Happiness

Achieving Happiness
The question as to what I live for cropped up in me at a young age. It was perhaps drivenby my humble beginnings, being born in a Kampung in a remote Island (Langkawi in the 1950s, with poor transportation accessibility was considered remote) and going through difficult financial circumstances during the school days in a big family. I thought I lived to contribute to society. My interest in agriculture was largely motivated by a desire to be equipped with the necessary skills to assist the rural community where poverty was prevalent and daily activities revolved around cultivating the soil, tending the fruit trees, tapping rubber, planting paddy, feeding the few chickens and goats. That was the dream of a fourteen or fifteen year old boy, who then studied very hard to succeed and aimed to pursue his studies at the then College of Agriculture, upon graduation, to get a government job and work in the rural areas to uplift the economic status of the people. A very noble ambition and dream.

It was the scouts that sowed the seed of happiness in me. I joined the scouts at the age of fourteen and was active for more than three years, taking part in various activities like camping, cooking, swimming, trekking etc and rose up in the hierarchy to the level of Bushman Tong. All involvements and actions of a scout are guided by the Scout’s Promise and Laws which provide the fundamental ingredients for fulfilling, meaningful and enjoyable living. A Scout, through the Laws, is taught to be trustworthy, loyal, friendly and considerate, a brother to all despite their race, religion and status, courageous, kind to animals, cheerful, thrifty, clean in thought, word and deed. Happy Living has to start with the basic – decent and honest living, love for your fellow men and nature and helping people. Scouting also implanted in me my love for the outdoors and nature.

Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Scouting Movement shared his own philosophy on happiness. In his book “Rovering to Success’ he wrote ‘we were put into this world of wonders and beauty with a special ability to appreciate them, in some cases to have the fun of taking a hand in developing them, and also being able to help other people instead of overreaching them and through it all to enjoy life – that is TO BE HAPPY’. He went on to identify health as the key to happiness. In a letter to the scouts, before he passed away, he noted:

‘I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn’t came from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so can enjoy life when you are a man’

As one gropes to understand and discover the meaning and intricacies of living, the education process that one goes through, particularly reading, provides opportunities of learning from past peers and their experiences in the many faceted aspects of life.

It was during my tertiaty education in the United States with the reading materials that I had at my disposal in terms of diversity of subject matter and numbers available in the university libraries, that I was exposed to, among other things, to the philosophy of life – how to live, the purpose of living and factors contributing to success in life.

In my search for the purpose of life it was Lin Yutang, through his book ‘The Importance of Living’ who provided the ingredients for my odyssey for happiness which, according to the author, is what we live for. To achieve happiness one does not require material wealth or expensive activities but simple daily happenings such as lying in bed, sitting in chairs, conversing with friends, having food, being with loved ones at home, tilling the garden, walking in the park, reading and contemplation bring joy and pleasure. He wrote.

‘A happy person is a warm, carefree, unafraid soul ……………… and his happiness covers the enjoyment of self, of home life, of trees, of flowers, of clouds, winding rivers…….. poetry, art, contemplation, friendship, conversation and reading……. enjoyment of food and outing ……… must structure one’s life to achieve greatest happiness’

Happiness starts with the home – the joy of being with the wife, children and grandchildren, the joy of having other family members – brothers, sisters–in law, nephews and nieces, having friends and neighbors dropping by and having conversations.

In an extended family there are some who may not be strong financially while others may require emotional support. It is satisfying to be able to provide assistance to tide them over through both financial and emotional difficulties.

My studies and career have consumed considerable periods of my time and I have not spent as much times as I should with the children particularly during the period of their growing up. However, I am fortunate to have a very devoted wife who fills in the vacuum, taking the children to school and disciplining them when they were naughty. I attribute much of the emotional stability and success of the children to her complete devotion as a housewife and mother. And now, with the grandchildren, she has equally displayed her devotion to them.

I love being in the garden, tending to the landscape plants – the palms, the bougainvillea, the mango, rambutan and jack fruit trees. The joy of sweating out cultivating the soil, raising beds and sowing seeds of lady finger, long bean, brinjal, chillies and observing them growing till harvest time. Consuming ones own vegetables gives tremendous satisfaction – it is a source of joy and happiness.

