Are comfort and happiness the same? We may experience comfort when we are physically and mentally at ease. Such an experience makes us happy. And we are certainly comfortable with being happy, except when in the presence of those who are deeply unhappy or disapprove of our happiness.
Many material objects and facilities are a source of comfort—be it a cosy chair, air conditioning or comfort foods.
Comfort experienced through such things, being dependent on external factors, is short-lived. If these facilities or objects are no longer available, we may stop feeling comfortable. And if we become used to certain comforts, we suffer when we lose them.
Take the case of someone who is accustomed to having everything done for him by others. If such a person has to fend for himself one day, he will struggle to accomplish the simplest of tasks and may experience considerable grief as a result. Comforts can, in this way, make us complacent, incompetent and weak.
The same is true of mental comforts. We feel comfortable in the company of certain kinds of people or in certain places or situations. When we are not among those we like, or in an unfamiliar place or situation, we may become uneasy.
The feeling of comfort, thus, is dependent on a host of factors. And anything based on external things and conditions that are beyond our control cannot be experienced at will and will not be permanent.
Moreover, if we make the mistake of becoming dependent on such means of comfort, we are setting ourselves up for sorrow.
Happiness, which can be a product of comfort, is not so fickle. It is an experience of inner joy that has little to do with what is outside.
Happiness results from how we perceive people and situations. Unlike comfort, we can experience happiness by choice.
If we decide to be happy, we will see what is good in other people and in situations. Even if someone or something is not the way we want them to be, we can look at their positive side and stay content and happy.
Such an attitude comes easily if we recognise the fact that getting upset does not change anything. Instead, it only makes us feel bad and ruins our day.
Along with this, when we understand that staying happy is what we want anyway, and that it is the best way to deal with all that life throws at us, we will develop the ability to take tests, failures and losses in our stride with a smile.
Happiness is the best nourishment for the soul. A happy person makes light of the heaviest task, while one who is glum will make a mountain of a molehill and labour under its weight, ending up tired, frustrated, angry and disappointed.
Comforts may abandon us at any time, but happiness is our own property—something that we can generate from within, and which no one and nothing can take away from us.
It is up to us to choose whether we want to be content with just temporary feelings of comfort or to enjoy real happiness all the time.
B.K. Dr. Savita is a Rajyoga teacher at the Brahma Kumaris headquarters in Abu Road, Rajasthan.