By Dilip Saraf

An auditorium-full of people from all walks of life had gathered to hear a famous philosopher on how to be happy in their lives. After his talk he asked each person in the audience to get a name tag and put their name on it so that they could introduce themselves to others as they all shuffled into a large gathering hall, with enough room for everyone in the audience to move around, introduce themselves to others, and engage in a brief conversation. As this was going on one of the organizers handed a yellow balloon and a marking pen to each participant. This was called Happiness Balloon and pretty soon every one was holding one, with a marking pen in their hand.

The philosopher took to the mike again and told the standing audience that since they had come to hear him talk about how to find their happiness, he told them that each person now holding their balloon was holding a secret to their happiness. Then he asked them each person to write their name on the balloon they were holding with large letters to make it easy for them to find their balloon when they were all asked to carry and leave them in an adjacent room, where everyone was standing.

Pretty soon, the adjacent room with glass walls was packed with all the yellow balloons with each participant’s name. The philosopher then asked the audience to into the room, a few at a time, and to find their own Happiness Balloon with their name on it. After struggling for a while, the audience realized that this was an impossible task. People simply could not navigate through the crowded room packed with balloons to find their own Happiness Balloon, no matter how hard they tried and how long they struggled.

After some time the philosopher got on the mike again and asked his audience what the problem was. Everyone shouted almost in unison, This is an impossible task! We cannot find our own Happiness Balloon!!

The philosopher then asked the audience to go into that room filled with Happiness Balloons and randomly pick a balloon with anyone’s name. He then asked them to come out of that room and to give that balloon to the person whose name they were able to track from the nametags everyone was now wearing. Within a just few minutes everyone was holding their own Happiness Balloon, with a smile on their face!

As everyone was standing in the hall with a smile on their face, holding their own Happiness Balloon, the philosopher reminded his audience: We just learnt how difficult it is to find your happiness on your own. But, it is much easier when you find and give someone else’s happiness to them first; you’ll get yours in turn.

Moral: If you want to be happy, instead of chasing your own illusive happiness, try finding it for someone else and make them happy first. You’ll get yours in turn!

This Happiness Balloon idea was adapted from an email I received from my class Yahoo Group!