Hello my dear friends,
It is 11:30 at night as I am writing these words to you. I feel absolutely fantastic. One reason is for that is that I just left seven wonderful women who just completed my four week Happiness Class at Sacred Heart University. We all left feeling like we are ten feet tall. Happiness does wonders for your soul.

I want you to know that reading this newsletter will not just make your life better; it will make the world a better place because you have decided to be happy!

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't." - Richard Bach

SMILE, HAPPINESS BECOMES YOU!
Sending Love, and Happiness to you,
Lionel

Happ-E-Quote:) "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." - Count Leo Tolstoy

Happ-E-Purpose:) Reminding you to make the "Happiness Decision." Letting you know about our meeting dates, giving you more happiness information, and the latest copy of the Be Happy Zone Article that's published twice a month in the Fairfield Citizen-News. Read today's article called: Friends In High Places!

Happ-E-Quote:) "The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances." - Martha Washington

Happy Mail:) Thank you to Don Barnett for sending us this great mail. It is worth seeing. Hi Everyone, Here is your Fun Page for the day: "Be Happy Right Now"
http://www.flowgo.com/page.cfm?l=9046 Be Happy Right Now!

Happ-E-Quote:) "Attitude, humor and action (persistence) will whip fears and rejection. Fear of failure doesn't exist, if you believe it doesn't." - Jeffrey Gitomer

Happ-E-Mail:) Thanks to each and every one of you for sharing your caring words and thoughts. Please let us hear from you; spread your happiness, that is the surest way of Being Happy! Happinessclub.com is a site to see! Click here: www.happinessclub.com

Happ-E-Quote:) "The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Happ-E-Thought:) I was writing to Lynette about a talk she is going to be giving and I realized I was smiling because I was thinking about how nice a person she is. It is in this moment I have invented a Smile Break. Yes, it is better than a Smoke Break, and healthier for you. When you take a Smile Break you light up. When you take a Smoke Break you need to light up. Also smiling is the best face lift of all. Try it - you'll be HAPPY you did.

Happ-E-Mail:) Lionel, Enjoy!!!! This is the most beautiful e-mail I've ever seen and a
wonderful respite from the usual zaniness that fills cyberspace. Check out Interview with God. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click here: Interview with God
http://www.wordsofjoy.com/iwg.htm. - Martha

Happ-E-Quotes:) "The question in life is not whether you get knocked down. You will. The question is, are you ready to get back up and fight for what you believe in?"
- Dan Quayle

"In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high." - Henry David Thoreau

Happ-E-Run:) Relay For Life! The American Cancer Society is inviting you to join them in their annual Relay For Life of Fairfield, Starting at 7:00 PM on saturday June 8th, at Fairfield High School. For information call Jean Cummings at 203 563-0740 (press 3 and ext 239) or e-mail: jean.cummings@cancer.org.

Happ-E-Quote:) "We have enough people who tell it like it is--now we could use a few who tell it like it can be." - Robert Orben

Happy World:) The Trouble Tree by Author Unknown
The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farm house had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire had caused him to miss an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start.

As I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. When we arrived he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked to the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles; he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed by the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

"Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, they don't belong in the house with my wife and children. So, I just hang them on the tree when I come home in the evening and then I just pick them up again in the morning."

"Funny thing, though," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there ain't nearly as many as I remembered hanging there the night before."

Happ-E-Quote:) "Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict." - William Ellery Channing

Happ-E-Meeting:) Join us for our next Happiness Club meeting Thursday, May 9, from 7:00-8:45 p.m. The topic is "KINDNESS." Lynette Turner and Lionel Ketchian will be making presentations on the subject. Don't miss this valuable meeting, and meet some wonderful people using happiness in their lives.

Happ-E-Quotes:) "Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier." - Mother Theresa
"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." - Mother Teresa

Topic:) "KINDNESS."
Date:) May 9, 2002
Time:) 7:00 - 8:45 P.M.
Place:) Fairfield Public Library
In the:) Rotary Room
Address:) 1080 Old Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06430

Open to the Public and Admission is Free
Call Lionel Ketchian (203) 258-7777 or E-mail: PrintLRK@aol.com
http://www.happinessclub.com

Happ-E-Quotes:) "I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore there can be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do for any fellow being let me do it now...as I shall not pass this way again." -- William Penn

"Kind words and good deeds are eternal. You never know where their influence will end." - H. Jackson Browne

Directions to the Fairfield Public Library
From New York - I- 95, Exit 21, Mill Plain Road. Right at bottom of ramp. Under railroad overpass make a left at light (Post Rd.), 1/2 mile on right at the corner.
From New Haven - I- 95, Exit 22, North Benson Road. Left at bottom of ramp. Under railroad overpass make a right at light (Post Rd.), 1/2 mile on left at the corner.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
- Aristotle

BE HAPPY ZONE
Fairfield Citizen-News
April 24, 2002

Friends In High Places!
By Lionel Ketchian

I've got friends in high places. I am proud of the fact and I want you to know about it. Actually, they are my neighbors. They have some of the highest positions in Connecticut. Believe me, they live higher than you do. It doesn't matter who you are. You don't live as high as my neighbors.

