Excuse Me, Are You Happy?

Over the past few days, there have been some articles written on happiness in our local papers. The issue, at hand, is whether Singaporeans are happy. In the first place, how can we tell who is happy and who is not. Can we say that someone is unhappy just because he works 24/7? No. He may be even the happiest person on earth since he is doing what he really enjoys. Can we say that someone is unhappy just because she is a single parent? No one can tell because she may be happier being single than married to an abusive husband.

None of us can assume how happy or unhappy other people are. But, we should know whether we, ourselves are happy. And if we’re not – please do something about it. No one can make us happy except ourselves. But from the tone that I read in those articles, it appeared that these people are asking the Government and policy makers to do something so that they CAN be happy.

I find this so typical of Singaporeans. It is like knowing you’re hungry and yet, expecting others to feed you and if no one does that, you’d rather starved yourself to death rather than look for food. So if you think that you are unhappy, please do some self reflection and do yourself a favour - find ways to make you happy.

For example, if you are unhappy about your job, go look for a new one or do a review on the current job. Maybe, the job that you have is actually not so bad. Change your attitude towards your job. Change your perception about why you are working. Change your perception about life. There are so many things that could be done to make us happy and these are usually simple things that don’t need us to fork out a single cent. The most important one is having a positive mindset. Happiness is, after all, a state of our mind.

There will always be at least 2 ways of looking at events happening in our life. We can look at them either in a negative or positive way. It is always up to us – how we want to look at things. We always have a choice. And being happy is also our choice. If one chooses to be happy, the condition of one’s life should not matter. It does not matter if one lives in a war zone, in a state of poverty or in a peaceful, prosperous environment. It does not matter if one works all day long or loafs around, jobless.

If you are happy with the way things are then hey, you are just happy. No one should be asking you to do things that make you unhappy - just because they assume that those other things that make them happy will make you happy. One man’s happiness could be another man’s misery.

Having said that, I am not going to suggest any ways to make you happy – because I am sure, you know what makes you happy and whether you are leading a happy life. (I hope you are.) Of course, some may ask what about those who pretend to be happy when they are actually not. If such people exist, I feel sorry for them but who am I to actually judge these people – maybe they are happy pretending they are happy! And if I really want to find out whether they are happy – I just need to ask “Excuse me, are you happy?”