Travelogues and Almost Everything Else!

My Thoughts, experiences and .....

Saturday, April 07, 2007

What did you say? Success?

So what finally am I looking for from life? Is it excitement? Is it comfortable living? Is it relationships? Power? Money? Societal honour?
Its probably about sustained happiness. Life brings you a great deal of repetitions.. you do your work, you get back to the same home, you meet the same people and then take a break with some folk you know in the weekend. For sustained happiness then, you will need to enjoy those repetitive things that you do day in and day out.

For me, and for most folks that I know, its the small things that happen in the day. Maybe its the nice breakfast that you had, maybe its that hug that you got from your mom, it could be the chat you had with some old relative you connected with recently. It surely is about the people around you that make you smile, its about the mountains about you that make you feel that you are at home, the music that keeps you humming all day. I really dont know who would feel hugely happy on the first of every month to see $20,000 in his account.. maybe for the first time, maybe for the second, but its not possible every time. There are some who want that splendid sofa... I put the same question here.. would you feel happy when u sit on that sofa for the millionth time?
What then is the place of money in this whole system? I think its a means to an end. Without money, there is no question of coming home after work and smiling at anybody if you dont have money to educate your kid, or a reliable decent home to protect yourself. And that, basically, is all it can give us. Once these necessities have been taken care of, it does not make any further sense to make sacrifices in order to earn more.
I have divided my life into a few zones that are important to me.. relationships, work and my personality . I have heard many people point to an acquaintance whose driver takes him around town in a Camry, and say "Look, Thats Success". Sorry, but I beg to differ. I think what they are referring to is Success at Work. Do you even know if that man is happy? Do you have any idea if he has succeeded in Life?