Making everyone happy in whatever ways we can
What is our role in making others happy? What can we do to make everyone around us, happy to the extent possible?
These are some very basic questions, and it is quite easy to find out answers to them, based on our life experiences. We can indeed make a big difference by making others happy.
The first and most important thing that we need to understand is that merely giving money to someone does not make him or her happy. Much would depend on our intent, and the purpose, the larger emotional issues that surround such giving.
For instance, it is quite easy to collect a lot of used clothes and give it to the neighboring orphanage. However, what will really make them happy is to offer our services to coach a student preparing for the public examination, free of cost, in mathematics. This is sometimes done in some places. One has the see the happiness of those who receive such free coaching.
Similarly a word of praise for the servant maid and then a cup of hot coffee given to her, makes her so happy. She will never relish the coffee if one were to pick holes in whatever work she does.
Similarly, subordinates do not respect bosses who merely dole out merit payments -- the annual rewards for hard work --- and deny promotion. The bosses need to understand that recognition and achievement make a person more happy than anything else. The professionally managed organizations know this very well. For example, they organize monthly Kaizen awards and these are distributed in huge functions, where everyone claps for every single award received. The entire function is captured on video, and the photographs are uploaded on the company website. Imagine the happiness of his family members in understanding that their father has been rewarded for some good work by the organization concerned. These are some things that make people very happy.
It is positively not just motivation, particularly the kind of which is normally understood in organizations. It is a different ball game, that spreads happiness very much wide and reaches a very big cross section of people.
In the very small town I live at the moment, the district collector had attended a wedding some months ago, and was aghast to find irregular parking of vehicles and the huge traffic jams that followed. He went back to his office, and the next thing he ordered was the widening of roads on both sides, and the removal of all encroachments. He had the guts to nullify the political opposition to his initiative. What really matters is the happiness that comes when such action is really taken.
Today, the roads are much wider, they have been relaid and the traffic is now much faster than ever before. Not a single day passes, when the district collector is praised by a large number of people. Some two decades ago, a series of severe action taken by one district collector, brought about huge changes in a town called Tiruchirapalli, a big town in Central Tamil Nadu. We should learn from such examples. .
Secondly, we can chip in with some inquiries about the welfare of children, their higher education and so on. Even strangers feel happy when we talk matters close to their heart. In Government hospitals, for example, a little bit of guidance as to where one can get the medicines or the medical tests done, is something that makes people happy. We just need to understand the range of facilities available.
Thirdly, as far as happiness is concerned, we need to explore ways in which this can be done. By building on existing cultural practices, for example, it can be done to some extent. In Tamil Nadu, in each of the temples there is a big annual festival, where the religious practices mesh so well with religious activities. The elders have found out a mechanism to keep everyone happy during such occasions. A huge amount of money is collected from every one who is rich, and smaller donations from every one. With this money, a fairly good amount of "prasad" is distributed to every single person who visits the temple that particular day, and in the afternoon, there is community feeding.
In certain places, in the evening, some cultural program is organized, so that the people who come from far off places spend their time usefully and then go back to their places the next day morning.
The trick is to enlarge the scope of these cultural and religious practices.
Fourthly, while it is true that what makes a person happy differs from person to person.man craves to make money, in whatever way he can. He then needs a very peaceful ecosystem in which this can be done. Some wise men and women have understood the importance of the physical environment, for man to seek this peace, in pursuit of his or her happiness.
Several public places are simply decorated with trees and plants of a huge kind, and this makes anyone happy. In particular, one has to witness the reality of this in beautiful towns like Pollachi near Coimbatore, or in Bangalore, which possibly has such excellent places. It is quite true that gardens can offer the human mind, some solace and happiness.
The yoga and the art of living movements, are doing an excellent job of spreading the happiness moments. It is also true that when the mind becomes calm, people are very happy. There is a big constructive proof of this happening in the real world. We all need to be alive of these kinds of alternatives to make as many people, happy as possible. Certain cheaper versions of yoga, where the persons concerned do not have to spend so much, are also available and we need to help people to be able to access these channels too.
It should be noted that what is happiness to someone is not to someone else. We all need to be aware of the numerous ways in which happiness can be spread. When this is done, we can add life to our years, instead of years to our life, and that of others.
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