Once a teacher at a school handed some assignments to her students and asked them to write what they wanted to become in the future. After the completion of the task, the students handed over their assignments. 

Some students wrote they wanted to become a doctor, while some said engineer, pilot and professor. However, one of the students wrote ‘Happy’. The teacher called the student and said, “I think you misunderstood the question”. The student replied smiling, “Ma’am, I think you misunderstood life.” 

We all carry the baggage of materials with us and think it provides us happiness. One of the main reason people endure pain is that they connect happiness with materials, not knowing that it’s the inner-self that provides peace. 

My memory is still fresh memory from when I first read the phrase ‘Human needs are unlimited’. That sentence did not make any sense back then, but now it comforts me. We are always filled with the desire of achieving something better than what we already have. In the course chasing ‘better’, we constantly get stressed and feel sad. We cling to obsessing the version of so-called better good in every aspect. Seeking euphoria has become a part of everyone’s misery. 

Another most common reason for melancholy is blaming someone for our happiness. Henry Ford once said, “You are the master of your fate and captain of your soul”. This quote calms me whenever I have this rage against someone or whenever I feel miserable. Most of the time, we blame others for our anguish. For self-judgment, we point out flaws in someone’s maneuver. 
I have also seen people not striving because they cannot reach the level of perfection. Perfection is never attainable, and fear of perfection leads us to not take the step. Some of us are so good at drawing conclusions before actually taking the steps required.  

Whenever we lose or cannot attain something important, we feel sad and the anguish provokes us. In the book ‘The power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle, the writer says, “People often spend their time contemplating the past mistakes or often get stressed worrying about the future.” People cling on to the past, seeking comfort and self-judging with past incidents. We get lost amidst the crowd, and instead of making present wonderful, we worry about the future. 

The past is gone, it is irreversible. Failure is a disadvantage only until you learn from it. But when you learn, it becomes a lesson.