Lighten Up… Be Happy!
The real secret to happiness is don't wait for it to happen, make it part of
your life. Join us at our monthly meeting of the Happiness Club in the
Fairfield Public Library at 1080 Old Post Road in the Rotary Room on
Thursday, January 18, 2001. Admission is free, so come enjoy the talk
"Lighten up ... Be Happy!"

Looking forward to seeing you!
Sending you Happiness,
Lionel

PS Sending you a copy of the next article that will be on the newsstand
tomorrow. It is sent to you with permission from the Fairfield Citizen-News.

Lighten Up… Be Happy!

January 15, 2001
BE HAPPY ZONE
By Lionel Ketchian

How are those new Years resolutions you made going? According to USA Today's
survey (January 15, 2001) of white collar workers, 48% have or would have
made reducing stress their resolution, 32% losing weight and 13% quit
smoking.

You may have made it through the first week and now you realize your not
keeping them. Don't be hard on yourself; Lighten Up… Be Happy! You say you
would like to be happy but you have problems. Guess what, everyone has
problems. It is a matter of not letting your problems affect you.

Are you worrying about your problems? Most people allow worry to get the
best
of them. Worrying is not going to solve your problems. In fact worrying is
just another problem for you to deal with. Thinking about your problems is
not worrying. That is because thinking is directed toward solving the
problem. Thinking about what solutions you have available to you. When you
come up with solutions you will not need to worry about your problems.

Lighten Up… Be Happy and you will find solutions to your problems faster.
You
will even find better solutions because you will be in a better frame of
mind. Lighten Up… change your attitude. Your attitude is a part of your
problem. Attitude has a dramatic effect on your problems and your life. How
does lighting up and being happy have a positive affect on you life? I'll
tell you the secret if you promise to tell everyone. It is all about POWER.
What is power but energy that you have control over. Energy is Power.
Happiness is Power. Happiness is energy of the highest order. Happiness is
your power source, get connected! As a source of power it can produce
energy.
Energy is all around us. It is not about finding energy and using the
energy.
It is about tapping into your power supply.

The connection is happiness. To prove it to you look at the opposite, which
is unhappiness. Unhappiness is a feeling of being disconnected. Unhappiness
is about being cut off from the energy that we feel when we are happy. In
today's world, when we think things are going well. Look at how we describe
both states of being. We describe unhappiness as being down and out or
feeling low. We describe happiness as feeling high or being in the flow.
Happiness is our connection to power. Happiness is our connection to one
another. When we experience happiness with another human being we feel
connected. Laughter produces the same results. As an aspect of happiness it
makes us feel better. It is an energy producer. It is a source of power as
well because it brings people together.

Remember the old saying, "Laughter is the best medicine?" A medicine changes
a weakened state into a healthy, more powerful state. To be able to lighten
up and laugh may be one of the most powerful things you can do. Especially
when things are not going well. A family member, a friend or you are not
feeling well. Maybe you're fighting a serious illness. How can lightening up
and being happy change such a serious situation? Lightening up can be the
most powerful thing you can do in a serious situation. The reason is that
you
are taking control of yourself. That is real power! To laugh often and much,
especially at your self can create the energy to overcome the illness.

Whether you have medical, financial or relationships problems, Lighten Up
and
Be Happy and notice the positive benefits. What are they? Being happy when
everything looks bad makes you take charge of the situation and yourself.
You
are not letting the situation tell you what to do. Once you become unhappy
you are letting the problem tell you what to think and how to act. When you
can Be Happy in the worst situation you become the most powerful person in
the world. You become more of who you really are. Problems do not make you;
they reveal who you really are.

Everyone want to be happy. To really be happy you must learn about happiness
as cause not as effect. Almost everyone lives his or her life with happiness
as effect. People want happiness, and hope it comes to them in their day to
day life. People wake up in the morning hoping it will be there in a
compliment or in something that happens to them during the day. The problem
with happiness as effect is no matter how much "good" things happen the
smallest "bad' thing takes it all away. This is the real reason most people
do not find happiness "out there."

There is another way to live your life. Live your life with "Happiness as
Cause." OK but how do you do that? Decide to be Happy -- No Matter What. You
wake up in the morning and decide to be happy. You go through the day and
experience people and events that would make most people unhappy, Not You!
You're too smart for that. You know that you and only you are not in charge
of your happiness, no one else is. You would not want anyone else to be in
charge of your happiness.

The secret to living your life is to Lighten Up… Be Happy! This is your
power
source for energy that is rarely experienced. Yes, it does take discipline
to
stick to the resolution to be happy. It is worth it, believe me. Nothing
makes more sense than Being Happy. It will carry you through the valleys of
despair to the mountaintop of joy.

You have a right to be unhappy. I cannot talk you out of it. Most people
have
allowed unhappiness to be their strategy to living their life. Does it feel
right to you? Of course not! There is another way. Lighten Up… Be Happy and
you will be the cause of what you experience. No one can change your
attitude
without your permission. Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they
don't. You may not always get to choose what happens. You always get to
decide how you feel about what happens.

Lighten Up… Be Happy and become the most powerful person you have ever
known.
Another important key to Being Happy is that you must want happiness even
more than wanting to get rid of your problem. Happiness will give you the
energy to overcome your problem if it is at all possible. Control your power
and control your problem. Happiness is the power you have, choose it and use
it well.

The real secret to happiness is don't wait for it to happen, make it part of
your life. Join us at our monthly meeting of the Happiness Club in the
Fairfield Public Library at 1080 Old Post Road in the Rotary Room on
Thursday, January 18, 2001. Admission is free, so come enjoy the talk
"Lighten up ... Be Happy!"

Lionel Ketchian is the founder of the Happiness Club. He can be reached at
PrintLRK@aol.com. The Web site is www.HappinessClub.com