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This journey is mainly fuelled by humour!

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Happiness 101



 “Be Happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam

These past few days, I have been seating, looking outside at the frozen lake and mountains and philosophing (I know spell check this is not a word… just deal with it!) about what do we have to be so happy about?

In the past 6 months, life had a lump in our road. My wife lost a breast to cancer. We had just sold our house and had bought a condo in Florida. We were winter clothing less, house less and health less. I would think that happiness would have been so far out of reach! But we are happy! Why?

Happiness is not what is around you, it is inside you!

Let me give you an example, we are presently in our “summer” home at the camping, there is no running water. For most, this is enough to stay away and we are, most of the time, the only ones here! We get visits from friendly deer, birds and an odd cat, we are happy with that. Pretty soon, the deer will be replaced by our dear friends, doesn’t matter, we will be happy with that. So if we are alone, we are happy and if there are people we are happy!

My favourite season is fall followed closely by winter. This might seems like a contradiction as we bought a condo in Florida and I was about to loose one of my favourite season… but I was happy. Why?

To be happy you must welcome compromise and be adaptable. There is no magic formula, that’s it! We are not fretting on trivial (and sometimes not so trivial) events that we don’t have control over. When we make a decision, we assume the consequences and take our responsibilities.

Things you don’t have control over are out of your control, you still can be happy. When Christiane came back from her mastectomy, I can tell you I was so happy to see her coming back that I was tear-happy!

One more ingredient in the happy-pot-pourri… Faith! I pray daily, we all have our own and privilege relationship with God. I’m not saying my faith is the exclusively good one, I think even people without Faith… have Faith! Faith in man kind, Faith in themselves, Faith in others, Faith in the future, it doesn’t matter, I think all Faiths are related back to One!

One more thing that always make me happy… Comments!





12 comments:

  1. yep... I'd say happiness is as happiness does... hahaa... my favorite song when I get a load of myself heading toward a pity party is ..,. You can't rollerskate in a buffalo herd but you can be happy if you've a mind tol...

    http://youtu.be/skFWsc_-i14

    Hope you and Christiane have a stellar day ... I know you will ;)

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    1. Hahahaha Great song Carolyn, IO think for anyone at the pity party, it should bring a smile to their face :)

      The weather will not go above freezing today but it's OK, we will walk faster.

      Hugs

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  2. You said it perfectly, Richard! And I agree with all my heart. Except for the winter part. Winter does not make me happy...hahaha... But I find things to do on really cold winter days that do make me happy. So there's always a way, isn't there?

    I like your positive attitude. My husband and I don't fret about things we have no control over. We don't even plan very far into the future because life's road unfolds as you walk along it. Best to just take one day at a time and make the most of it.

    (Hahahahaha...I loved that video that Carolyn left a link for. She certainly does share the best things!)

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    1. And this is my point Martha, it is not things (like the great winter season haha) that make us happy, it’s in us!

      I was raise in a family where negativity and neglect was running rampant! I couldn’t do anything good, and I left as soon I could. I was 17, best decision ever! From then on life was a positive time. I haven’t talk, wrote or heard from anyone in my family for the past 20 years. Just one more example that if you are designs to be happy and positive, it is not because of your surrounding.

      Like you point out, being with the right spouse has the advantage of having someone to share and create our happiness with, in our case we have been married for 35 years… That’s a lot of happiness :)

      Yes Carolyn is an unlimited source of surprises!

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  3. Oh pawpaw, you're just like a Disney princess. Dancing around happily with all your furry forest friends.

    - Hairy Toes

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    1. Dear HT, you are confuse... the princess is with you at home, she is probably sleeping in MY chair! hahaha

      Our furry friends are not so friendly... If the basket of food is empty, they just stay by the window and seems to say: "Hey man what are you waiting for... we want our meal NOW!". But, as soon I open the door to feed them... they run away like I was some kind of monster that want to show them the empty space we have in our freezer.

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    2. Try singing a song about friendship. That usually works with forest creatures.

      - Hairy Toes

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    3. Have you been watching too much of the Disney channel again?

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  4. Thanks for the reminder to be happy.

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    1. Bonjour Sara, I don't think YOU need much reminder! True be told, Statcan is one of the best employer in Canada, it would be soooo perfect if that was not for QA! hahaha

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  5. Hey Richard, you are number one in my book. Great positive post today. Living in the moment and making the best of what you have is the answer, everything else it just not real because....

    One of my motto is " A grateful heart is a happy heart" and you seem to have both.
    Have a great day, hugs to both of you.

    JB

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    1. Bonjour Julia, Yea I’m number one… and you read the bible… if you don’t mind, I’ll be glad to be number two hahaha

      Life is not mean to be live in a dark closet… it is a party with lights and music where every one can enjoy each moment (I heard the after-party is even better :)).

      Yes dear Julia, lets be grateful, lets our heart be happy, lets party!

      Hugs from us

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