Everyone has been given the capacity to experience a higher level of contentment and happiness known as a ‘high feeling’. Clinically, it is termed as the balanced serotonin production in the brain.
Each one of us accesses it in various ways. We have experienced it in purer forms like resting our head on mother’s lap, getting acknowledged for simple achievements in our early years, activities which have enabled us to connect with ourselves without expectation, and a certain freedom from the external world and internal limitations.
As we grow, in pursuit of these ‘happy’ feelings, we immerse ourselves in various distractions like food, music, shopping, relationships, dance, and physical practice of asanas.
A few chemical substances (harmful, and absolutely not recommended) can give an instant activation similar to serotonin, creating a false belief that ” I can be happy and free whenever I want, without dependence on anyone or anything”. If one persists with abuse of these so-called accompaniments of happiness, he will be trapped in a dark ditch of unhappiness.
Then, begins the never-ending circle of highs and lows – a self-created circle of imaginary happiness and unhappiness!!