The Happiness Muscle;P

Oh, so the title made you curious?

Good - It should!

Haven't you wondered why is it that sometime we just don't feel sad when everything everyone seems to believe that we should?

No, I am not talking about your Guilty-Pleasure. I am talking about those rare moments when we managed to glimpse the Matrix!

Perhaps we don't always have to be sad when the inevitable happens and maybe we don't need to pretend that what we can't control is just Out-of-control. It's not!

This is kinda hard for me to put in words but I hope that by making you curious about it, you can find your own answer for there is no one-size-fits-all for the Big Questions. But I am starting to believe that Happiness and Success is a State of Mind and we can choose to be happy anytime of the day, any season of our life.

Of course, you see the Buddhist thought-base here but when we really think about it, hasn't this always been the message of each and every religion and philosophical inquiry? That we can choose to be happy, sometimes through passivity and sometimes through activity but it's our choice nevertheless.

To be sure, this realization came to me during these exam-storms that repeatedly strike our peaceful coasts;P 

But, seriously the first time I felt that I don't "have" to feel ashamed regarding a question I don't know the answer to was during the last end-semester exams, especially during the Viva voce. You know My Story, right so it's quite natural that what made me make an escape to the World of Languages would be the same thing that makes me understand what Learning and Being Learned really means!

Why do we learn?

Learning, for me, is a way of self-realization. 

It is to improve our understanding our the world and of ourselves. 

Learning to be employable is more like a certification course, just a small aspect of Learning. Think of it in organic terms. Perhaps these few certification courses are like fruits which make the tree interesting and "useful" for certain things but does it mean that once we have the fruits we are done with the tree. 

Nope, Change is for the living. Growth is for the living. 

During those Viva Voce experiences the only thing is stressed upon is the Guilt of not-knowing! 

Now, should it? I now know for certain that I don't "have" to know something just because people seem to expect me to or 'cos this is the purpose of the course. What I "know" is a matter of my values, my needs and my dreams. 

I know plenty more about Languages than say "Compilers" or "Search Engines" but that's only because Languages sparked my Curiosity whereas the latter ones are based on Utility. So far, I have managed to Live without "Compilers" and use the "Search Engine" just fine! 

But somehow, at that moment. This thought crossed my mind that I don't have to feel Guilty about it - something that this system seems to be founded upon. Learning is meant to be a Magical Experience, not drudgery. I read somewhere that it's not really the fault of the Student that one "failed" to learn but rather the Teacher "failed" to inspire one's curiosity, 

And as funny it may sound, I actually was smiling during the viva voce;P Something that, I am sure, was hilarious to everyone who saw me there hehe.

But, it's not only limited to Learning and Exams et cetera. Rather it is our choice about how we see the world, it's all a matter of perspective and how much should we be willing to go along the "accepted-truth". Are the things really Sad or are they just "supposed" to be sad? 

No matter how helpless and inevitable things seem to be, our greatest strength is to find a meaning and really See what the Matrix presents us with. I believe that my thoughts are still quite unformed on this matter but Victor Frankl seems to have said the same thing about Our Greatest Strength - Choice. 

My Friend, if there is one thing that you should take away from this entire Blog - forget languages, forget all the crazy experiments but please follow through this line of thought. To check out this link to Victor Frankl Institute and learn as much as you can about his life and more importantly his Beliefs about Life.

Strengthen you Happiness Muscle and choose to be Happy.

NOTE - "Compilers" and "Search-Engine" are the easy and still interesting parts;P. However the questions that the education system seems to stress upon are more along the lines of Establishing Hierarchies rather than establishing Curiosity.