My involvement with community work started early as early as in school serving as hostel and library prefects. In college, I served in various committees in the many associations that existed. All these experiences taught me many thing – how to conduct meetings, how to arrive at decisions, how to organise events etc. As I started my career, I managed to find time to serve in various community activities related to the Parent Teachers Association, the Social and Sports Clubs, Alumni Associations, the Malaysian Invention and Design Society and the Environmental and Tourism groups. These involvements again bring satisfaction and the feeling that as a member of society I am contributing a little towards making the community a better place to live in. I feel a deep sense of fulfillment engaging in these activities. My participation with environmental groups and volunteerism are my expressions of love and compassion for the people I am associated with and being a part of them.

Edward de Bono, proponent of Lateral Thinking, identified happiness and enjoyment as the main purpose of living. It is not something that will just happen but it has got to be worked at and achieved. Happiness could be achieved through involvement in doing something useful, exciting and fulfilling such as pursuing one’s profession, hobbies, volunteerism, recreation, sports, raising a family , helping people and one thousand and one other options. In pursuing these activities, both the journey and achieving the goals bring joy and happiness.

I had a satisfying and fulfilling career. Based on the highest tertiary education, the doctorate in agricultural sciences, I was employed in a profession in which I had the skills for. I gave my heart to my work and recognition came through the promotions that I received. In the various positions I held I had the opportunity to be exposed through participation at conferences, seminars, trade delegations and educational tours which not only added expertise to my profession but helped build up the friendships and network with people all over the world and harness wisdom in my daily living. My career in the government sector provided me sufficient income to meet my fundamental needs in living – food, clothing, shelter with some extras for my activities of leisure such as singing in the karaoke lounges, dancing in night clubs, entertaining family members and friends at restaurants and to go on holidays a couple of times in a year. The extracurricular activities spiced up, very much, the pleasures of living.

When I retired from the government service friends approached me to offer opportunities to join hands with them in the corporate world. It was an arrangement that was mutually beneficial as I offered my management capability, networking and goodwill to the company and on the other hand, I was provided with the convenience of transportation, office facilities and income and most importantly the freedom to engage in activities that I am passionate about. I chose to indulge in sustainable development and scouting as my missionary work.

Sustainable development activities have taken me far through experiencing environmental education programmes with school children through School Nature Clubs, meeting the Coordinators of the Clubs made up of school teachers who serve as advisors, judging sustainable schools and a sustainable city as part of evolving the nation towards sustainability - another voluntary journey that brings joy to my life.

The continuous intellectual exercises through reading both the soft copy on the internet and the hard copies of books, further widens the scope of the sources of happiness. These cover such areas as environment, health, politics, economics, spirituality, religion, etc and gives insights into new challenging areas to get involved in which continue to add new experiences to one’s life.

My health consciousness came early in my life. It started with the sports and games programmes in school as a compulsory extracurricular requirement. In college, I have participated actively in sports out of sheer love. I participated in table tennis, rugby, soccer, hockey and sepak takraw. In college, team sports were suitable as the members were there to participate, but as I started my career sporting activities revolved around a smaller number of players and I was into squash and jogging. I had a stint at golf but somehow found the game too time consuming, relatively expensive, exclusive and elitist with too much unnecessary exposure to the hot sun. Since my participation in the triathlon in 1997 until today, my weekly exercise regime is made up of three days of jogging, one day of swimming and one day of cycling with two days of rest which is devoted to fasting i.e. on Monday and Thursday. The exercises and the fasting and my own diet formula has provided me the good health, the stamina and energy and the vitality and enthusiasm for the many activities and programmes that I have my hands on.

Good health is one of the key ingredients to one’s ability to cherish every minute of one’s life. It does not take much for one to have a bad day – a simple headache or a backache will be enough to make one feel bad. So, if good health is such a critical thing in one’s life to be able to enjoy life with the family, the office, contribute to social work, one has to build a philosophy and discipline to undertake exercises in a regular and sustained manner. Many individuals that I know believe in the need for regular exercises, proper diet for good health but have not the philosophy and discipline to sustain the effort.

