How to Have a Happy Life

How to Have a Happy Life
We always wish to have a happy life, but what do we really mean when we say "happy"? And will all the good intentions we have bring us happiness? Let us contemplate the wisdom of an enlightend master, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, to help us focus on what we really mean and how to achieve it. This is what he says: Happiness does not only come from achievement. When you were a child you were simply happy. So that is your nature. And every moment, with every single action, we are all seeking to be happy because it is the original nature. You were taught about philosophies, gods, heaven and hell, but nobody taught you to be happy. If you go against your own nature to be happy, you will never get anywhere. And to be happy is not the ultimate aspect of life. To be happy is the fundamental aspect of life. If you are not happy, what else can you do with your life? Only if you are happy, can other great possibilities arise in your life.

The first and most fundamental responsibility for a human being is to become joyous being himself or herself. It doesn't matter what you are pursuing in your life, whether it is business, money, power, education, service or something else, you are doing so because somewhere deep inside you is a feeling that this will bring you happiness.

Every single action that we perform on this planet springs from an aspiration to be happy. Today we are seeking happiness so vigorously that the very life of the planet is being threatened.

When you are fundamentally joyous, when you don't have to do anything to be happy, then every dimension of your life--the way you perceive and express yourself and the world--will change. You will have no more vested interests because whether you do something or you don't do something, whether you get something or don't get something, whether something happens or doesn't happen, you will be joyous by your nature, and your actions will rise to a completely different level.

So it is definitely time we look inward and see how to create personal well-being. From your own experience of life you can clearly see that true well-being will come to you only if your interiority changes. At present, the quality of your life is not determined by the clothes that you wear, the educational qualifications that you carry, the family background that you come from or the bank balances that you hold. Rather, the quality of your life depends upon how peaceful and joyous you are within yourself.

Unless something of true value happens within you, you can't do anything of tremendous value to the world. Whatever you do, it is only your inner quality that you are going to spread. Whether you like it or not, that is the reality. If you are concerned about the world, the first thing you must do is transform yourself into a joyous being.

To be peaceful and happy is a universal wish, but the question is How to attain it? Suppose something has happened to upset your sense of peace. First you might quarrel with your spouse, then with other people, and then maybe you'll yell at your boss. By that time people are suggesting you need to go to a doctor. If you go to a doctor he'll probably give you a pill to calm you down. With just a little bit of chemical, your system becomes peaceful. It may be just for a short while, but your system does become peaceful.

So what you call peace is just a certain kind of chemistry. Similarly, every emotion you experience--your joy, your anger, your ecstasy, your turmoil, your fear, your stress--each has a chemical basis. Now, there is a technology, an inner science that can enable you to create a chemistry so that you can be peaceful, happy and joyous by your own nature, not subject to what is happening around you. This is the science of yoga. It will change the whole perspective of your life.