Happiness

"Would you rather be right or happy?" - Buddha

I have never liked debate based on opinion 
Only on facts
Debate based on opinion makes me shut down 
People get angry and emotional
It is personal
Opinions are personal
That is your belief
Period 
And with it comes the scars of your past
involving emotions 
and the belief in how it made you feel
Cue yelling and me turtling in my shell
You can debate facts
I don't think you can debate belief
You can't debate somebody's feelings
Its how they feel
Its individual
But I know you can effect beliefs 
by exposure to an experience that may prove the contrary is possible 
And in turn, this will evoke an emotion
A different emotion
Or at least plant the seed of change
that may show the fruit of your sharing tomorrow or 10 years from now 
And the point to sharing that experience isn't to make me think that I am right

Because there isn't any right or wrong in life

Everything just is

And sharing makes me happy
because I was able to show why I felt the way I did
if at least for a moment
I shared a bit of my soul
And now maybe that person has the possibility of feeling that way 
of looking at life from a different angle
and understanding me better
And that makes me happy
Because I have lived 
through storytelling
which is also how I learned about Happiness


Happiness.
(I capitalize it because I believe it to be a proper noun)
Happiness has been something I have explored since a young age
And my parents encouraged me to find it
I liked to touch things 
I am a very tactile person
I loved the taste of food in my mouth and would do anything to get it 
Ergo, I ate my first helping of food as fast as I could to get the second helping ASAP
I liked to dance around even if nobody else heard the music
I liked to push myself to do ridiculous things
At age 5, to the fright of my mother, I used to pull myself up the fireman's pole on the playground 
with only my arms 
and I would also scurry to reach the peak of any tree I could find 
simply to be apart of the sky
Then I would inevitably get stuck
and then have to gain the courage from within to find a way back down
(This is why I always wanted to be the squirrels in the Disney movie "Sword In The Stone")
I would say "Hello" to strangers.
Still do. (Cue people making odd expressions on the streets of Pune) 
I still do most of those things in fact
if not all
(this includes hugging old aunties I have just met)
And to this day I always try to be happy 
No matter what
It is my life's credo
If it makes me unhappy I don't do it
This is why I had happiness tattooed on my thigh in 9 colors 
to remind myself
Constantly
Throughout it all, I try remember that  
I am beautiful just the way I am 

cause I forget sometimes
as do I think we all do.
And if I'm not happy,
truly happy,
then why is it?
There is a reason. 

There is a huge debate among people that you shouldn't have to be happy at work, 
or do what makes you happy, 
but simply do things to get by 
You should always have a back up plan
And I think it's a double edged sword
Because You will almost always fall back on that back up plan
Cause Life is hard
So then we think that having the newest IPhone, a flashy car, the perfect relationship
(fill in with your choice word)
will make us happy
or that we can make other people happy 
But now here are the scientific facts in how Happiness breaks down...

Happiness

External Sources = 10%

Internal Sources = 90%

It literally all comes from inside you. 

And it is what primarily effects your productivity DIRECTLY. 

This is probably a surprise to some (who will also still contest it and now roll their eyes), 

those who think you have to sit in the quagmire in order to see results

And to others, they go DZUH! 

You are beautiful just the way you are

You are enough

And You are as happy as you make up your mind to be

So I hope you let your light shine

You are the only one in control of it being hidden under a bushel
You control your own happiness

And that is what I am teaching today in class.