Happiness is only real when shared

March 29, 2012 I thought never realized how true this really is until a few minutes ago. I just finished watching “Into the Wild” again. Truly inspiring, yet very sad movie. That one line at the end as he writes it in the book really got to me. Maybe because I was watching this alone and had no one to share the experience with or maybe just because it is true.

The wild, if you have never been watching, is very awesome. Even if you are not that far away from civilization but just far enough to feel, enjoy the beauty. I some time take for granted what we have here. I enjoy travelling and being friendly with the natur anytime I got the chance to do so and just realized, what a great place we live in. Beauty is all around us for us to enjoy.

Alone.

 "Happiness is not real unless shared" is a sentence written by Chris McCandless shortly after he made this realization, having spent a long time trying to get away from people. By the time he wrote this, it was too late. I have not (yet) read the book, so I couldn’t say how true the film is to the true story of Christopher McCandless. I will make sure that I do read/hear it in the near future.

It is difficult to be alone. It is more difficult to become alone. In order to be alone, we have to remove ourself from people, which is what Chris do in Into the Wild. He decides to forsake his family, his friends, his culture, his lifestyle, almost everything just to go be alone in the woods. He tests his independence by cutting himself off from all that is somewhat dependable. But think about it, the very fact that we are alive right now depended (and even still depends) upon someone else deciding to take care ofus, willing us to live from the beginning.

We aren’t meant to be alone. It isn’t good for us to be alone. That’s why we long to have relationships with people. We can be alone and be happy, because we only cutting ourself off from people is if we are determined that it will bring us happiness. But it seems to me that the only real happiness I’ve felt is when I have been satisfied with where I am and have been able to overcome thinking about myself in order to enjoy the presence of others.

When we want something in life, we just gotta reach out and grab it. If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed. People just need to change the way they look at things.

The important thing that I learned from my life so far is, when we pass a certain stage of our life, we do not have all the information we need at those moments. We need others to share their experience and guidance; so that we can avoid the mistakes they made and make new mistakes, which others can avoid in the future. We as a member of society has responsibility to share our knowledge and experience with others so that others can do the same and people can learn from each other and grow personally and professionally.

I want to make it clear to those who just live a happy life and do not share their experience so that others can have a successful life too. Just open up your heart; share your experience and tell young people what made you successful. Your life will be celebrated long after you are gone because the knowledge you will share will only grow in coming days from one person to another person, and you will become larger than life and role model for many youths.

I’ve realized that the greatest part of my joy comes from taking my mind off enjoying the people around me. Alone, I can only wallow in my shortcomings and broken dreams. When I’m with others, I don’t have time to think about the past and the future, only my present happiness. I have heard a lot of people say that they want to “get away” and “just enjoy creation”. People are part of that creation. The world wouldn’t be complete without people in it. This year of my life wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t have Earth Lodge. I am so thankful that I wasn’t able to cut myself off completely from my friends because then I wouldn’t be able to appreciate the great and beautiful things that are happening in and through their lives. So I wholeheartedly agree with the note in Chris McCandless’ book. Happiness is only real when shared.

If you want to be happy, be. ~Leo Tolstoy

I thank Allah s.w.t. for all the praise of this HAPPINESS in this life...and to be shared with others for real...