Just this morning one of my neighbors came by to say hello. He usually stops by early in the morning to make sure I haven't left for work yet. He'll swing by and look in my window to see if I'm in the kitchen. I really don't mind because I know he's just being friendly, and friendliness is next to Godliness. So I'll open the door to my deck and say hello to my neighbor. He will stop by and sit on the deck rail to take a look at me and see how I'm doing.

Since he stopped by to see me I offer him a bite to eat. I toss him a peanut in the shell. He will swoop down and pick it up and take off with it. I know he is busy, so I leave him alone to do his thing and I get ready for work. The only thing I know about him is that he is a Tufted Titmouse. We have a really good relationship, and I'm grateful for it. "Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude." These were the words of Joseph Wood Krutch, a United States naturalist, conservationist, and writer, who lived from 1893 - 1970.

For those of you hearing it for the first time, a Tufted Titmouse is a bird. It is cute, and friendly bird, about 5 inches long, it is gray above and grayish white below with reddish-buff flanks. They were very rare in New England prior to the 1950s. They were only in Southern Connecticut, but now they are found all the way up to Maine. They have since made a great comeback.

Dr. Wayne Dyer says: "Don't evaluate your life in terms of achievements… Instead, wake up and appreciate everything you encounter along your path. Enjoy the flowers that are there for your pleasure. Tune in to the sunrise, the little children, the laughter, the rain, and the birds. Drink it all in … there is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.

I was looking out the window and I saw one of my other neighbors, a Black-capped Chickadee. He is only four inches long, with a small gray body and whitish underside. He has a distinctive black cap on his head with white cheeks. He is absolutely the cutest, friendliest neighbor I have. His relatives live down in northern New Jersey, and you can find them all the way up to Alaska!

He was sitting on his tree in our backyard looking at me. I got some crushed walnuts, one of his favorite foods, and went outside to say hello. He was very friendly, so we shook hands with each other. Yeah, I put the walnuts in my right hand and held it out for him. He flew on my hand and that's how we shook hands with each other. Of course he took what was offered to him. The old saying about a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, is absolutely true. A bird in the hand is an incredible spiritual experience.

Charles M. Schulz said: "Happiness is a warm puppy." That may be true, and everyone knows how friendly puppies are. They will probably run up to a stranger and greet them with love. While birds will check you out for years before they trust you enough to call you their friend. I guess our relationship, like any relationship is based on trust, love, patience, kindness, knowing a lot about each other, what they like to eat, not yelling at them, and leaving them alone when they want their freedom. It's funny I don't really ever see my neighbors smile. But I can tell you for sure that they are very happy. I am so glad I have friends in high places. They are too!

Join us for our next Happiness Club meeting Thursday, May 9, from 7:00-8:45 p.m. The topic is "Kindness," and will be held in the Rotary Room, at the Fairfield Public Library, located at 1080 Old Post Road. There is no charge for the kindness, or the meeting!

Sydney Smith said: "Try to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment."

I wonder if the word "Mankind," for the human race was meant to be the two words, Man and kind stuck together to form a description of ourselves. I kind of think so! It only costs peanuts a day to be kind. Besides, you'll have everyone eating out of your hand!

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

Share a smile and forward this Newsletter to your friends. Or, it's FREE, and easy to subscribe. Just send your e-mail to subscribe at: Happinessclub@aol.com, or subscribe online at: http://www.HappinessClub.com

Happ-E-Thoughts:) "When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation -- it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams." - Les Brown

"Self-esteem and self-love are the opposites of fear; the more you like yourself, the less you fear anything." - Brian Tracy

Enjoy it, and send it on to the friends you care about. Please feel free to forward this or any of the Happ-E-Newsletter to anyone you so desire. Please include the copyrights and credits due the authors.

Our mailing list and your name is never sold, traded, or given to anyone outside of our organization. So you can be happy about that!

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