Who makes you happy?

After writing about a stone being happier than a man, we have to complete the picture. The question put to me was “Where does happiness come from?” And a finger was pointed at me: I make someone happy. Mmm… Yes, it’s true. We do things for others and this produces a certain joy in another, maybe. It depends on the giver and the receiver. Sometimes I have given charity and it was resented because it wasn’t “enough”! Sometimes I have not and it has been resented, too. Sometimes what I have given has been accepted graciously. So a transaction depends on both sides.

But I had to ask, “What is the origin of joy or happiness as a human experience?” “Where does it occur?” I have an intention, I wish someone well, and they reject it. Am I wrong? No, the other person or the situation was wrong perhaps. Let’s say my intention was OK. I perform an action, like giving someone a smile. This action is seen as nice, and so joy supposedly ensues in the other person. But where does this “joy” come from?

I say it is a human experience and is therefore a product of the human mind, or something even beyond the normal mind, and the human in question is the one experiencing the joy. This joy or happiness comes from within the person experiencing it. Fortuitous circumstances may trigger it, a beautiful landscape may elicit it, someone may do something nice and provoke it… someone may even do something nice to a third party and you see it and you experience gladness. Whatever happens, it comes from within the experiencer, the perceiver. That’s where human happiness comes from. From within.

So the question is: do you want to wait for “circumstances to coincide”, or for someone to do something nice, or do you want to take control of your self and generate it yourself? The yogi generates it herself. Ask Ms. Tao Porchon-Lynch, 97 year-old yoga master and activist, above.

Or Yogmata Keiko Aikawa, below, world peace campaigner, both of whom took part at the Yoga for SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), UN International Day of Yoga, on the eve of June 21st 2016, broadcast live from the ECOSOC Chamber, UN Headquarters, New York via webtv.un.org.