The spirituality in me was again sparked by the scouting movement. The scout promise and laws taught me to help people at all times, to be considerate, to believe in the brotherhood of men irrespective of religious beliefs and race, to be friendly to nature, clean in thought word and deed. The inner peace that one gets through spiritual acts of goodness, kindness, compassion and caring is fundamental in achieving happiness. The spiritual process evolves over the period of time. As one goes through life experiences and recognizes the negative consequences of material wealth, greed, cruelty, hatred, inconsideration, intolerance and unforgiving, one discards over a period of time one after another these negative elements and builds up virtuous spiritual values.

In the Malaysian context where we live in a society comprised of different ethnic groups professing different religious beliefs and cultural pratices, the spirit of racial tolerance and understanding are important for the social well being of the nation. I have been able to interact, mix and hold discussions with individuals who may be Chinese, Indian, Kadazanduan, Dayak, Iban or Eurasian. I have also not pitted with the followers of the different religion. I believe in the congruency of the teaching of the various religions which basically teach their adherents about the universal values of kindness, compassion, tolerance and love with no hang ups. I feel at ease with the individuals I came in contact with – a beautiful and happy feeling indeed.

I started to write this book in January 2006 though the skeleton of its contents was structured earlier. I was not sure what was going to happen to me over the period of writing it. Will I continue to be happy – the state of condition I was in when I started planning and continue to be in as I progress in writing it ? As I approach the end of writing the last chapter and my age advances to seventy I continue to be exuberant in my odyssey for happiness. I continue to be guided by George Bernard Shaw in my untireless effort in sustainable development, community activities and realization of worthy aspirations, with his inspirational words.

‘This is the true joy in life – that being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. That being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clock of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations’ .

Yes, I want to be thoroughly used up before I die. For the harder I continue to contribute to the company I am serving, the family, the community, the country, for sustainable development, for the scout movement, for other worthy goals, the more I feel I am living a fulfilling life. Good health provides the enthusiasm for all these activities. I enjoy the simple pleasures of singing, dancing, nature walks, conversing and interacting with colleagues, gardening, bird watching, camping, fishing, scuba diving, rafting……. the list is unending as there are so many new things I wish to experience. New experiences and challenges always add joy to life.

Lin Yutang further commented that ‘the highest ideal of Chinese culture has always been a man with a sense of detachment towards life based on a sense of wise disenchantment. From this detachment comes high mindedness, which enables one to go through life with tolerant irony and escape the temptations of fame and wealth and achievement, and eventually makes him take what comes. And from this detachment arises also his sense of freedom, his love for vagabondage and his pride and nonchalance. It is with this sense of freedom and nonchalance that one eventually arrives at the keen and intense joy of living’.

It was added satisfaction when the new experiences and challenges through copious notes are translated into files and publications that are shared with the many groups that I am associated with and participated with in the multi pronged events and activities that I delve in.

In all humility, as my age approaches seventy, I have attained the goal of life that I have set out for - to be extraordinarily happy and in good health with a sharp mind, a life filled with meaning and joy, remaining highly productive, leading an exciting life while learning and enjoying new experiences, living with love, compassion and beauty, building friendship with people all over the world while helping in my small way, to make Malaysia and this planet a better place to live in.

Reference

Robert Baden – Powell. Scouting for Boys, Brownsea Singapore 2004.

Robert Baden – Powell. Rovering to Success – a guide for young manhood. Herbert Jenkins Ltd. 1922.

Lin Yutang. The Importance of Living – a Lyrical Philosophy. Heinemann Asia Singapore. 1938.

Edward de Bono. The Happiness Purpose. Penquin Books, London. 1977.

HH Dalai Lama & H.C. Cutler. The Art of Happiness – a Handbook for Living. Coronet Books. 1998.

Bertrand Russell. The Conquest of Happiness. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 1996.

Karma Ura & Karma Galay. Gross National Happiness and Development. The Centre for Bhutan Studies; Bhutan. 2004.