To achieve genuine laughter, we must awaken our hearts & minds; appreciate beauty in every moment, big or small

While it seems that laughter is an effortless and readily available thing that costs no money; if weighed in deeper aspects it is the most expensive deal in the current world. Although priceless in its truest sense, it has gone hyper-inflated to the extent that it has rendered people disabled to exhibit it or to buy it.
Albeit you are well secured with all the money and materials of the world your purchasing power for laughter is zero. You are progressive, you make money, you socialize, you are esteemed, your words are honoured and all it is nothing but ostensible. Deep inside you are so static, you are poor, you are alone, you are self-dejected, your words do not satiate your own soul because you are not genuinely happy and the inner peace which actually matters is at bay.
You want to be happy in real and not superficially for which you endeavour but the materialistic nature of current time has occupied you and you do not get time and space in any way when otherwise all is available, that too in lots. You are unreasonably busy, in haste and in a hurry when nothing actually therein coerces you to be so. You are deliberately entangling yourself in unnecessary projects that do not give you escape to spare time and space to groom your own body of the soul. Yes, the soul has a body like a body has a soul and that body needs due attention and asks for not only proper grooming but maintenance as well. This materialism has caused us to lose contact with nature disabling our much-needed communication with it. Surprisingly, nature communicates with you only when you have the senses awake, the eyes open, the ears alert and the brain processing consciously. However, it is highly unfortunate on the part of we the humans that all such processes have somewhere unwillingly but badly stepped into switched-off mode.
Heartily laughter and peaceful happiness approach you when you have a non-materialistic, nature-conscious, God-fearing, healthy as well and sound heart and mind. A cardiovascular system free from every disorder, a heart with four working chambers and a brain with all neurons functioning never prove as an index that you have a healthy heart and sound mind unless you are connected with eternity and nature with possible genuineness.
A body with a healthy heart and soul draws amusement out of any damn thing of nature that people otherwise belittle. A person with a healthy heart and soul enjoys even seeing the trees moving relatively close to the vehicle they are travelling in, their hearts throb even on noticing cute kids in a brawl with utter innocence which otherwise goes neglected and ignored in everyday life but they see it as a source of joy. However, a body with a dead heart and materialistic mind, not only loses the essence of these trivial but beautiful events, but even majestic blissful moments get un-noticed as the mind keeps whirling in such thought processing that exists nowhere except for imagination and has no importance or impact on life by that time.
We are all surrounded by a world of gadgets that cater to our needs ranging from A to Z. But these gadgets have replaced most of the ways that would otherwise make our life beautiful, blessed, blissful and peaceful besides bringing to it solace and satisfaction in real meaning. Understanding this point let us take an example of reading a newspaper but not virtually. We know reading makes our minds sharper, focused, informed and stable. Although, we can read news both from a mobile or a tablet as well as a newspaper; a mobile phone equipped with an internet connection gives ready access to all the news of the world in our own place without a need to move an inch but it curtails the other associated benefits. The process of fetching a newspaper only gets along with it the greater benefit of physical exercise that our body needs to be healthy. Besides, reading newspaper contribute to cutting off screen time which has become the root cause of numerous diseases.
To conclude, achieving real and blessed laughter must be a goal of life, and for that, you need a live heart and a wakeful brain and to have these you need to appreciate every little and big happenings of our ambience. You need to free your soul from the possession of materialistic greed, you need to spend time with your family and laugh over nothing. You need to come close to nature, you need to come close to God.
The writer is an alumnus of the University of Kashmir (M.Sc. Zoology). He works in the Animal Husbandry Department and can be reached at [email protected]

Deen Mohammad Shah