Happ-E-Newsletter for May 15, 2002

Hello Dear Friend,

I welcome you with these glorious words from George Bernard Shaw: "The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

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!

"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend." - Robert Louis Stevenson

SMILE, HAPPINESS BECOMES YOU!

Sending Love, and Happiness to you,

Lionel

Happ-E-Quote:) "To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage." - Henri Matisse

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: SOLVING PROBLEMS.

Happ-E-Quote:) "Each of us has a spark of life inside us, and our highest endeavor ought to be to set off that spark in one another." - Kenny Ausubel

Happy Mail:) Thank you to Don Barnett for creating "Movie Meetings." If you live in Southern Connecticut and would like to get together with some happy people and go to the movies on Tuesday evenings than e-mail Don at Knicks777@aol.com

and he will be in touch with you for upcoming Movie Meetings.

Happ-E-Quote:) "Do not save your loving speeches for your friends till they are dead; Do not write them on their tombstones, speak them rather now instead." - Anna Cummins

Happ-E-Mail:) I am your 10,748th visitor............and I need a dose of "inspiration." Please forward me your newsletter. - Thank You, Nan

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! Our Happinessclub.com is a site to see! Click here: www.happinessclub.com. We went over the 11,000 counter mark.

Happ-E-Quote:) "Every man dies. Not every man truly lives." -- Braveheart

Happ-E-Mail:) Hope you have a great day...thought you might like this about happiness...see you tomorrow night at the Happiness Club Meeting... have a great day :-) Bambi :-)

RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS by: Joseph J. Mazzella

Just remember that although each person has a different recipe for happiness the ingredients always remain the same. You have to take a cup of what you think, stir in

a few ounces of what you feel, and sprinkle generously with what you do. If what you think is positive, what you feel is joyous, and what you do is loving then you will

always create a glorious dinner of delight and happiness for yourself and others. God has given each of us the ability to be the great chefs of our own lives. It is up to us, however, to create the recipes, do the cooking, and share the meal.

From: aamazinggrace.org

Happ-E-Quotes:) "To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right." - Confucius

Happ-E-Mail:) ENJOY LIFE AND TREASURE EACH DAY AS HAPPINESS CAN BE SNAPPED AWAY FROM YOU AT ANY TIME!!! - LOVE - CHRIS & GREG

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:) "Lives based on having are less free than lives based on doing or being." - E.Y. Harburg

Happ-E-Mail:) I already receive your WONDER - FILLED newsletter . . . . thank YOU for brightening my day! I have changed email addresses. Could you please send future newsletters to my new email address.....Thank you kindly! Karen P.

Happ-E-Mail:) This is an e-mail from a student of my Be Happy No Matter What Class at Sacred Heart University.

MORNING LIONEL!!!

I WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR CLASSES HAVE HELPED ME PUT EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE INTO PERSPECTIVE.

FIRSTLY, I WAS A REAL SKEPTIC ABOUT THE HAPPINESS CLASS AND RIGHT NOW AFTER YOUR LAST CLASS I CAN TRULY SAY YOU HAVE MADE A BELIEVER OUT OF ME.

WELL DONE! BECAUSE, LIKE MY FATHER I CAN BE STUBBORN.

I AM IN TOTAL AWE AT HOW LONG YOU'VE COMMITTED YOURSELF AND YOUR LIFESTYLE TO THIS.

I HAVE THIS SENSE OF PEACE AND FULFILLMENT INSIDE AND IT SEEMS TO FOLLOW ME NOW, AND I WILL CERTAINLY NOT TURN MY BACK ON HAPPINESS NOW.

YOU HAVE GIVEN ME SO MANY TOOLS TO WORK WITH THAT I KNOW I WILL MAKE IT NO MATTER WHAT LIFE THROWS MY WAY.

NOT ONLY DO I ADMIRE YOUR WILLPOWER BUT IT IS TRULY AMAZING TO KNOW THAT LIFE HAS NOT SHAKEN YOU AND YOUR PRINCIPLES IN ANY WAY.

YOU ARE TRULY AN EXAMPLE THAT HAPPINESS WORKS AND ENDLESS HAPPINESS WORKS EVEN BETTER.

YOUR CLASSES WERE TRULY LIKE THERAPY FOR ONE'S SOUL.

WE SET SO MANY LIMITS FOR OURSELVES AND WE BUILD SO MANY WALLS, WHEN WE SHOULD IN FACT FACE OUR FEARS AND BREAK DOWN THOSE WALLS.

THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO NEED TO LISTEN TO ALL THE THINGS YOU'VE SAID TO US DURING THE FOUR CLASSES.

THOSE WHO GET THE MESSAGE THAT HAPPINESS IS A DECISION, LEAVE AFTER THE FOURTH CLASS WITH A GIFT AND A WEAPON.

THANK U FOR BEING AN INSPIRATION, THE SAYING WHERE IT SAYS PEOPLE COME INTO YOUR LIFE FOR A REASON AND I BELIEVE THAT, I WAS IN YOUR CLASS TO LEARN AND EQUIP MYSELF FOR THE FUTURE.

