What Is "happiness"?

“Happiness”

What is it? Is it a feeling or a certain period in our life or a …… what?

All I know is that it does not last forever, it’s fleeting. Almost like a sudden gust of wind on a still silent night, filling you with a warm glow and then in a poof it’s gone.

When I search my past for a particular period when I was happy, I come up with answers I least expect. What I dig out are moments, a couple of seconds or minutes, when I know I have been happy!

Like….

“On one boring day, while coming back from somewhere I was in my car, waiting at the signal. On looking around, I saw few kids playing hide and seek, one of my all-time favorite games. That moment all I wanted was to get out of the car and join them. Yeah, the game was that tempting! J But there was no way I could have just abandoned my car!

I saw one of the kids hide inside a shop. After few lengthy boring minutes of waiting inside and in vain, he decided to come out and see where the seeker is. And the seeker was right outside the shop! I could not have let the kid bring his own demise and get caught, so I kind of frantically waved at him and warned him to stay inside. Understanding my warning, he smiled at me and remained inside.
Then the signal turned green and the car moved forward!”

I don’t remember much of what happened that day except my encounter with that one kid playing hide and seek. That moment, the moment when I frantically waved my hands and asked the kid to remain inside the shop because the seeker was right outside was one of those moments when I truly believe I have felt “happiness”.

Now, if one asks me “What really is happiness!?” I say “Happiness is happiness, a moment of uncontrollable joy! That’s it!”