Chapter 7
The 5th Step
Bounce Back from Faith and Hope
While writing about the happiness journey and formulating steps that guarantee happiness, it becomes essential to cover a possible situation, where one's life has been captured by unhappiness and sorrow. Is there still hope? Can such people still turn around and be happy?
People in deep sorrow, often sneer at the thought that they can always be happy. To them happiness is a thing of the past, it's gone forever never to return. They regret and rehearse. They think and curse. They have lost the hope of being happy ever again.
To them, this is the recommended trigger to happiness. They have to bounce back; they have to SNAP OUT of sorrow. They have to escape from misery. They have to eliminate unhappiness and this happens when they decide to bounce back with FAITH and HOPE. They will then cope with the tragedy of life and reverse it.
The two key pillars to help one bounce back are: faith and hope. Without these two, you cannot escape from sorrow that has taken charge of your life. It has virtually strangled you emotionally; it has paralyzed and ruined you. But you can still bounce back. The negative influence in such a situation is very strong and one has to snap out of it with the faith that they can be happy again and with the hope that they can eliminate sorrow altogether. Once these two pillars are strongly laid, then the seeker of happiness can start the journey by desiring to be happy.
A normal aspirant can desire happiness even without faith and hope, as there are no negative influences. But for one who is imprisoned by sorrow, there is a necessity for faith and hope to help them bounce back. The aspirant must not just desire to be happy, but discover what made them happy. Happiness can be restored by pulling the happiness triggers and making an effort not to permit any more joy stealers to enter. The problem that this aspirant will face is this: since sorrow has taken charge, every effort to be happy will be encountered by a resistance with negative energy. Thus, one has to take the same steps (1, 2, 3 and 4), but with an extra dose of faith and hope that will help them bounce back. Faith will build a foundation that will eliminate fear and doubt. Hope will create positive expectations that make way for joy. These two will form the two pillars on which happiness can be rebuilt.
Many people are in such a state of unhappiness in their lives, that they are not able to start the happiness journey. Then there are others, who even though they have started the happiness journey, are unable to proceed as sorrow has captured them back. To all such aspirants, happiness is just one more step away. They need to bounce back from unhappiness by believing that they can be happy again and hoping that their lives can once again be full of bliss. With this belief and hope, create a desire for happiness.
Discover your happiness list and then do it; and pull the happiness triggers. Don't let anymore sorrow enter. Beware of joy stealers and with the positive energy that you are armed with, eliminate the negative poison. You will slowly start feeling the bliss and the joy from this journey. If you are committed and passionate, nothing can stop you. With faith and hope, you will be able to bounce back.
