My Toastmasters Speech: What is Happiness To You ?

Hi,

Are you happy with your life now, this moment?

If you are then join me and laugh out loud ! (HAHAHAHAHA)

Are you happy now ?

Good evening Toastmaster of the Evening, fellow toastmasters and friends.

You would have heard about the Gross National Happiness Index and the New Economic Foundation's Happy Planet Index in the year 2006 that ranked Singapore very low together with other countries like Australia and USA.

We would also have read about Bhutan that has the highest Gross National Happiness even though many in the country still live in the rural areas of the country and have limited access to technology. There were also discussions on forums, think-tanks and politicians on the need to improve Singapore’s Gross National Happiness index.

The issues on happiness are slowly becoming an important national and international matter. There is also a website dedicated to happiness (www.happiness.com) that lists the 10 life characteristic and practices that can make a person happy by following them. It may not also be a surprise if new certificate, diploma, degree or even doctorate studies on happiness may be started in the near future. It may even become a big money spinner and a hype thing to associate with. Happy theme parks, clubs, dedicated television channels, and the list can go on and on.

Let us pause for a moment now.

Let us ponder :-

• Can happiness be measured?

• Can laughing alone make a person happy?

Happiness is subjective and there are no measuring tools or specific indices that can be used to measure happiness as one person’s happiness may not be another person’s happiness.

Of course there are people who like to be made happy but they will not make another person happy. There are also people who like to make another person happy without expecting any favours.

"Experience praises the most happy the one who made the most people happy." -- Karl Marx

"As for happiness, it is not something you experience, it's something you remember" --Mark Twain

How true.

Everyday, let us do something that will make us happy. If the action is evil-related, then do also understand that for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction. So be ready to face the consequences of your action that made you happy.

I know what is happiness to me. Do you know what is happiness to you ?

Toastmasters of the evening.

(yet to present this speech)

Best regards.

Kumaran RN