Finding the 'Bluebird of Happiness'

In Maeterlinck's celebrated children's play, a young brother and his sister set out to find the "Bluebird of Happiness." They look for the bird in every nook and corner carrying a cage to put it in. The birds they catch turn out to be not really blue. Some birds they catch die on their way giving them a feeling of unhappiness.

After spending a few weeks in the nearby forest looking for the "Bluebird of Happiness", they begin their homeward journey. They look at each other not knowing what they should do.

They return home only to be greeted by the singing of the "Bluebird of Happiness". They find the bird very attractive and really blue!

This is only a popular parable to show that your happiness is not lying in a far away place but in yourself. As a matter of fact, human beings do everything to achieve happiness.

The degree of happiness may vary from person to person. A bank robber who gets away with Rs. 1 million is unhappy until he is in possession of Rs. 25 million. A beauty queen in your city may not be happy until she is crowned Miss World or Miss Universe.

We can think of many other instances where individuals never achieve complete happiness. As a well-known psychologist once said you could be extremely happy, but complete bliss is beyond reach.

All of us have plans for the future. However, a life littered with abandoned plans is not usually a happy one. Although we cannot put every plan into action, we can see that some of them succeed.

As the popular saying goes, it is never too late to start something you desire. At 70 John Stuart Mill began to learn Greek. Some time ago there was a 65-year-old student learning French at the Alliance Francaise de Colombo. But most of us keep on postponing certain things we desire to do until better times arrive.

Difficulties and temporary setbacks are the main hurdles we have to clear in the path of progress. Difficulties, in whatever form they appear, toughen your fibres. Have you ever heard of sisal from which string is made. It gives plenty of fibre when it is grown on rocky soil. But if you grow it in a fertile soil, it will provide very little fibre.

Likewise, if you are ordinarily a "soft" character, the chances of winning the life's battles are very remote. If you are a "toughie", you are likely to win the race. As the old sage says, trees do not have strong roots in countries where there are no storms, because they can survive without them.

Whoever who wants to find that "Bluebird of Happiness" will have to surmount six hurdles. They are lack of opportunity, money, knowledge, good health coupled with family problems. The last hurdle is death for which we cannot do anything. But we can do something to get over the other hurdles.

Lack of opportunity is a myth. People who succeed in life never wait for the right opportunity. They just grab whatever opportunity they comes their way and use it as a launching pad. Even lack of money may not be a serious problem if you are a little more imaginative. A boy who could not follow a good course in English once attended a night school where the education was almost free. He excelled in his studies and finally became a lecturer in English.

Numerous methods have been tried out in the past to achieve happiness which is elusive most of the time. With the rapid modernising most of the developed and developing countries have faced the pressures of living.

For instance, psychological counselling centres have sprung up in most of the countries to relieve stress of modern living. Even the Chinese are reported to be turning to psychological counselling in a big way.

In Nanjing alone there are about 60 phycological counselling centres which try to help relieve workers of stress. Some centres offer a "dial-a-friend" service. If this does not work, you can rent a "friend" with whom you can spend a day or two. Ultimately, such "friends" become sexual partners leading to other social problems.

The Eve Psychological Counselling Centre in Nanjing now provides a novel method of relieving stress. At this centre a customer can rent a room and beat a wooden mannequin or a rubber dummy until he gets over his stress.

In Sri Lanka too Sumithrayo and a few other organisations are trying to help people who are undergoing stress to unhappiness. The population explosion coupled with lack of job opportunities has led to the present predicament. One glaring example of social unrest can be seen in universities which have turned out to be hotbeds of rivalry among student factions.

Most of today's undergraduates are no longer interested in research and development of their mental faculties. They know that collecting a degree from any university will not take them anywhere. So the unhappy students revolt and the police teargas and baton charge them making them more and more unhappy and militant.

Even in developed countries like the United States of America, people have realised the necessity of leading a simple life style than relentlessly pursuing material targets. In order to lead a simple life you have to cut down waste and use your physical and mental capacities to the full.

However, this does not mean that you should throw away the washing machine and start cleaning your dirty linen by hand. Even if you do so, the chances are that you will spend some time exercising your muscles which might lead to metal happiness and ultimately longer life. Physical involvement in anything is bound to make you happy.

Time is ripe for us to face the challenge of simplifying our overly complicated and wasteful lives. Those who lead simple lives do not have to go hunting for the "Bluebird of Happiness". They will find happiness within themselves.