SO ONCE AGAIN THANK U AND KEEP UP THE GREAT JOB.

FROM A.P.

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 Wednesday, June 19, from 7:00-8:45 p.m. The topic is "Happy Power." Marianne Schorer (more about Marianne in the next newsletter) 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. Please make a note that the next meeting is on a Wednesday not on Thursday like we usually have.

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

- Aristotle

Topic:) "Happy Power"

Date:) Wednesday, June 19, 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

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.

Happ-E-Thoughts:) "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

- Albert Einstein

BE HAPPY ZONE

Fairfield Citizen-News

May 8, 2002

SOLVING PROBLEMS

By Lionel Ketchian

The reality is that you will always have problems. Your ability to confront each of them will be the solution. Have you ever realized how powerful your ability to make a choice can be? Making a choice creates your reality. We live in a cause and effect universe. Reality can be observed as a chain of events. It is a progression of cause-and-effect events. What you do in this moment causes the action that takes place in the next moment, which is the effect of the moment before it.

We live in a cause-and-effect universe, yet some of you are only living at the effect of everything, and are reacting to everything. By making the right choices you can get closer to being the cause of what you want in your world, rather than be at the effects. The key is to come to the realization that you have the choice to decide what to do in every situation. When you exercise your choice to decide what to do in every situation, you are acting from your own power of choice.

You can't choose not to make a choice. Let's say you are standing on a railroad track and the train is coming and you cannot make up your mind to move off the tracks. The train finally runs you over and you die. You made a choice not to move. Can you see that fear leads you to make the wrong choices every time? When you listen to other people, and follow them, you are allowing them to make your choices for you. Do you really believe they always know what is best for you? When a doctor says you have a 30 percent survival rate because of the cancer that has just discovered you allow the doctor to make the choice for your survival. Depending on the choices you make, you alone will determine how long your existence will be.

When you come up against a situation that you cannot change do not let the situation change you. For example, finding out that you have cancer. If you let that change you, then you will lose your power to deal with it or change it. The way to deal with an unchangeable or unbearable situation is to totally accept it after you have done everything to change or eliminate it. The trick is accepting it only for the moment. What this gives you is the tremendous power and control of not being at the effect of something you do not like.

You do not have to face your problems, but you need to face your choices. That is the power of choice. Knowing you have a choice gives you power. This is far more important than you may realize. The next time you face a problem, ask yourself what choices are available. You can only make the best choice available to you. But first you need to know what your choices are. Happiness can allow you to see these choices very clearly. In a happy state of mind you can deal with any problem. You can better see what choices you have with clarity. This clarity enables you to deal with your problem. List all possibilities regarding your choices, than look at the two best choices in this situation, and choose the best one for this moment.

Once you have made a choice, then go with it and let go of the entire situation. You have done everything you can do for now. If you find a better choice in twenty minutes, then select it. In the meantime, your power to choose has accomplished many positive things. You have stopped worrying about the situation, started to realize your choices, and have decided to act on them. You can cause what you want to happen as a result of making the right choices. You can create a magnet of positive events. They start flowing toward you in your life. Your ability to make choices, or better yet, the right choices in every situation, gives you a step up to the best reality for the next moment.

Take a look at your problem. Do you have a choice about your problem? What choice or choices do you have regarding your problem? Some situations have no choice. If you do not have a choice, then why make it a problem? If you have no choice then you have no problem. Problems have solutions. If the problem is just a part of life and you don't accept it, then you will suffer as a result of you're reactions to your own negative thinking. Accept the situation or you are going to be unhappy. Not liking it makes it makes it more of a problem for you. If you have no choice then you have something you do not like. It's not that you really have a problem. You can get rid of many of the problems that you think you may have, if you keep this in mind. You always have the choice to live and enjoy your life and be happy!

An important dynamic to become aware of is that through the power of choice we hold the power to create more favorable effects. If you don't like what you're getting in life, change something! If you do not change something or act differently, you will end up with the same results. In order to change the outcome, because of the cause-and-effect link, you must change something. It has been said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results. That would be like seeing the same movie over and over because you did not like the ending and you were hoping the ending would be different this time around.

When you stop being at the effect of your circumstances, you begin to be at the cause of them. Without any effort you slowly dissolve the barrier that stopped you before. Your choice not to let this situation change you, works to change the situation. It is one of the laws of cause-and-effect. When life deals you an effect -- deal with the cause, and you become a master of the situation.

You can choose the way you will act. You can choose what you will read, listen to, and what you will believe. You can choose what you will eat and drink, and what you will say and do. You can even choose to let go of fear, hatred, unhappiness, depression and self-pity. You can choose the best for yourself and choose the best in yourself. Finally, you can choose the best in everyone else as well. You can choose to see someone as a "teacher" rather than as an enemy. What you choose expands. Your choice becomes your reality. Choose well my friend!

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!

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

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