If I asked you: Are you happy? How would you answer me? Let’s define the word: Happiness: According to Dr. Christine Bradstreet: “Happiness relates to life satisfaction, appreciation of life, moments of pleasure, and with positive experiences of emotions. A happy person is someone who often experiences positive emotions, such as joy……..”
The ancient Greeks defined happiness as: “Happiness is the joy that we feel when we’re striving after our potential.”
Eleanor Roosevelt said: “Someone once asked me what I regarded as the 3 most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you had been honest with yourself, and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.
If I ask you the question: Are you happy? I do not mean the temporary state of mind of happiness as a result of a wonderful incident/occasion etc. But rather I mean this: ARE YOU A HAPPY PERSON?
All my life growing up, I was a very grumpy, constantly complaining and typically a very unhappy person. I was very negative in my thoughts then it was reflected in my attitude and in the words I spoke to others.
When people would say: wow you are a such a negative person: I would get so offended and annoyed and retaliate with more negative words. I, disliked being called a negative person by my family members and friends. However, I always thought that I as born this way since my mother was the most negative person I have ever known growing up. On the other hand, my dad was the most positive person whom I admired and loved with all of my heart. I have never met another human being like my Dad----who loved life so much and woke up every single day with a smile on his face and always had encouraging and uplifting words to share with us daily….as soon as we woke up.
As I grew older, my negativity was still with me in my adulthood and it probably got worst after my most traumatic divorce and suffering for many years as a single parent –-- taking care of two young children alone. But I did always realize that I was a negative person and always hated being the way I was and worked extremely hard to overcome my negativity and complaining ways.…… especially since the majority of my work life after my divorce were all outside sales jobs. I admit, it was and still is a daily struggle to live my life the way my Dad did.
Here are some things I practice happiness every single day as soon as I wake up in the morning:
First of all, always have a grateful heart that God has given you another new day on this wonderful earth--- a fresh start to make it a great day for you and others. Always appreciate everything you have currently: your religion/beliefs in a higher power, your family, your job or your business, your friends, your hobbies, etc. in that order. This is what my dad taught me as a very young child and that is exactly how he lived his entire life.
Speaking about gratitude: being grateful for everything in your life: the good and bad things. Be sure to have this grateful mentality as soon as you wake up in the morning…...it will definitely set the tone of your day. For me, being grateful is something I have to practice daily. We need to really focus on how grateful we are to have a roof over our heads, food to eat, clothes to wear, etc. Today, not everyone is blessed with these things we ALL take for granted.
Helping others: I believe, this is the best thing any human being can do. By helping others, it takes the selfish focus off of ourselves and then we are able to truly care for others. Doing random things for others to show our generosity and caring ways, will always have a positive effect in our lives. Not all of us can or are able to give monies to help others less fortunate than us, but when I say helping others, I do not necessarily mean giving the less fortunate monies, but doing other caring and thoughtful things for them--- to show them that there truly are good peoples out there who truly care.
I would like to share the following with you all:
“The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised, and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coiffed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making a move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she sweetly smiled when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets, hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”
She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account; you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”
And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less
(Quoted from: Christian Life Ministry)**
I hope all of the above information I have shared with all of you is helpful in your quest to find happiness in your lives as we all go through this journey of life on this earth. So, until the next time, please keep on smiling, dancing and meeting new peoples on Smeet at all of our daily events. If you see me on Smeet, please say hi and if you have a question or would like to read topics that were never published in my past articles, please message me in private.
Always remember to love one another because Love conquers everything. God bless all of you and Happy Smeeting! <3
SAYURI, EN JOURNALIST