There comes a time in our life when we start to agree with the old saying that “money can’t buy happiness”.
Well, some of us, the more cynical or maybe the “realists”, as we like to call ourselves, will say that maybe “indeed, money cannot buy happiness in its pure form, but it sure can buy loads of things that will make one happy”.
Fair enough. But I like to think that sometimes those things that can bring real happiness are actually free.
Just to look at some of them:
Laughter: It all starts with a simple smile or a little joke, and according to an About.com article, “research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing one’s threshold for pain. There’s even an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy to help people heal more quickly, among other things.”… so there we go, just by laughing we avoid a number of problems, that otherwise would cost us money, time, and… happiness… not to say about the positive energy we spread around when we laugh, the fact that it’s contagious, and also that we can get better results (grades, business results, etc.) when we make the person in front of us smile…
Support: Sometimes, offering someone support does not necessarily mean a monetary involvement, it simply means listening, giving feedback, answering or asking some questions, putting oneself in the shoes of someone else, offering one’s shoulder for the friend in need, “lending” our ears to the one who needs to be heard. These are all simple things which just show that we care, and offering someone the feeling that people care about him/her is just priceless.
Friendship: friendship might not come indeed as a “free lunch”, but it won’t cost us money (usually), it will take some time from our side, some effort, some stories to tell, some secrets to keep, some hopes to share, some dreams to build, some tears to shed, some smiles to bring, some promises to fulfill, but the result will bring you some of the greatest feelings one can have: that to be someone’s precious friend, something impossible to buy.
Love: well, this might be the easiest and the toughest of all, but it sure does not involve money (in its pure, unspoiled stance), it does involve a lot of the things I said before for friendship and it involves passion (in all its forms), it involves wanting the best for one’s partner, it involves getting rid of the lies, of the masks we sometimes use, of the walls we sometimes build around ourselves, and when it works out fine, it brings gains that no financial investment can bring, it brings happiness in its purest state.
For the ones who would be willing to agree that sometimes the best things in life are free, – let’s laugh a lot, let’s support the ones who need it, let’s be good friends and let’s love with all our heart, and just to paraphrase a song I like – “I’ve got a feeling, that this life’s gonna be a good life”.
