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The trick of happiness
101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting, Ernie J. Zelinski, Macmillan India Ltd, pp 226, Rs 295.00
It is said that history repeats itself. Many situations in which we find ourselves today tend to be similar to the ones experienced sometime in the past. The characters may change, the stage may alter but the plot and the drama seem all too familiar nevertheless. Through each of the scenes we get to learn several important concepts of life that we may have learned several times earlier but which we keep forgetting. Many a times we may have resolved, ?I will get my act together one day and stop repeating the same mistake again and again,? but we forget many of the life lessons that we have learned over the years and keep on forgetting the events. Or is it that we act out of emotions and not by exercising our intellect? For a fulfilling life, it is necessary to know which situations to avoid and which principles to follow.
Ever since man developed the ability to reason and explore, he has searched for the big secrets ? what is the meaning of life? Why are we here on Earth? Who are we? Where did we come from? What is the purpose of life? What happens after death? Why should we die? Why should we take birth if we have to die? In trying to get to the bottom of this mystery called ?life?, we find the mystery getting deeper and deeper, no matter how deep we delve or explore.
The author of this book is a leading authority on early retirement and solo entrepreneurship and advises that if we want to reduce the existential angst in our life, we have to give up our self-adopted role as a chief investigator of what makes the Earth tick. No amount of brooding on the meaning of life can take us anywhere. It is better to enjoy all that life has to offer because by committing the mistake of pursuing the meaning of life in search of an answer will get us nowhere. What we need to do is to live life. Rita Mac Brown has said, ?I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.?
The point I consider most important is that instead of finding the seven secrets to living happily ever after, live life today, in the present; no past, no future. Most important is our present-day happiness.
?M.G.
(Macmillan India Ltd, 2/10 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002.)
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