Happiness and sadness are two dimensions of our lives. It's a common fact that everybody wants to be happy and no one wants to be sad. Now it's a more common fact that no one can remain happy forever. Still most of us live a life, which is aimed to make our beloved ones and us happy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this way of living but the question is "is this the right strategy to live a life", and more than that " is this the right psychology to live a life"?
Before answering this question, lets talk about what happiness is all about. There are two dimensions of happiness; first is natural and second is psychological dimension. The natural one is one that comes natural to all human beings. Like our eyes like to see something beautiful, our tongue likes to taste something tasty and so on. In one sentence it is all about providing our five senses their respective subjects(beauty for eyes, smooth touch for skin, melodious sound for ears etc.) which makes us happy.
Second dimension depends on our way of thinking. Sometimes we define happiness and fix some criteria for things that make us happy. For example few people love to see two persons fighting at the same time few people hate this thing. It's a difference in their psychology that creates this difference. Now thing is that we can't do anything to the natural dimension of happiness but can we do something to the psychological part of happiness. Yes we can.
In fact when you see the history of mankind you find that all the great persons had used this psychological dimension of happiness to produce something extraordinary. Other wise how can you explain the joy that Shaheed Bhagat Singh got when he was sentenced to death. Is death penalty something that can make anybody happy? No. but it did. And its not just about Bhagat Singh, every great person has used this psychological aspect of happiness. The only difference between the great people and others is that the great ones treat the moments of sadness as a challenging time to show their real character and create something new. Where as for others these are the times to cry. In fact the history of mankind is history of few wise people who understood the psychology of happiness and sadness. Thing is that if you stop expecting happiness and look for some challenging time ahead, life will really become fearless and enjoyable. A strong will is the only requirement, if you can create that then you can enjoy things, which are really painful. Believe me, it is a great felling when you are in your happy moments and waiting for the bad times to come so that you can show your real character.
Now coming back to the question "what should be the right strategy to live a life" the answer is that there is nothing wrong in going for the happiness but we must remember one thing that it is we who have to decide what happiness is for us. Only then we can get hold of ourselves.
Ankit Kumar