Don’t Worry Be Happy | Flash Post 433

Bobby McFerrin sang:
Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy…

We all have worries, Button, but the art of being happy despite all odds is a mindset only few exercise.

Are you talking about someone in particular?

About Mahesh, the man who has been doing the civil work at our place.

What about him? How can you tell he’s happy?

He could be carrying a bagful of worries on his frail shoulders but the grin I see on his skeletal bespectacled face every time I come face to face with him makes me take a step back in wonderment!

Is that proof enough that he is happy? Though I too often wonder how those like Mahesh have a smile on their faces at all leave aside all the time!

Who knows! He could be having a family here or back home and could be providing for them besides providing for himself.  Perhaps he has debts to pay off. He could be having ailing parents back home or children who are going to school whose fees need to be paid. But this guy seems to be made of some magical stuff. There are others doing other work in the house as you may have noticed but Mahesh with his mop of disheveled salt and pepper hair and signature grin exposing just a few yellow tobacco-stained teeth stands out. His stained work-clothes hang loose on his skeletal frame but the quality of his work is so meticulous that it’s a pleasure just to watch him chip away at plaster on walls that need repair and waterproofing. Once in a while when I pass by and our eyes meet, his face always breaks into a wide grin. And I can only smile back.

What is happiness and how do you grab it and make it your companion?

In my good morning messages to my sister in Kolkata who sees grey skies every moment of her life, I often send quotes like: “Happiness is having a husband who is also your best friend” or “Happiness is a journey, not a destination” or “No medicine cures what happiness can’t “ or “If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.” or “Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things” or “Think of all the beauty around you and be happy” to give her a peek into how she could use one of these crutches to find some happiness once in a while and enjoy life but she sees it as mundane. I send her jokes, songs we loved and sang in our childhood, walk down memory lanes and talk about the great times we had growing up but it is only momentary. I make her laugh but that is also fleeting. The one thing I have figured is that she’s a disgruntled person by nature and has chosen to see nothing good or bright in anything. But I keep trying.

From what I observed when she was here was a happy, bubbly and warm lady.

I would think so but what we project of ourselves and who we actually are are strange bedfellows.

Meaning?

What we appear to outsiders is usually very different from who we really are. Hidden behind that cheerful facade—and I am talking about Mahesh—could be anger, anxiety, frustration, angst, hopelessness and helplessness but he has managed to coat all of that with his sunshine smile. Maybe his happiness comes from the meticulous work he does and the praise he hears from his employer.

He hasn’t come to work today.

You should have seen the unhappiness in his tone and the smile disappear from his face when I told him that he should take the day off because of Labour Day.

Why?

Because he wants to work, I presume. Work could be a companion that makes him happy despite his worries to manifest itself in his smile.

Makes sense.