Take action – A Perspective on Happiness & Pleasure

By Smitha Pillai

This perspective in this article is subjective as everyone will have their own definitions for happiness.
It is a internal blissful state of mind without anxiety, sadness, painful emotional thoughts and it can be maintained long term with conscious living. Thus we become part of this universe and treats human man kind with affection and love.

On the other hand, pleasure is derived by doing activities we like/by achieving something or seeking something. But it may be short lived and is unstable. One is never content with one form of pleasure and pleasure seeking is never-ending which can turn addictive too.

Often we mistake between pleasure and happiness .One can find pleasure in something and at same moment be unhappy. While seeking pleasure, we can be selfish and be more centered towards materialistic things, ourselves and our families. So when a crisis or separation happens it takes longer to heal as they feel more isolated and lonely and are unable to accommodate anything outside the circle of their family or themselves.

It can be considered a form of dependence and slavery. The pleasure is so derived from attaching oneself to external things and human beings ,when one is lost, it is replaced by another and so on. We came into this world all alone and empty handed and when we go back, we have to go empty hands and alone. But we are trying to make ourselves attached emotionally and physically with each and everything.

We are so oblivious of the sun which gives us light and energy. We forget the beautiful flowers which smells so nice. The plants which give us food. The birds chirping, the butterflies and bees hovering around the flowers. All the small creatures and animals around us. They are all part of this world and universe and we are not all alone. Once we start accepting them into our family, we will never feel loneliness and need to find external pleasure too much.

Nowadays people go for drugs, alcohol, and other partners for finding pleasure and in-turn happiness. But they are pulling themselves more towards misery and dependency and ultimately lose control of their own lives. This is a form of slavery.

How can we derive happiness from slavery?

Now a days freedom is often misused and young adults enjoy freedom from substance use.
They are infact imprisoned in their own minds. Happiness and freedom are used interchangeably by us.

Happiness ends where freedom ends but freedom ends when our own internal resources go out of our own control.