THE "FEEL GOOD" FACTOR

How do I live a long life filled with happiness? This is the question that all of us continue to ask ourselves. But what we see predominantly around us is a world full of people undergoing suffering and handicaps, worries and frustration and losses and tragedies. Such is the intensity of some people’s misery that makes us shudder and pray that even our enemies should not get it. The world in its forward movement is creating increasing number of people living with worries. It is now seldom that we come across happiness. Even if we meet it, it is very short lived. It is becoming a myth that there exist people who live happily ever.

What create the miseries, sufferings and disappointments? Firstly, it is due to the pace at which things happen. We live at a point of the world movement where things happen in nanoseconds. Everyone and everything is on an overdrive mode. There is no time for oneself, leave alone for others. We are on the run as if the deluge is near. Add to this ever-changing flux, other major issues such as selfishness and ungratefulness. The kind world is turning into a cruel world. With no time for anything, everybody is heavily stressed. And the stress manifests into diseases, both physical and mental. For solace, man runs into doctors, quacks, astrologers and self proclaimed Godmen. He is very tense and anxious. The only question that he asks them is when will good time come for him? And he is willing to do anything for that to happen.

Stop for a moment, dear friends. With all these, what kind of a world are we creating for us? With so much of flux around, is it a world worth living? And at this rate, where are we going?

Have we bothered to check what we can do to create a peaceful, happy world? And where do we find peace & tranquility? Are they for real or maya?

I am of the opinion that if we seek peace and happiness, it would come to us. For peace and happiness to come to us, we must create the feeling of positivity around us. We must genuinely feel good always, that is.

What would take us to feel good? When we allow optimism, empathy and love to stay put permanently in our heart, the feel good factor stays in our mind. May be it is not always possible to feel positive. The dark clouds of worry can enter any time. Many an experience that we undergo do have this ‘worry’ component as an integral part of it. We need to dispel those negative feelings we encounter. How do we do this?

Please understand that negative thoughts are created mostly by unreasonable assumptions that we think of. We need to critique those assumptions behind the negative thoughts. Harp at it and question the thoughts without mercy. Use the sword of rationality against it. When you do that, slowly you will observe the negative thoughts vacating your mind. Practice this whenever you feel negative. Let that practice lead to form a habit in you. Then the bliss will stay and you will realize that as nothing but the feel good factor.

Remember to condition your mind with this feeling that bad things will not last long. Take a positive look at those things that are not affected by the bad things. For example, you underwent an accident and had suffered wounds. Yes, you can start worrying that times are not good and you would soon anticipate many similar events to happen. Instead, can you not think that you are only wounded but you are still alive and God willed that you must be alive?. There is a positivity when we think that way. And that will take away the negativity. Another thing to remember is not to indulge in ‘I blame myself’ games. When depression and worries arise, think stronger thoughts that are positive and have the confidence that all negativities are going to pass. It will pass, I promise. Sooner than you think it will.

Remember to create the energy level in you to fight back every setback that you come across. When the mind is strong and positive, setback cannot impact you much. Remember the adage “When the going get tough, it is the tough who get going”

There is one more suggestion that I would want to give. As much as possible, dwell in the company of positive minded people. Shun the negative minded and the ‘nay’ sayers. Never be with them. I remember a story told to me of Pullela Gopichand, the second Indian to have won the All England Open Badminton tournament. It is said that he found his team members were always of the opinion that the Chinese are unbeatable in Shuttle badminton and they often repeated the same during team meetings. It is then that Gopichand made a decision to move away from the company of such players and continued to practice the game with the confidence that he can beat anyone, even if he is Chinese. The result: he beat the reigning World champion who is a Chinese to win the British Open!

The bottom line is very clear. Maintain the positivity, always feel good and have faith in you. You will see that nothing is impossible to achieve. And peace, harmony and happiness will stay with you, forever.