Two things that matter the most in our life are — Our Happiness Index and Our Contentment Index
Most probably, you would not have come across such Indices as “Our Happiness Index” and “Our Contentment Index”.
But never mind if I talk in term of such Indices since I happen to be an Industrial Engineer who always talk in term of Indices only — even when we think about our life.
According to me, we should keep on tracking the values of these two Indices, now and then, throughout our life.
So let us see what is implied by these Indices.
I would prefer to dish out the meaning of these Indices through my own life-experiences.
Meaning of Happiness Index
The maximum value of an Index can be 1.0.
At the age of 28 when I got married, there were only two professions that used to be regarded as the most respectable professions — engineering and medicine.
So I thought — nothing could be better for me than to get married to a doctor.
I thanked my stars because I had no difficulty in finding a doctor within our own family circle and we got married to each other.
We got even two kids through our marriage.
But do you think we should have been happy?
We were not.
When in the night we used to sleep together, most of the time, she would be talking about her patients.
But all her talks about the gynaecological problems only over phone, made me sick very soon.
So, we started sleeping in different rooms.
It was about the same time when an astrologer called upon us for some financial help but looking at our foreheads told both of us that according to him — our stars forebode that we shall not be enjoying our sexual partnership any longer in our life even though he had met us after a pretty too many years to have known whether we had got estranged to each other since we pursued different professions.
Over a time, I started leading a self-contained life — rarely talking to my wife.
I took voluntary retirement and started taking interest in writing books et cetera till now, when I have crossed the age of eighty.
It was only a few days back — she wrote to me, “You have led a solitary life all through without coming in contact with any family-member. So, if you feel lonely now — don’t expect that any family-member has enough time to look after you even if you fell ill. You have to ensure that you keep all such things you may need to keep yourself busy, handy.”
It was this shot that made me alive to the fact that no man can remain happy by leading a solitary life for whole of his life.
Though, nowadays, we can kill our loneliness on Facebook and Whatsapp and even on the TV — when we did not have Internet; our ancestors advised us to unite with the almighty god whenever we felt lonely.
So we may, as well, treat Facebook and Whatsapp as 21st Century Substitutes of God.
We have Google and GPS also because we have internet.
So, in a way, we should express our gratitude to even internet much the same way, as we have been expressing our gratitude to the god until now.
But I have come to a conclusion that though we can cope with our loneliness through Facebook and Whatsapp — even Facebook and Whatsapp do not come to our rescue when we feel utterly lonely, like me who has led a solitary life for as long as 30 years or so.
Finally, we realize that we do need company of somebody to keep ourselves happy.
(Source: https://pixabay.com/images/)
If we want to be happy — we do need some company.
I even went to her room and asked her — “I hope you would not mind if I just sat on this chair for a while?”
But she rebuffed, “No, not now since I am taking my breakfast right now.”
So guess — “What should be the value of my Happiness Index, today?”
Obviously — in the range of something like “0.3”.
Meaning of Contentment Index
We may calculate our Contentment Index based on how much we are satisfied about what we should have achieved in our life by judging whether we are satisfied with what we have been able to give back to the world as compared to what the world has given us.
I listed out what I have given to the world in my life in my article, “https://subhashchandrasawhney.medium.com/if-law-of-attraction-has-to-be-true-this-corollary-of-the-law-should-be-also-true-1f8fe1f4bebb” posted by me on Medium.com on November 9, 2020.
When I look back at it — of course, I don’t feel very much disgusted about it.
Yet I may say that the value of my Contentment Index is also very much in the range of “0.3” only — not more than “0.3”.
No doubt, all of us get only one chance to spend our life on the Earth. So whatever we may give back to the world — we have to manage whatever we do or do not do, within our lifespan only.
Nothing can be more rewarding for us if we are satisfied with what we have been able to contribute to the world in our life when we breathe our last.
So guys — you may also track the values of your “Happiness Index” and the “Contentment Index”, the same way as I have been able to track.
The main advantage of calculating such indices can be explained through the fact that instead of being passive, we become proactive once we quantify our happiness and contentment in this manner.