HAPPINESS:

I don’t know why I chose today to bring a happy story, but as I sit writing this I sense it was a good choice. The weekend offers more time with your family and friends, and it is only a full working day away.

Do you celebrate a birthday in a big way? My observation is why wait a full year to be happy! I try to make every day full of the essence that brings forth a cheerful attitude.

Photo Courtesy: readersdigest.com.au

Today’s story is slightly different, it is more like a joke than a story, but hidden within it is a confirmation that certain things are more important than others.

If you strive for financial prosperity, would you bend your head down and charge your way through life, bustling everything out of your way. Or would you do your job to the best of your ability, remain cheerful and happy and watch with due care and attention as the play of life unfolds.

Chris Evert, the American tennis player once said, “If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that is a big accomplishment. That quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life.”

It is how you view life that assists in your efforts to be happy. Everyday situations arise that try to knock you off your pedestal, almost as if a magnet is pulling you down.

To do a certain task may hold you in high esteem amongst your colleagues, but to do it with grace, nobleness, cheerfulness and a most pleasant attitude; will imply that you have room for more. You have a big heart, but wait until they see it at its biggest. You are determined, but wait until they see you totally committed. In other words you’ll appear to breeze through every task, in fact you’ll find no need to impress people with what you do, it will be obvious.

Please enjoy this story, you’ll not be able to resist telling others…

100 POINTS

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter says, “Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in.”

“Okay,” the man says, “I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart.”

“That’s wonderful,” says St. Peter, “that’s worth two points!”

“Two points!?” he says. “Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.”

“Terrific!” says St. Peter, “that’s certainly worth a point.”

“One point!? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans.”

“Fantastic, that’s good for two more points,” he says.

“TWO POINTS!!?” the man cries, “At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!”

“Thank you for seeing that, that’s worth 95 points, please come in,” said St. Peter.

(Unknown Author).

Don’t TRY to impress, by doing impressive things. Allow your roots to be fed with love, grace and a happy attitude. Then everything that grows will be impressive without TRYING…

QUOTE: “Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.”

(Eugene Delacroix).

HAPPINESS:

QUOTE: “Be happy with what you’ve got, rather than waste all your life striving for something that you expect to make you happy.”

That quote is saying be happy now, rather than wait until tomorrow. You may recall saying something like this, “I’ll be happy when I get my new car tomorrow.”

What is wrong with being happy now? As a general rule of thumb, every upon every piece of written material that encourages you to be more prosperous in life, in both money and health; starts with motivating you to be happy.

courtesy: 1.bp.blogspot.com

Happiness attracts happiness. Happiness opens doors you never thought existed.

Whatever you have been striving for, whether that be for something in the next week, month, year or decade, be happy first and watch that goal become more achievable by the second.

Make the most of what you have, smile at the very fact that you are alive and well. Appreciate the small things, offer love and affection to the big things; you’ll notice that you become a magnet for more happiness.

If you cannot see anything to be happy for, try turning a negative into a positive or if you can turn a sour moment that becomes a test of endurance into a cherished moment, you’ll become an inventor of happiness. In fact… just remember this next story, it’s a gem.

CRACKED or PERFECT

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house. The cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

“I am ashamed of myself, and want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again he expressed his feeling to the water bearer.

He replied by saying, “Did you notice that flowers were only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side?

That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

(Unknown Author).

QUOTE: “No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.”

(Barbara De Angelis)

HAPPINESS:

Happiness is the result of action. We know this but don’t often apply it.

Practical Philosophy isn’t a serious study that would take four years at college or university. It is a reminder of good principles, beliefs and life’s fundamentals. So happiness is a result of action. But his is positive action of course. You may think a monk or a nun does nothing. But their action is offering their soul to the lord. For every action a criminal does, it is one step nearer to trouble. This of course is stating the obvious.

You will also know that greed, desire and keeping up with the Jones’s can cause heartache and  unhappiness. We know this but we still subscribe to it. Not in a big way, but in a small way.

QUOTE: “Boredom is simply a lack of attention.”

(Christopher Fremantle - 1906 – 1978 Philosopher, Teacher).

This may not apply to you, but many people desire to eat when they are bored! The answer to boredom is to become attentive and not eat (or over eat).

To start a desire for anything other than a necessity begins a spiralling effect. If you don’t get it  on your first visit, the intensity of that desire gets bigger and stronger. It can start to take up  more and more of your life. It engulfs everything.

If you can control your desire, you can control your happiness.

RELEASING THE COWS
(Told by Master Thich Nhat Hanh)

One day the Buddha was sitting in the wood with thirty or forty monks. They had an excellent  lunch and they were enjoying the company of each other. There was a farmer passing by and  the farmer was very unhappy. He asked the Buddha and the monks whether they had seen his  cows passing by. The Buddha said they had not seen any cows passing by.

The farmer said, “Monks, I’m so unhappy. I have twelve cows and I don’t know why they all ran  away. I have also a few acres of a sesame seed plantation and the insects have eaten up  everything. I suffer so much I think I am going to kill myself.

The Buddha said, “My friend, we have not seen any cows passing by here. You might like to look  for them in the other direction.”

So the farmer thanked him and ran away, and the Buddha turned to his monks and said, “My  dear friends, you are the happiest people in the world. You don’t have any cows to lose. If you  have too many cows to take care of, you will be very busy.

“That is why, in order to be happy, you have to learn the art of cow releasing (laughter).

You release the cows one by one. In the beginning you thought that those cows were essential  to your happiness, and you tried to get more and more cows. But now you realize that cows are  not really conditions for your happiness; they constitute an obstacle for your happiness. That is  why you are determined to release your cows.”

QUOTE: “We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that  we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

(Charles Kingsley)

HAPPINESS:

QUOTE: “Be happy with what you’ve got, rather than waste all your life striving for something that you expect to make you happy.”

That quote is saying be happy now, rather than wait until tomorrow. You may recall saying something like this, “I’ll be happy when I get my new car tomorrow.”

What is wrong with being happy now? As a general rule of thumb, every upon every piece of written material that encourages you to be more prosperous in life, in both money and health; starts with motivating you to be happy.

Happiness attracts happiness. Happiness opens doors you never thought existed.

Whatever you have been striving for, whether that be for something in the next week, month, year or decade, be happy first and watch that goal become more achievable by the second.

Make the most of what you have, smile at the very fact that you are alive and well. Appreciate the small things, offer love and affection to the big things; you’ll notice that you become a magnet for more happiness.

If you cannot see anything to be happy for, try turning a negative into a positive or if you can turn a sour moment that becomes a test of endurance into a cherished moment, you’ll become an inventor of happiness. In fact… just remember this next story, it’s a gem.

CRACKED or PERFECT

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house. The cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

“I am ashamed of myself, and want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again he expressed his feeling to the water bearer.

He replied by saying, “Did you notice that flowers were only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side?

That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

(Unknown Author).

QUOTE: “No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.”

(Barbara De Angelis)