Often we look around for the secrets of happiness. Everyone wishes to be happy, perhaps every day. Be it in meeting friends, traveling, enjoying a good meal or pursuing hobbies and talents, the search for lasting happiness seems endless.
But, what if you’re told that this is not an elusive search and more than not, it could end within the four walls of your home? What if you’re to be told that one person who can well qualify to be an inspiration in your pursuit is your granny?
A long life with many moments of pain, yet a granny’s face radiates with happiness, be it 7 am or 10 pm. What is granny’s secret? How does an 85-year-old granny smile all the time? How does she find joy in the littlest of things? How can she accept everybody at home and still be happy in their company? Do you remember seeing her unwilling to give or share?
Granny has many secrets, like secret recipes for good health, secret ingredients to treat an ailment and secrets of life too.
Granny’s secret kitty of happiness says, "True happiness lies inside me, not around me.”
Here are her a few more pearls from her kitty of happiness:
Granny’s secret #1: Ordinary things, extraordinary experiences
Granny's happiness curve moves an inch higher as she takes immense pleasure in life’s little gifts. While you keep looking for different, larger-than-life experiences, your Granny is happy with little, everyday things.
You may keep running everywhere and forget that happiness begins with you. Meanwhile, Granny makes the best of her little time. Every ordinary gesture, even a quick hug from a grandchild, becomes an extraordinary experience.
Can you follow Granny's footsteps? Yes. But, only when you realize that your happiness cannot ebb with the tide of time, because you are the source. Being in the moment and valuing the “ordinary” gifts of life makes these extraordinary.
Granny’s secret #2: Acceptance is strength
Granny shares that she doesn't have many expectations. She accepts her family as it is and does not try to control the members for her happiness. She is wise enough to understand that acceptance is the intelligent way of life. She believes in, “Let me be happy, come what may.”
Granny shares another secret: Every time there is a conflict or a disturbing moment, ask yourself, ‘Will this matter after 5 years? If not, then just relax and accept whatever is happening. And change whatever you can. No regrets, no fatigue, no stress,” she reveals.
Granny's secret #3: All of mine is yours
Granny believes in caring and sharing and random acts of kindness. A smile on your face simply delights her, as though your happiness is exactly what she wanted.
“What is mine is definitely yours,” she shares.
Happiness means satisfaction—it means finding calm within, and it comes from making others happy. Granny wants to know if you will share the secret of your success with your colleagues? She says that is sharing, that is service. Granny shares one of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s quotes: “Love in action is service,” and so is happiness.
Granny’s secret #4: Loves meditation
Granny prefers following a pretty disciplined life even at her age.
Every morning, while you tell yourself that it’s going to be an amazing day and it is such a beautiful morning, Granny has already settled for her daily chores, her secret morning routine: she meditates as soon as she gets up.
She explains that meditation removes all her negativity and stress.
“It just makes me look at situations with new hope, new happiness.”
The newness makes her feel more loving her in relationships, she’s ready to let go easily and move forward. “I believe I am happiness and am here to make others happy, to do something good for the world,” she smiles.
While she will be more than happy to teach you meditation techniques, she even shares an online guided meditation that you can access anytime.
If you ask Granny, she’ll say this is the shortest route to happiness:
discovering that you are the source of your happiness. It is revealed to you when you reach that beautiful spot of deep meditative silence.
Granny also often combines her meditation with Sudarshan Kriya.
“I’m completely happy every time I do my practices,” she says, slowly getting up to admire the setting sun.
That’s your granny, filled with pearls of wisdom on happiness, giving you a new beginning, indeed.
