God in your life partner, respect is listening to your life partner, giving him/ her importance, sticking to your promises and responsibilities pertaining to your life partner, love is to understand your life partner, to demonstrate patience and compassion, to provide a secure and faithful relationship that everyone deserves. Love also includes forgiving and forgetting unpleasant experiences, and using right moment to provide explanation in a gentle but effective way. If you demonstrate these aspects, then your relationships will be excellent, happy and peaceful.