HAPPINESS

Happiness is not a goal. 
It’s a decision.  

                                                                                 WWenn

The soul who blesses will prosper,
Whoever satisfies others will also be satisfied.

                                                                               Proverbs 12:25

The individual busy at work, at work he likes, is safe.  This way sanity, health and happiness lie.

                                                                                E. Hubbard



“We get closer to the divine by accepting that suffering cannot be escaped, but must be embraced as part of life.  ‘Following your bliss’ is not a call to narcissism and getting what you want.  It is pursuing the rapture that resides at the core of your suffering.”
                                                                             Robert A. Johnson



In seeking contentment,
we are like the proverbial donkey chasing a carrot on a stick.  If he stands still, he does not get the carrot, but if he chases after it, he still doesn’t catch it.  What can he do?  
    The answer is this:  you don’t need to do anything.  Your pursuit of contentment assumes that there is something the “I” can do beyond its ordinary tasks, and it is this very conceit that is the problem.  It is hard for us to let go of our pride and accept that “what is” is.
     … It is closer to the truth to say that contentment comes to us as divine grace.
                                                                           Robert A. Johnson


What would your day be like …
 if in every interaction with another you treated that person not just as a means to some end but as the very point and fulfillment of your life?  How might it feel if you were treated this way?  Such a day would surely bring a real measure of contentment.               
                                                                            Robert A. Johnson



JOY
“From joy springs all creation.
 By it is sustained.
 Towards joy it proceeds,
 And to joy it returns.”
                Mundaka Upanishad



“We worry as though we had a thousand years to live!  Let us rather always strive after the gentle humor of the heart, which knows how to smile at the world, at our fellow-men, and at itself, and which can stand a little above things.”   
                                                                             Nico


“You should not anger yourself about this world:
it does not care.  Whatever comes, assign to its proper place in your little world and you will be happy!”    
                                                             Plutarch



Happiness is not having what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you have.




“Optimism is the true philosophers’ stone,
which turns to gold
everything it touches.”          
                                       Jean Etienne Chaponniere

There is no other true happiness in the world
except that of a soul content with its condition. 
This is the way to carry heaven about with you.

                                       Alphonsus de Sarasa


Chinese proverb
Secrets of Happiness
If you want happiness for an hour
… take a nap.
 If you want happiness for a day
… go fishing.
 If you want happiness for a month
… get married.
 If you want happiness for a year
… inherit a fortune.
 If you want happiness for a lifetime
… help others.



“Now I enjoy life.  I might say that with every year that passes I enjoy it more.”  Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and social reformer, ascribed this feeling to three things: 
(1) discovering what were the things he most desired;
(2) dismissing certain objects of desire as essentially unattainable;
and (3) the most important element, a diminishing preoccupation with himself.
                Bertrand Russell, as quoted by Dr. George Sheehan

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
and the man who gets understanding,
for the gain from it is better than gain from silver
and its profit better than gold. 
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her. 
Long life is in her right hand; 
in her left hand are riches and honour. 
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace. 
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; 
those who hold her fast are called happy.
Proverbs 3: 13-18