happiness
Don’t Worry and Be Happy
Sep 12th
It has been said that sometimes we teach what we need to learn. I was talking to a very successful friend of mine and this successful person with a million dollar home, a great family life, the car of his dreams and more is telling me that I have something that he does not.
I wondered to myself, what could I have that he did not? Granted I was years younger and just about eighteen when he told me this. As we talked more about the issue at hand, I soon saw that this man as successful as he was at that time in his life, he was not happy with everything in his life.
I think it is important to remember that success is measured by many different factors. In the mind of this man, a man who was perceived by his peers and the outside world as one of the most successful person in his field had an inner conflict and found himself ‘bankrupt’ in the happiness department.
I know everyone says money can not buy happiness and I guess, if I measure by what this successful man is telling me, this must be a truth. Now, remember, there are self truths and they are created for whatever reason and we find them to be true. Perhaps we created them or maybe they come from somewhere else.
As we talked more I realized that happiness is most often a self created conditioned response. On a personal level, right there at the age of eighteen or so I made it part of my personal awareness to make a mental note to never be bankrupt on the happiness level. I would make a note to create my own happiness and find the ancient secret of happiness if there was such a thing. I must admit that I have found the ‘holy grail’ and it is the idea that and the reality that, you and I have the power to create our own happiness. We can not change things that happen, we can not always control them. We can however have control over our reactions and the feeling these things create in our lives.
My suggestion to use is simple. Think of the things that make you most happy. For me it is my pets, Miss Deborah and doing shows, helping people and business people to market their product and service to others. Find your happiness and surround yourself with more of these things in your life.
Laughter, the Best Medicine
Sep 12th
Good-humored laughter helps to reduce tensions. A genuine smile can never fail to thaw even the coldest of hearts. The fiercest opponent cannot fail to appreciate the power of a smile. A smile and a well-intentioned laugh at the right moment can achieve what even the best of arguments or force cannot do. The physical act of laughing is simple enough but it is an expression of the state of one’s mental well-being. It is not an act which is performed to certain cues. It cannot be premeditated. It is a spontaneous expression on the happiness and joy that one is feeling at that particular moment of time.
All of us are familiar with the schoolboy poem ‘Enchanted Shirt’ in which a care-worn king sends out his courtiers in all directions to find out the happiest man in his kingdom and they finally arrive on an ignorant villager who has nothing but a torn shirt to cover his back, but is laughing and singing in the green fields in gay abandon. The king is full of envy because he cannot share the villager’s joy and innocent laughter.
Laughter should, however, be the laughter of goodwill and good humor. It should be the result of genuine pleasure and enjoyment. It should arouse in those around us a feeling of goodwill and cheer. Laughter should not be cynical of sarcastic. It should not be meant to make fun of others or to belittle others.
Laughter, therefore, is probably the best medicine. Not only is it the remedy for unrest and depression born of drudgery and tensions in today’s world but it also prevents confrontations. A smile goes a long way to reassure and inspire confidence. Laughter is the medicine prescribed by god. It is up to us to see that we have regular doses of it.
