“I remember when we were young / You love chatting / I love smile / Once we sat side by side under the peach / With wind blowing and bird chirping / We fell asleep unconsciously / How many fallen flowers in the dream ” In childhood, we owed our happiness simply to the game of picking the bird nest on the tree or the “stone-scissor-cloth” game. In our youth, with some unspeakable little secrets lurking in our heart, we only loved to share with our closest friends. We tasted sorrow’s flavors in our young days, but the gentle sorrow, which might be nothing but a trick played to attract others’ eye, was easy to disappear in the wind and replaced by the joy of growing. When we finally reached the middle age, we found to our sadness that happiness became so complicated, utilitarian and difficult. Frustration in work, trivia in life and romantic entanglement brought us more complaints, discontentment and even fury. Happiness, for us, seemed to be greatly serious. On reflection of marriage, house-warming and promotion, have we really felt happy? Have we cherished the happy moment or have we fallen again into greater discontentment after enjoying the transient happiness?

We couldn’t help mediating on what on earth is happiness and why we feel happy.

Someone says happiness lies in your acquisition. Then why are there large crowds who don’t feel happy even with so much wealth? My friend, Xiao Hui, whose husband had easy fortune, is envy of many people. But she told me she didn’t feel happy because those rich ladies in the same social circle possessed much more estate. The ancients said, “Not pleased by external gains, not saddened by personal losses”. The saying warns us not to be sad or happy about gains or losses. The real happiness does not come from worldly possessions.

We should not base our happiness on the sorrow of others, nor do we count on happiness from others. One of my girl friends, Xuan, fell in love with a man. She was pleased by his happiness and saddened by his sadness. In this way, she couldn’t control her own happiness by handing the right to feel it to others, thus losing herself. Was she still in high favor with that man? The sense of happiness, which should be a positive and optimistic manner of life, is penetrated in daily life and has an influence on personal character and life development. Life is full of ups and downs. It is inevitable that sometimes we may feel disappointed or frustrated. At this time, the only control to which we can bring is our inner mind. We can make it filled with power and ability to feel happy. We can extricate ourselves from the state of depression by treating ourselves to some joyance. If, at this moment, your relatives or friends are willing to help you out of trouble, you will feel happier, for love and care from relatives, friends and lovers is the most valuable in the world. I remember those two years when my boyfriend and I had just got work before we made several removals and lived houses of different styles. With the faint light of happiness brightening up the windowless room, our little house was decorated simply but warmly. In the morning he would ride a bike to send me to school before work and in the evening I would wait for his coming with a pan of porridge cooked on the simple induction cooker. We led a hard time in those days, but our romantic love was full of sweetness and joyance. Home, is not a beautiful garden villa, but a power of love holding families together closely. Where there is love, there is home and happiness.

It suddenly dawned on me that the real happiness lies in the sensation of the unity of man and nature and our interior abundance. Happiness comes from inside mind from which it starts.