write a declaration of happiness. here's mine.

Dear Reader,

I choose to be happy now. That's right, I'm declaring it.

• I will not wait for my senses to be pleased to be happy.
• I will not wait for people to make me happy.
• I will not wait for status to make me happy.
• I will not wait for accomplishments to make me happy.
• I will not wait for a location to make me happy.
• I will not wait for a hobby to make me happy.
• I will not wait for a sense of purpose to be happy.
• I will not wait to meditate (or meditate more) to be happy.
• I will not require a certain past or future to be happy.

Whatever calamity falls me, I choose inner peace.

• In marriage (or without), I choose to be happy.
• In parenthood (or without), I choose to be happy.
• In my old age (or without), I choose to be happy.
• In sickness, I choose to be happy.
• In death, I choose to be happy.

Hereby I let go of the contents of my life. They will not sully my soul.

Signed,
Rishi Dhanaraj

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

- Alan Watts