True happiness only exists if it is shared!

Yesterday during the slow winter drizzle, i happened to pass through old Lahore. Underneath the balcony of an old decayed building, there was a dry spot and there lay a question for all humanity. On a worn out rug, wrapped in old and torn warm clothes was an old man. May be it was just the passage of time and the pain it had inflicted that made him old and worn out. But what's so special about this, we see this scene almost everywhere and walk past it. Though our walking past such people is a thought and discussion for some other time, but this man had something different. He was asleep, peacefully asleep even in the state he was in and cuddled with him were dogs! Stray dogs! Peacefully asleep with that man. It was as if all of them had a connection, they were all social rejects, not conforming to our ways and living in a world of their own. They were together and that is what all seemed to matter to them, to them may be we are caged souls not understanding their world of freedom. I wanted to wake him up and know his story but i just couldn't break that moment of peace and togetherness. I was also afraid, not knowing how he and his companions would react to my intrusion. I wanted to know his story, of how he had found rejection and neglect in a world full of humans like him and how he found togetherness and peace with these creatures. May be some other day i will try, i do not know if i will ever succeed to know his story, i am not sure of even seeing him again. Will he ever open up to someone, who is from the other side, the side he has long abandoned or the side that has long abandoned him. I do not know the answers to all these questions but in that moment i learned a lesson, we often take this lesson for granted but at moments like these we truly realize its importance. Whatever we have and no matter how much we have, true happiness only exists if it is shared!

The Search For Happiness...

The sun was slowly dipping below the horizon, completing its journey another time. A cool and refreshing breeze beckoned the arrival of spring, i could feel it calling.Spring is a season of rebirth and of joy, it is a time when life begins afresh. Every soul is touched by the magic of spring but sometimes like a badly bruised wound, even the healing power of spring cannot relieve the soul of its pain.
 Our soul is like a castle with strong brick walls of ego and selfishness, but even in those walls small windows of compassion, love and kindness exist. These windows are the only inlets of the light of happiness and peace. Happiness is like the spring sunshine, bright and full of comforting warmth. Peace is like the scent of flowers in full bloom, serene. These emotions on which are soul thrives, can only find a way beyond the brick walls if the windows are open. They may be present in abundance outside but if we chose to close the windows of our soul, there will only be darkness and decay inside.

 The trouble is that these windows can only be opened from the inside, if we continue to shut them tightly the glass becomes tinted and only the light we want to see can come inside. But happiness should be experienced as a whole and not in parts. When can chose to stay in the dark and keep the windows shut but one day a storm will come along and rattle the windows and shatter the walls. Then happiness will find a way through but only as hope, just a means to rebuild. And yet if we do not value it, there is no castle, no walls and no windows. We cease to exist for our soul is dead! Pain and pleasure become meaningless and there is no differentiation between darkness and light. Before that day comes, open your windows and breathe the fresh air.
Happiness is not something you have to search for outside, you just have to open the windows inside! You can not go looking for it, it will come to you but only if you want it to!