We love to look up all the statistics about happy places or countries. According to a survey reported by BBC Denmark is the happiest country in the world. This kind of survey is most of the time useless because the chosen criteria are entirely subjective and not by the real concept of happiness. Let’s go with the trend and say Denmark is the happiest place in the world. How is that? What are the people doing to be happy? If we move there, we will suddenly be happy too? There are so many questions, but we have to understand that we cannot choose happiness through places, people or material things.

If we want to choose happiness, it would be very difficult or even impossible. There are so many questions we have seen or heard about happiness, and it is so much confusion that happiness is becoming more like a dream than a reality. Happiness cannot be found, chosen or given. Happiness is a state of being that we have it from the beginning, from the moment of our conception. We were happy as a fetus or as a baby. Later in life, we have been deceived and made to believe that happiness is something that we need to acquire. Then, we start searching for it hoping to find it in some place, some country, some continent or we could find it when we accumulate material goods, or even when we become attached and addicted. Everything mentioned above is nothing but merely a distraction and not the path to happiness. Since we have been born with the seed of happiness inside us, there is no need to search for it outside. We only have to remember the seed and grow it into a beautiful flower. That is happiness.

Let’s hear a story about a good place to live.

There were a man and his son taking care of their sheep outside a small town. One day a man walked by, and he was asking the shepherd how are the people in that town because he wanted to find a new place to live. The shepherd reply with a question.”How are the people in the town you used to live?” The man happily said that people in his old town are fantastic, very happy and friendly. Unfortunately, he had to move because there were no more jobs and life became tough. Then, the shepherd said that the people in his town are the same and he will be pleased here. The traveler was happy to hear that and enthusiastic he moved on.

Not far behind was another man who asked the shepherd the same question and of course, the shepherd answered asking him about his village. This time that man said that in his town people are very selfish and corrupt, even evil and that is the reason he wanted to leave that place. The shepherd said that in his town people are just the same. Then, angry, the man left thinking to find another place. The shepherd ‘s son was bewildered and he asked his father why is he lying? At least one of his answers was not correct. The shepherd replies. “You see my son, kind, happy people will find any place pleasant and will make friends anywhere, while the angry and selfish men will always be unhappy and find faults in any town or villagers. This simple story speaks for itself. Happiness is not a place or people around but a state of our inner-being.