*EIGHT CLUES TO HAPPINESS**

 **By- KHUSHWANT SINGH*

*
*Having lived a reasonably contented life, I was musing over what a person
should strive for to achieve happiness. I drew up a list of a few essentials
which I put forward for the readers' appraisal.

1. First and foremost is GOOD HEALTH. If you do not enjoy good health you
can never be happy. Any ailment, however trivial, will deduct from your
happiness.

2. Second, A HEALTHY BANK BALANCE. It need not run into crores but should be
enough to provide for creature comforts and something to spare for
recreation, like eating out, going to the pictures, travelling or going on
holidays on the hills or by the sea. Shortage of money can be only
demoralizing. *Living on credit or borrowing is demeaning and lowers one in
one's own eyes. *

3. Third, A HOME OF YOUR OWN. Rented premises can never give you the snug
feeling of a nest which is yours for keeps that a home provides: if it has a
garden space, all the better. Plant your own trees and flowers, see them
grow and blossom, cultivate a sense of kinship with them.

4. Fourth, AN UNDERSTANDING COMPANION, be it your spouse or a friend. If
there are too many misunderstandings, they will rob you of your peace of
mind. It is better to be divorced than to bicker all the time.

5. Fifth, LACK OF ENVY towards those who have done better than you in life;
risen higher, made more money, or earned more fame. Envy can be very
corroding; avoid comparing yourself with others.

6. Sixth, DO NOT ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE to descend on you for gup-shup. By the
time you get rid of them, you will feel exhausted and poisoned by their
gossip-mongering.

7. Seventh, CULTIVATE SOME HOBBIES which can bring you a sense of
fulfilment, such as gardening, reading, writing, painting, playing or
listening to music. Going to clubs or parties to get free drinks or to meet
celebrities is criminal waste of time.

8. Eighth, every morning and evening, devote 15 minutes to INTROSPECTION. In
the morning, 10 minutes should be spent on stilling the mind and then five
in listing things you have to do that day. In the evening, five minutes to
still the mind again, and ten to go over what you had undertaken to do.

*RICHNESS is not Earning More, Spending More Or Saving More, but ... *

*"RICHNESS IS WHEN YOU NEED NO MORE"*