Dear Happy Friends:)
,
See you all at our next meeting Thursday, September 13, 2001.
Be Happy! Stay Happy!
Lionel
P.S. Read the article Declaration of Happiness! below!
BE HAPPY ZONE, By Lionel Ketchian
July 4, 2001, Fairfield Citizen-News
Declaration of Happiness!
The Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776. It is our nation's most cherished symbol of liberty, as well as being Jefferson's most abiding monument. Jefferson expressed the convictions in the hearts and minds of the American people with his philosophy of "self-evident truths."
The following is a well known excerpt from the Constitution: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson believed in happiness so much that he was quoted as saying: "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate objective of good government." The pursuit of Happiness really means the chasing of happiness. We need a Declaration of Happiness! We must declare that we already have happiness in order to begin to know happiness. Back in 1776 we lived lives of quiet desperation. Since then, things have changed a little. Now we live lives of noisy desperation. John Locke said, "The necessity of pursuing true happiness is the foundation of our liberty."
Thomas Jefferson, who lived from 1743 to 1826 has said, "Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind." He certainly understood happiness well. His definition proves his understanding of the subject. We need to understand happiness better, we need to update the words "pursuit of happiness" to that of the right to "Be Happy," or even better "Being Happy." This collective understanding of happiness needs to include "Unconditionally Happiness." Arthur Rubinstein explains this well by saying, "Accept life unconditionally. Life holds so much - - so much to be happy about always. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can be felt only if you don't set any conditions."
Henry David Thoreau said, "Things do not change, we change." Making a decision is very important. The decision to be happy is one of awareness. A decision is different from a choice in many ways. You must think in order to make a decision. Once made it serves as a guide to letting you know where you are headed. Having decided to be happy allows you to realize you have made that decision once and for all. You have to make choices all the time. This is where people confuse themselves. They don't know what choice to make, because they never made a decision. Bertrand Russell said, "Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile." I don't have to choose other things over my decision to remain happy. I just need to keep choosing happiness. I have consciously decided that being happy is the best choice to make in every situation.
Thomas Jefferson has been quoted as saying, "Our greatest happiness… does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits." By making your Declaration of Happiness you will be stating your independence. If you are unhappy, at the present time, then you are dependent on other people and situations to make you happy. Break free of those chains; proclaim your independence from dependence. Don't be dependent on anything to make you happy. As Robert Louis Stevenson said, "The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions."
Benjamin Franklin shows us how important happiness is in his quote; "To the discontented man no chair is easy." This certainly gives us a positive pill to swallow. It is a thought pill that can bring us to the realization that unhappiness never works. As you engage in the Happiness Revolution you must begin to understand that money is a wonderful commodity but it will never buy you happiness. George Bernard Shaw said, "I plead for a science of happiness to cure us of the miserable delusion that we can achieve it by becoming richer than our neighbors." Maybe Ben Franklin will convince you since he said, "As for money - Don't you remember the old saying, "Enough is as good as a feast?" Money never made a man happy yet nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and trebles that want another way."
Another piece of good advice from Henry David Thoreau may clarify things for you; "A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone." Benjamin Franklin sums it up with, "Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day." You can't afford not to be happy, it is your true wealth!
"What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness. Happiness is the rational understanding of life and the world," said Beruch Spinoza. John Buchan puts it so well when he states; "Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown. But Joy is a positive thing; in Joy. . . something goes out from oneself to the universe, a warm possessive effluence of love. There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make happiness."
Seven days of unhappiness makes one weak. If you want to feel strong during the week, then you've just got be happy! Let Henry David Thoreau assure you by saying; "I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor."
We need a new revolution, an evolution within ourselves. As John F. Kennedy said, "The efforts of governments alone will never be enough. In the end, the people must choose and the people must help themselves." We must proclaim a new Independence Day. Today, join the Proud, the Few, the Happy! Give up your dependence on happiness coming from outside sources. Join the Happiness Revolution! Exercise Your Unalienable Rights and Make Happiness Your Declaration of Independence. Happiness is contagious … become a carrier.
Lionel Ketchian is the founder of the Happiness Club, a Happiness Coach, and can be reached at PrintLRK@aol.com. The Web site is www.HappinessClub.com
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