The Dalai Lama has written about happiness and it being the purpose of life. Far better to accept happiness as our goal than to want to progress in unhappiness. Others say it is not what we should be aiming for in life, but either way, it is good to feel happy.

Ken Dodd sang about happiness:-

‘Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess
I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed
With more than my share of happiness.’

We can view life through a veil of happiness, or consider all the miserable things that happen, or are likely to happen to us in this world: There are earthquakes and floods, famine and aeroplane disasters, yet we strive to have a happy outlook on life. We may as well get on with life and live it because we have an allotted span only, and when that ends it is our turn to pass on. So it is better to have happiness as our goal than unhappiness.

One reason to get up in the mornings is to see what we can do to create a happy life. We could take the wider perspective wherein we try to change the world to make it a better place, without famine and man-made disasters, by taking responsibility as global citizens of the world. Or, we can focus in on our own personal world and try and make that a better and happier place, by keeping the house tidy for the family, by welcoming guests to the house, by being ready with a comforting comment. Moving on from depression we can get up with that positive attitude to our day and to the rest of our life. It is by making the changes to the little things in life, taking little steps that we can move on to make big changes. It is the same concept as out of an acorn an oak tree can grow. Out of a seed, a plant can take root and blossom. We have the chance to influence for the better those we meet in our day. Let us take a positive stand.

Happiness is not something you can capture at will. It is rather something which you can feel when you are absorbed in whatever task or pleasure is ongoing. For the same reason, the story of the king who loved listening to a nightingale sing away in the forest is a lesson. This king wanted to capture the bird and sent out his servants to get it. They eventually caught the bird and put it in a cage where it sat day after day. After a while the bird stopped singing. Perhaps he had nothing to sing about – he was no longer free to fly around the woods exploring. He was confined to a cage. So eventually the king was concerned. If you were the king would you let the bird go free to fly away?

Think of a butterfly – fluttering around between the flowers at will – very transient. You just cannot capture the essence of the butterfly in a jam-jar. It will damage its wings against the hard sides of the jar – there is no backdrop of colourful flowers. It is not the same. Yet a child tries to catch butterflies in a net to put into a jar.