"The Happy Trouble - Life"

Ever lived a city life? I am sure yes.

Living in a city could be a dream for many, as for this young man who always believed that getting educated finding suitable work for himself will eventually lead him to a happy life. Happy-life is not just a syndrome or a dream, but a chase for many individuals and we spend a lifetime to just get it right.

So, this young man while pursuing goals for himself and his family, was internally not feeling right about it. One question that kept nagging him was "What is the purpose of his life, and what is the right way to live”, and correctly so as no one likes to be wronged these days. We all want to be right and prove it as well to ensure we can make a point that we are smarter than the others. He was not only directionless but at war with his value systems, cultural beliefs, many unseen gods, ethics, and when you are at war with yourself there is no peacetime.

He decided that brooding over this question won’t get him anywhere, so he took a break and went in search of this fundamental question. He kept moving from one place to another in search of an answer to his question and finally reached a village far from his home to seek an answer to his question. There he met a villager who told him to go meet an old wise man who is living on the outskirts of the village, he was not only successful but is also the happiest man in the village and therefore will be able to guide him.

The wise man was surprised to see him as he hardly had visitors in the past and asked him the reason to come. The young man said I want to know:

“What is the purpose of my life, and what is the right way to live”

The wise man said, there are many ways to do it however your answer is on the other side of the large flowing river in the village and he must reach there to eventually find out how to lead his life and attain the purpose that he is seeking. He also said, there are three different paths to be on the other side and all of them are in different directions so he should choose wisely.

 The man started his journey from the nearest available path, as he thought it will be easiest for him to reach. At some distance he found a huge rock blocking the way forward, it looked way too heavy for him to move. So, he decided to go back and look for the second path leading him to the other side. However, as he moved on the second path, he found a lot of snakes blocking his way. Frightened he changed the course and decided to opt for the third path. On his way forward he saw the path is leading him back to a large flowing river where the water current was highest and there is no way he could swim it. He saw a huge log of tree around and an old ax near the tree. He spent hours trying to cut the log so that he can use it but failed.

Furious and irritated he went back to the old man and asked him “why you have sent me to paths that you know won’t lead me to my answers. How will I learn to lead my life towards a purpose like this?

The old man replied, that you just missed the opportunity to learn how to lead your life yourself on all those paths I have sent you. What? The young man asked. The old man said the obstacles you faced were the opportunities, that instead of dealing with you kept moving to different paths assuming the next one would be easier than the previous.

At first, when you felt you were stuck because of a rock, all you had to was to try to make a push with all your energy. Yes, it looked quite impossible to do very similar to many of our problems in life, but at times all we have to attempt. There is always a possibility that we can overcome the problem we are facing. Instead of getting out of the comfort zone in mind and doing something about it, you chose to stay within the zone and moved in a different direction because it was easy at that time.

Then, you saw snakes, and instead of thinking about navigating your way you changed your direction again. Snakes were like all the negativity and fear around us, how many times you have not taken necessary actions because you were thinking about how it will be perceived by others, especially if you fail. You wanted to reach your purpose and learn how to live it right, but you were not ready to avoid the toxicity around in your mind. All you had to was to think about how to move forward by avoiding those snakes. It is okay to ignore some people, some energies, some thoughts, some actions because it can alter your direction in life. A poisonous mind is very difficult to heal, so learn to let go of things that are adding negative thoughts in your life before you are infected too.

On your final path, you saw the river and you thought there is no way you could swim. So, you tried to cut the log with an old ax, but my dear you cannot make new inroads with old skills in life. You need to re-skill and re-sharpen yourself so that you are constantly ready for new challenges in life. Your old skills like that old ax could not deliver new results for you. So, all you had to do was spend time making efforts in sharpening that ax instead of using it as a hammer on that log. If you were able to spend half the time in the right direction, it would have led to you the right results.

The wise man said, so basically, the purpose of our life is to understand that we all have our unique ways to lead life, and is to know that we have the power to choose as well. We all are leading our lives on different paths like you just did, and that is not important at all. The importance is to know what you are supposed to be doing at a particular time which eventually will lead you in the right direction. Making a decision is easy, but not all of us are ready to live the outcome of those decisions. Learn to live with the experience of your actions without ignoring the fact that you made that decision for whatever reasons maybe. It possibly will bring you to peace with yourself and near to experience happiness.

• Make efforts during challenging situations.
• Ignore negative beliefs & energy.
• Navigate Through Failures.
• Learn & Re-Learn new skills.
• Seek Support and Expertise.

I hope this article will be able to be of some good for you, and it possibly will motivate you and will lead you in the right direction. Wishing you, your families, and near ones a safe, healthy, and joyful journey of life.

Thank you

MS