Someone asked me , ”Is there a shortcut to happiness?”.
“Oh,” I Said jokingly, “you mean a jugaadfor happiness?”Jugaadmeans finding some
innovative solution, some kind of a workaround to a problem which otherwise might require a lot more resources. The Oxford English dictionary officially inducted this word in 2017.
Ajugaadmay not always be a shortcut, but a shortcut almost always is ajugaad. Any solution found through a shortcut is usually cut short quickly. You cannot afford shortcuts if you are serious about finding resilient solutions. Lasting fulfilment comes from the quality of our vision, understanding and execution. It comes from our temperament and our values.
Three Factors for Happiness
Happiness is a sense of fulfilment which comes from three things:
First is the Purpose.
Unless you have a purpose in life, it will be extremely hard to put your energies into anything creative. The mind is a baffling phenomenon of the human existence. If you have everything you could ever want, but you do not have something meaningful to do, you will be more depressed and lost than I could put into words. Privileged people, whom I meet all the time, can get so self-absorbed and sad, that life to them feels like a constant burden.
Loneliness, non-clinical depression, bouts of anxiety, persistent sadness, a nagging emptiness, they all stem from the same thing: a purposeless life. Purpose does not mean that you will have plenty of fun doing what you do. Most of the time, your to-do list will consist of boring action items you would rather not do. And that is the thing: to have the discipline of tickingoff the mundane, knowing it is leading you to your end goal.
Purpose means you have undertaken something that makes you feel you are sharing your talents with the world. It makes your existence worthwhile. The second factor is loving what you do. It is incredibly hard to remain motivated without loving what you do. Without that love and motivation, self-discipline becomes even harder.
The Art of Loving Your Life: Either Do What You Love or Love What You Do
And one way of loving something is to look at the brighter side of life, it is to find those little gems of joy that lie scattered on the path under the rustling leaves of self-doubt and desires.
In other words, it is to enjoy the journey and earn that sense of triumph. When you receive something after working towards it, your joy multiplies automatically. To eat a good meal after an intense workout, or to stand under the shower after a long and tiring day, exponentially increases the joy of doing so.
To be in love with what you do comes from the understanding that my life must have a careful balance between the things-I-want to- do versus the things-I Have-to-do. The more I learn to accept and enjoy the latter, the more opportunities I will have to do the former. If you wish to do the things you want to do in life,then learn to enjoy the things you have to do. As they say, “either do what you love, or love what you do.”
Trust
The third important factor for happiness is trust. Trust is not just protecting the trust other people have placed in you, but also self trust which is equally, if not more important. Self-trust grows when you do what you say you will do. When you resolve to do something or make promises to yourself and do not honour them, your self esteem takes a big hit.
And, every time that happens, you lose a bit of faith in yourself gradually, reaching a pointwhere you no longer trust yourself. Now, if you cannot trust yourself, how can others or does the world trust you? Without trust, there is no security, a lack of which in turn leads to a defensive attitude, a bloated ego and indecisiveness.
Love or trust, however, is not about trapping or baiting, it is about mutual care and appreciation, about mutual respect and purpose. Here is the secret to happiness: protect trust (self-trust and others' trust) at all cost; love and purpose will walk into your life on their own.
Together they make up happiness.
Om Swami