If You Are Happy

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...

A song sang by all ages, through all times. A question seemingly so simple, part of a song & action ensemble which a few years ago, I would have clapped along spontaneously but the act of clapping requires much more self-persuasion and convincing today.... am I happy?

Somehow, the state of happiness appear to have mutated with age. The threshold to experiencing happiness is raised and ironically, trivalised at the same time. While as a child much pleasure are derived from having a family holiday, discovering a good book, attending sunday school, now, the joy of it all has either been taken for granted/diminished/ forgotten. These days, being 'happy' has permutated to much more materialistic pursuits- getting the sleek phone used by the rich and famous, having a lavish meal at a posh restaurant, going for holiday in a place like Europe. Short-lived shots of pleasure and light-headedness - not unlike drinks and drugs -that drowns out the misery of failure and loss momentarily but often leaving one miserable and empty when the effects wear out. A kind of happiness that doesn't run deep, that dilutes as one grows older, that doesn't serve as an anchor of strength in not-so-good times. A plastered-on appearance of happiness beneath which lies much unsurety, jadedness and a general sense of not knowing what one needs and wants.

If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it, clap your hands.

Some of the questions posed to me in a recent conversation: What does it mean to be happy? If a person had clapped his/her hands as the song prompted...is he/she really happy? or is it that he merely thinks he is but actually he isn't? What makes one happy? Can happiness be learnt? Can I be happy just by telling myself I am happy? Questions that I have a strong suspicion will be answered with much ease if i was much younger...but right now, i'm giving the most non-committal and most overused phrase of our times...I don't know.