Welcome to Happy Thursday!!! Today may not be Thursday or you may be thinking, “I ain’t happy,” but HAPPINESS is what this section is about. Every Thursday there will be a post about happiness, joy and how to experience it. Here are a few quotes around happiness that I am sure most of you have heard:
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” —Winston Churchill
“Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all small stuff.” —Richard Carlson
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”—Mahatma Ghandi
In Happy Thursday, I will be adding posts about how to find happiness in life. No, I am not a Happiness Guru, nor do I have a degree in Psychology or Psychiatry. What I do have is life experience, tons of books under my belt, and live in a world that knows how to test my patience. I use to live each moment of my life, quickly completing one task or thing and moving to the next. I did this without ever really experiencing what I was doing at any given moment. I found myself stressed, over worked, and impatient with anyone who got in the way. Needless to say I wasn’t happy.
It’s easy to become consumed by this thing we call life. Where we are going through our days, going from one task to the next, trying to “get everything done.” We have this list of things to do that never seems to end. It is as if we are in a raging river, doing our best to reach for a branch to pull ourselves to the shore so we can catch our breath. And, as if the list of tasks was not enough, we have people in the world who are doing their own thing, which more times than we like to admit, can easily upset us as well.
Think about the last time you saw someone do something that you believe is not right. Did it barely bother you, make you snicker, or down right piss you off? How easily can your mood be changed by a stranger who does something that really has nothing to do with you? Perhaps they threw some litter on the ground, threw away a half plate full of food, or outright cut you off in traffic. Did you say something to them? Did your blood pressure rise? Did your respect for humanity drop a bit? More importantly, did what happen make you unhappy?
That’s the challenging part. You can’t rely on others to make you happy and bring you joy. You need to find that within yourself. Happiness is a practice, not a act. It needs to be practiced every day and in everything you do. Sure you will make mistakes and get angry at times, but with enough practice, you can be happy most of the time.
Of course there will be times when it will be impossible to be happy. With the loss of something significant, like a job, a friend, or a death, it is difficult to be happy. You obviously have a right to be sad and need to feel the loss. But you don’t have to be angry, mad, or sad because some guy cuts you off in traffic, says something rude, or disrespects you in some other way. You have a choice and that choice is to be happy.
On Happy Thursday, you can check out some of the things I have learned and tested to get a new perspective on happiness. Maybe an experience will be shared that you can relate with that changes your life.
Check in every Thursday on 5and2guy.com for our latest post!!!