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What’s it all about?
The well-deserved attention recently given to the Pope on his US visit brought to my mind… the Dalai Lama -- a spiritual leader associated with a religion that predates (and yet honors) the teachings of Christ, as well as others. The Dalai Lama has also visited the US, but with far less fanfare. His teachings posit that our purpose in life is to be happy; not in a selfish way -- but in a way that extends to all others.
Our caring for and about others, of course, evolves from how we feel about and treat ourselves. On a scale of 1 - 10, we (Frank & Ginny) rate our current happiness at 11 -- easily, though we’ve come by it the hard way (as most do). Here are some ways we’ve found effective in keeping ourselves at the top of the curve (except for occasional, normal fluctuations).
Success
From success guru Jim Rohn: To be successful at your profession, work harder on yourself than on your job. We do. We pay close attention to what we eat, when we sleep, how we exercise, the quality of our relationships, the importance of maintaining a healthy environment, and the value found in… having fun.Creative Solutions Frank & I (Ginny) pride ourselves on being creative, and highly recommend it to others. Example: Frank swears that when I make coffee in the morning, it tastes better. I am certain that when he makes coffee, it tastes better. Obviously we could take turns making the coffee, but this would limit our satisfaction to 50%. Our solution: We have two coffee pots. I make his coffee, he makes mine. Drinking our coffee together in the morning makes us both… happy 100% of the time!
Making Choices
We can all look back and dredge up miserable memories. Yes, we need to process our past; but our goal should be to learn from it, then pronounce it dead and bury it. The longer we carry it around with us, the longer our misery… makes us miserable. Example: My stepfather was not a good man; however, I, as a tomboy, one year asked for a BB gun for Christmas. My mother put out the word: NO BB GUN! The only person who didn’t have to listen to her was my stepfather, and HE put my new BB Gun under the tree. This is a happy memory that springs to mind when I remember him.Taking Action
As for creating happiness -- wanting, wishing, visualizing, praying, and even believing are truthfully not enough to get the job done. Sorry. (On May 30 we are teaching an evening class at Delta College called The Secrets Behind The Secret, a movement dealing with “happiness” in what we consider a highly naive way. If interested, call SJDC at 209-954-5013). Whether you’ve read The Secret or not, an odd little book that we do recommend is The Four Agreements (by Ruiz), which helps to free readers from the unavoidable conditioning of society. This little book has integrity, offers an approach that is do-able, and elicits results that are more deeply rewarding than those promised in The Secret.
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