Avoid making these mistakes when you experience shortlived happiness

Oops! the title just sounded contradictory, right?

Mistakes and happiness do not go hand in hand. How can we commit mistakes when we are happy? Happiness is an emotion that has still not been precisely defined by humankind and it is left in our hands to make our individual interpretations. For some, it is inner peace while for others, it is ecstasy.

Have you ever noticed or felt the following switch in your behavioral patterns when you are extremely happy for a fleeting time?

• Everything seems to be great and flowery. Life (truly) feels like a bed of roses.
• Love becomes one of the dominant feelings at this moment. According to happy people, everyone surrounding them becomes too lovable and amazing souls for a shorter period of time. Happiness makes them forget all the bitterness and conflict that exists in between.
• We shift ourselves into a forgiving zone where we tend to forgive even the ones who have caused a nuisance in our lives. All of a sudden, we become preachers of extraordinary thoughts irrespective of ourselves not being the followers of the same.
• All problems begin to have an instant solution. Our worries completely vanish (although temporarily) and we enter into a state of euphoria where nothing appears to be wrong. The expression of happiness gets reflected in our own sweet forms like making good food, singing, unplanned shopping, smiling, sketching, writing articles, praising people who once fell in the category of irritants/hatred, etc.

In the first place, the fact that mistakes or blunders can happen only when we are in a disturbed state of mind and not in a happy state is a mere misconception. So be aware. We also do wrong deeds while in a happy state of mind which may be more agonizing than what we do out of anger as anger will definitely have more propensity to push us towards committing mistakes that can be irreparable and overbearing. This is a known fact. But happiness is also not behind in the race, humans do not remain error-free even when experiencing immense happiness.

Image credit- The Conversation

Amongst many, there are 2 major mistakes a happy human can likely make which can end in hurting our conscience and also others.

1. Take decisions- When we are too happy, we have the tendency to take some important decisions which may seem right at that moment but can be regretful later. We need to avoid this. Decisions are very crucial aspects of our lives hence this activity is advised to be undertaken only with a calm mind backed by multi-dimensional thoughts.

For instance, a colleague suggests to you some better prospects for your career, and fortunately or unfortunately, the suggestions come in when you are in a great mood. She has asked you to look for opportunities outside your current organization as they are offering a great profile and an excellent salary hike. In spite of being satisfied with your present job, you somehow get convinced, start giving interviews and eventually decide to change the company. Now comes the tragic part. After working for a month, you gain an understanding that you have taken an erroneous decision. The working environment does not provide a productive work culture, the reporting manager is more of a boss than a leader, etc, so the price of a wrong decision turns out to be high.

2. Make and break promises- Believe me, this is the worst of all and may range from minor to enormous ones. Also, this may have a negative impact on both the giver and the receiver. Being happy, we have the willingness to make ‘n’ number of promises to ourselves and also to our loved ones without even contemplating the post-happiness period. (Here the post-happiness phase is defined as the period when we regain our calmness and happiness leaves us temporarily to visit again sometime later, and we are back to square one). The ‘post-happiness’ phase makes us realize the unwelcoming nature of the promises resulting in indignation, guilt, and regret.

Let me give you a real-life picture. On getting the news of their son, one of our family friends was overwhelmed with joy and in no time, he started sharing the good news with everyone over the telephone. At the time of calling his sister who stays abroad on an assignment and will be back after 3 months, she discussed the kind of pain their mother was undergoing on account of staying all alone in India for three months. On hearing this, he paused for just 2 secs and immediately promised to keep his mother along with his family. What an amazing person he is! Right? Weeks turned into months but there was no development. Being tired of the delay, his sister called him and asked about his final intentions. Here came the answer, “Sorry, I will not be able to keep my promise of bringing our mom to stay with us for such a long time on account of some personal issues. Please do not mind.”

Oops! the promise is broken. The real person came out when the eclipse of happiness faded thereby dropping him to the same zone where he was prior to being the happiest one.

Stated above are a few of my experiences that I felt like sharing with you and would suggest you avoid taking important decisions and making promises when your happiness is transient.

That's all folks!. See you soon. Till then take care.