The Voice

The Voice asks me each day. "What is happiness?"

“So, what is happiness?” the Voice asked me each day.

“That's not a simple question now.” I answered. I had been ignoring it for a long time, but for some reason I said something back today.

“That's why I'm asking it. Everyone is searching for it these days. Yet the answer for every person is different.” the Voice continued.

“Well... happiness itself is a momentarily feeling, you know?” I tried to analyze the feeling itself. “You feel happy when you buy something you want very badly. You feel happy when you receive it. Happiness can be long-lasting as you watch your children grow up in life. Probably the memories you think of at that moment is causing that happiness. Love in itself can be a very powerful feeling that can make a person feel happy.”

“That is all quite right. Although it is not what you are searching for, is sit?” The voice then said. “Tell me, what is your happiness?” I was silent for a long time. I couldn't answer. I didn't know. It was an even harder question. I had been asking it to myself many times before.

“I don't know?” I answered. For some reason, I thought I could see the Voice smile. Although that was impossible. It existed only in my mind after all. It was only sound and yet not even that. It was a thought, although it used a sound my own voice couldn't produce.

“Come now. I think you know the answer.” I kept silent for a while. I tried not to think about anything. I let the answer come to me, except for searching for it.

“Happiness for me... It is feeling content with myself. Feeling good about the person I am. Feeling good about the life I'm leading. That no matter what kind of struggles I face in life, I'll be able to overcome them. To be able to enjoy the things that are happening in my life at the moment. To fully enjoy the present.”

The Voice didn't answer. It was gone. I tried calling out to it the next day, but there was no answer. Then, a strange thought occurred to me. That the Voice had been a part of me. That it was trying to wake me up. That it was telling I wasn't happy with my life. That I wasn't happy about myself. It was just trying to let me realize what happiness was to me. So I could set the first step towards obtaining my own happiness.

Because... I have been standing still for so long now. So I took the first step and reached out... Reached out to people who could help me.