People pursue happiness. They want to be happy. We all want to be happy. But is happiness truly what we must hope to get, or should we focus primarily on trying to achieve peace?
Happiness means different things to different people. For some, happiness might be a new luxury vehicle. For others, happiness could be the ability to walk on one’s own legs.
For some, happiness could mean buying a new high-end mattress. For someone else, happiness could mean being able to sleep, regardless of where that may be.
Some are happy when they eat a meal, prepared by a skilled chef, at a posh restaurant. For the one who has been starving for days, a simple morsel of food could bring happiness.
Some are happy to live simple lives, while there are many who are not happy in spite of fame and wealth.
People pursue happiness, but happiness often evades them. Happiness, once achieved, may not last long. People get stuck in an endless chase, to try to get hold of happiness.
Happiness is hard to define, difficult to achieve, and even more difficult to hold on to. Peace, however, is achievable and can be long-lasting.
Peace is the absence of conflict. The greatest conflict that a person experiences is the conflict with one’s own self. The human mind can take people in different directions by generating greed, gluttony, envy, rage etc., resulting in confusion, distress, and discord. With self-reflection, one can bring an end to these conflicts, and find peace.
We must be grateful for who we are and the life we have. No matter who we are and what circumstances we are faced with, peace can be our lifelong companion once we erase conflict from our hearts and minds.
Happiness may evade people, making them feeling cold. But through meditation and by knowing one’s own self, people can eliminate conflicts from their lives, and hence be covered by a warm blanket of peace.