4. Happiness Is Now

We want to be happy all the time. Our worries prevent us from being happy.

A small story:

Once, a New York investment banker went fishing in a remote mountain lodge. As he relaxed with his fishing rod in his hand and a pipe in his mouth, he saw a local old man settling down some distance away. The old man was reeling fish in at regular intervals and releasing them back into the river. The banker struggled to catch even a single fish.

The banker approached the old man and asked, 'What do you do for a living?'

The old man replied, 'Nothing. I fish and relax.'

The banker was incredulous.

'Do you know what you are missing in life? It is important to have a profession and status and work and live in the city.'

The old man asked, 'What are your plans for the future?'

'I will make lots of money, marry, and have children,' replied the banker.

'What comes after?' asked the old man.

'Oh! I will relax and spend all my time fishing,' said the banker.

The old man asked, 'Can't you see? That's what I'm doing now!'

We have a long laundry list of worries. Can we predict when we will be relaxed and joyful? It is difficult for us to guess when we are likely to be happy. On the other hand, it is very easy for us to say when we shall be worried, because it is almost all the time.

We worry when we have no money. We also worry when we have money. We worry if we have no children; we also worry when we have children. Wealth and children are quite often the cause of many of our problems. Our worries multiply when our children emulate us.

Worry follows desires just as night follows day. Desires have no end. Worries are endless. Do these worries have a purpose? No. They are purposeless and meaningless.

Find happiness being in the present. Be conscious, completely aware of what is happening in the moment. Be happy with everything that you have. This is the greatest secret that you need to know. Even once if you taste happiness with everything that you have, you will never worry or never yearn for anything that others have.

Our worries keep us up and running. We run to stay in the same place! We forget to enjoy our life now and never get to enjoy life later either. Either we enjoy it here and now, or never.