Perspective The Art of
Happiness
Keep Your Pleasures Mild by Vikram Karve
October 30, 2005
The
primary aim of philosophy and spirituality is to help ordinary people
live a life of happiness, fulfillment and tranquility. Every day you ask
yourself - How do I live a happy life? Is it simple to be happy? What is
the art of happiness? Let us see what the Taoist philosopher Mingliaotse
has to say: The art of attaining happiness consists in keeping your
pleasures mild.
You know that whenever pleasure is present you are happy this is a
fact that cannot be denied for a pleasure is an enjoyable event or
delightful emotion which is bound to make you happy, at least for that
moment.
Highfalutin philosophers and spiritual gurus may prescribe various
impracticable esoteric paths of renunciation, asceticism or sectarian
precepts eschewing enjoyment and pleasure as the sine qua non of
happiness but the fact of the matter is that to the ordinary person
happiness and pleasure are inextricably intertwined.
Discovering enduring pleasures which you can easily and regularly
achieve, realize and enjoy in your day-to-day life will produce
contentment, fulfillment and happiness.
No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but wanton pursuit of pleasures is
counterproductive as it leads to over-indulgence and excesses which
bring with them disturbances which are detrimental to our happiness and
well-being.
In your search for happiness you indulge in extravagant parties,
expensive entertainments and try to enjoy everything at once, instant
gratification by over-indulgence in wining, dining and dancing,
stretching yourself to the maximum limits possible; at first you enjoy
yourself and feel happy but when you come to the point of satiety you
begin to feel a sense of repulsion, and if you overdo yourself, next
morning wake up sick and feeling miserable with a sense of sadness
rather than happiness. Grandiose, complicated, ostentatious and
intemperate indulgences which you think will make you happy , in actual
fact leaves you stressed-out, unhappy and causes you harm in the long
run.
There is no need to overdo things in order to be happy. Just keep your
pleasures mild. Enjoying a simple, tasty and healthy meal with your
loved ones and friends, or just sitting quietly and leisurely reading a
good book, taking a walk enjoying melodious music, enjoying your work,
leisure, hobbies are some mild pleasures which will make you happy and
keep you healthy too.
It is simple to be happy. The first thing you must do is to introspect
and list your most pleasurable activities things that give you true
joy, happiness and satisfaction in all aspects of your life. Make your
list as exhaustive as possible and from this list select those mild
pleasures that you can enjoy every day or often. And then fit them into
your daily routine. See what happens. Experiment. Delete those
pleasures that you thought would give you happiness but actually made
you stressed-out things you think would be satisfying but turn out to
be unrewarding. Do not be hesitant to add new items to your list you
can always remove them if they fail to produce the desired results. Fine
tune and religiously practice your list and experience happiness every
day.
This prescription of keeping your pleasures mild will enable you to
structure your life in way where your happiness will be in your control
and you will find greater joy in your life. It will be feasible and
within your control to ensure that you enjoy these mild pleasures daily
or at least fairly regularly and, with only so many hours during the
day, these enjoyable events will begin to crowd out the neutral,
unpleasant, and irrelevant activities in your daily life and make you
feel fulfilled and happy.
Dear reader, start today and discover the art of happiness. And do let
me know your experience did keeping your pleasures mild make you
happier? And which are your mild pleasures?
Vikram Karve, 49 , ex -
IIT Electronics & Telecom Engineer, educated at Lawrence School Lovedale
and currently located at Mumbai, India loves good food, long
contemplative walks, reading and writing and has a philosophical
approach to life.
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