God of Small Things…Sprinkle the Seeds of Contentment

It’s been a terrible weekend so far. I have been feeling rather crabby all night. However, I don’t take it out on people when I am in any sort of foul mood. Usually it takes like a few hours for the ill feelings to dissipate. In the meantime, I tend to keep to myself and read stuff.

I once was a naïve little girl who thought herself as an unhappy person. I was painfully trying to calculate the number of instances I felt happy. In a day, there are 24 hours, 18 of which I am awake. So, taking 18 x 7 (days a week), there are potentially 126 hours for me to experience a state of bliss.
When I did the sums, I was appalled to discover that I was greatly lacking in the happiness quotient. Sometimes, I wonder whether I was even happy for 1 full hour in a week.
Was my definition of happiness too unattainable? Or is my life really devoid of mirth?
Upset, I sought to rationalize my perceived predicament.

Then, an accidental encounter with a sage lifted my rain cloud.

Me: I think I am chronically unhappy. Do you think you are a happy person?
Sage: I am neither happy nor unhappy most of the time.
Me: Ah, isn’t it difficult to capture happiness then?
Sage: We can’t experience happiness all the time. In fact, not being unhappy is good enough.
Me: How can it be good enough? (I felt indignant)
Sage: It is. I don’t feel particularly happy, but I feel contented. That in itself is a type of happiness.

A wave of realization hit me. The source of my affliction: I was too greedy.