A series exploring happiness, self-mastery and how we can try to achieve them — not by learning something new, but by remembering what we already know.
Why Happiness Feels Hard When It’s Actually Simple
Happiness isn’t complicated — we’ve just been looking in the wrong direction.
It’s a well-known truth: today’s younger generation is the future. In today’s fast-moving era, the younger generation stands at the helm of future progress. They hold immense potential — the architects of innovation, empathy, and global change. They are energetic, ambitious, smart — and yet, many of them are restless. They know they want happiness, but they don’t really know what happiness actually means.
Surrounded by digital networks and ever-expanding influences, we all — including Gen Z — are often left grappling with questions that previous generations could not have imagined: What truly makes us happy? Is happiness a destination, or is it something we already hold within ourselves?
Everywhere they look — on social media, in movies, in conversations — they see someone else’s version of happiness. Luxury travel. A dream job. A fit body. A perfect relationship. A million followers. The human mind naturally relates to stories, examples, and others’ experiences. It’s why an advice from a friend or an influencer resonates so deeply.
The trouble begins when the mind mistakes another’s happiness for its own goal; it chases what looks good, not what feels good. This chase leads to complication, dissatisfaction, and the impression that happiness is always just out of reach. Naturally, the mind starts believing: “Maybe that’s what happiness is. Maybe I need that too.” And that’s where the real problem begins — not in the wanting, but in the comparing.
Learning Happiness Is Like Learning a Programming Language
Let’s look at this differently.
Imagine you’re trying to learn the programming language C. If you search online, you’ll find endless tutorials, videos, books, blogs, notes — so much material that a beginner wouldn’t even know where to start. They may spend months collecting information, and yet feel like they haven’t learned anything.
But the original C language textbook written by its creators? Just about 120 pages. Simple. Clear. Straight from the source.
So what happened between that original simplicity and today’s complexity?
Nothing changed in the language. Only the noise around it increased.
This is exactly what has happened with happiness. It is often buried beneath piles of opinions and experiences — but at its source, happiness is profoundly simple.
The Global Society Expanded — And So Did Our Confusion
Thanks to globalization, society is no longer limited to our neighborhood or city. We are now connected to everyone across the world. That’s beautiful — but also dangerous.
Because now, everybody is advertising their version of happiness, and without realizing it, our mind keeps absorbing those definitions and trying to chase them.
We are not chasing happiness — we are chasing someone else’s happiness.
And in the process, we drift far away from our own.
We Already Know Happiness — We Just Experience It Unconsciously
Happiness, in its original form, is simple. Every human being already knows it.
How?
Because we experience it every night in deep sleep. In that state, there are no desires, no comparisons, no achievements — and yet, we feel deeply rested and at peace.
That means we already know how to be happy. But we are experiencing it unconsciously. The real journey is to experience that same peace consciously — while awake.
So Where Do We Begin?
We don’t need to invent happiness. We don’t need to search outside.
We just need to return to the original source — ourselves.
This is what I am trying to explore through my journey of reading and understanding the Bhagavad Gita — not as a religious text, but as a manual for life, written long before smartphones and social media, yet more relevant today than ever.
My goal is simple: to present the essence of the Gita in the most practical and relatable way, especially for a generation that is constantly plugged in, constantly stimulated, and yet constantly unsettled.
Because happiness isn’t complicated. We just forgot how simple it truly is.
But If Happiness Is So Simple… Why Don’t We Experience It All the Time?
The answer lies in one powerful word:
Fear.
Fear of missing out.
Fear of failure.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of judgment.
Fear of not being “enough.”
It is not lack of knowledge that blocks our happiness — it is layers of fear.
What’s Next?
In the next article, we will explore:
👉 What are the core fears that control our life — often without us knowing?
👉 How does the mind create them?
👉 And how does the Bhagavad Gita guide us to dissolve these fears — not by escape, but through inner clarity and courage?
Because happiness is not achieved by adding more — it is revealed by removing what stands in its way.