Once upon a time, there was a millionaire, named Joseph. Although he was rich, he was never happy. He always thought to himself: “I have had so much money and I could afford to buy anything, but why I could not buy happiness?” He puzzled over this for a period of time and was not able to get an answer. At last, he took an important decision to be happy. He said: “why not I spent all my money to buy happiness before I died so that I could die without any regret.” He sold all his properties and bought diamonds with that money. He put all this diamonds into a specially made pouch and started travelling. He vowed to give all the diamond to the person who could make him happy, at least even for a moment. As he was travelling far and wide in the quest to get an answer to his puzzle he asked everyone he met the recipe to become happy. However, he was disappointed with all the answers he got.
One day, as he passed through a village, he heard from the inhabitants of the village that there was a wise man and he lived uphill of the village. According to the village folks, the wise man knew everything. On hearing this, he rushed up the mountain to meet this wise man. When he reached there, the wise man was meditating. Joseph asked: “People said that you are wise, and do you know how I can buy happiness?” The wise man opened his eyes and enquired, “Why do you need to buy happiness?” Joseph replied: “this is because I will give all my fortune to that person who answered my question – ‘how I can become happy’.” The wise man gave Joseph a wink and said “I have a recipe for happiness, but it is very expensive. Let me know how much money you have?” Without second thought, Joseph handed the porch to the wise man. The wise man without looking at the porch and grabbed the porch and run away unexpectedly. Joseph was shocked and he lost his mind for a moment. After a while, he regained his composure and started to shout “help!”--- “Someone has robed my money.” Unfortunately for him, the village was remote one and so no one heard him shouting. He had no choice but to chase the wise man. After chasing for some time, there was no trace of the wise man. Joseph was very tired and so he took some rest under a tree. He was so frustrated and started crying. He thought to himself that could not buy happiness and felt very sad that he lost all his fortune as well. While he was crying in despair, he saw something shining hanging from the tree under which he was sitting. On looking closer, he found that it was the pouch that he had lost. He got his pouch back with all the diamonds inside it. At that moment, an indescribable happiness filled his heart. He simply felt very happy. When he was savoring this joyful moment, the wise man suddenly appeared from behind of the tree and asked “Are you happy?” Joseph naturally replied yes. The wise man asked further “Can you now fulfill your promise?” The wise man then took the pouch from Joseph and walked away.
Food of thought
Happiness is very abstract term. One could only feel it but could not be able to touch or sense it. What is happiness? If you ask this question, you will get a variety answers because everybody defines it differently. Now the fundamental question is; how to be happy? Many people will claim that it is very difficult to be happy in today’s modern and globalised society because we have to deal with so many problems and the world is changing so fast. Life is no longer a source of happiness but instead a source of misery. It sounds so pessimistic and negative. However, according to me, life wants to teach us something in order that we develop into a better human being. If you look at the problems that we face in life in a positive perspective, all these problems speaks to us something and force us to learn valuable lesson. One has to take time to be alone and reflect over their life. Try to solve the problem head-on because this is the opportunity for us to develop our genuine character. This mindset will always make you happy.
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