Reminding you to make the "Happiness Decision." Letting you know about our meeting dates, giving you happiness information, and your latest copy of the Be Happy Zone Article's that are published every other Wednesday in the Fairfield Citizen-News. At the end of this newsletter you can read the latest article called: TWO WAYS TO BE UNHAPPY.

"Fear is the cancer of the human spirit." - Rick Beneteau
Think Smart, Look Smart, Be Smart...Be Happy! - Lionel

Happ-E-Mail:) You have a great site. What a neat Idea for a club. It's wonderful. I will have to join. I check out your book suggestions and I too have read most of those as well. Yet, your missing one very important book from your library of Happiness books. It's called, The Little Guide To Happiness. You might want to check it out. Janice Williams

Happ-E-Quote:) "We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." - Lee Iococca

Happ-E-Mail:) Great newsletter as always.By the way...Alison from Prospect house asked me to teach a class in homeopathy for the shelter. This is a direct result of meeting her at the happiness club. I am going to donate my time to the shelter. I teach a fabulous course in emergency medicine and it is a practical course. Hope to teach it to the police and fire dept as well. So we are all spreading happiness I guess. See you at the May meeting. Betsey

Happ-E-Quote:) "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." - Robert Louis Stevenson"

Happ-E-Mail:) Once again you have provided me with a smile, a hug, and happiness. Reading your column is like dancing among the spring flowers on a bright sunny day. Love, Barbara Rudolph

Happ-E-Quote:) "Obstacles are necessary for success, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. Yet each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your courage
and your endurance, your ability and your confidence and thus each obstacle is a comrade-in-arms forcing you to become better... or quit. Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future." - Og Mandino

HAPPINESS CLUB MEETING:) Join us for our next Happiness Club meeting Thursday, May 15, from 7:00-8:45 p.m. The topic is HAPPINESS IS ALL YOU NEED. Don't miss this valuable meeting, and meet some wonderful people using happiness in their lives.

Topic:) HAPPINESS IS ALL YOU NEED
Date:) Thursday, May 15, 2003
Time:) 7:00 - 8:45 P.M.
Place:) Fairfield Public Library
In the:) Rotary Room
Address:) 1080 Old Post Road, Fairfield, CT

Open to the public and admission is free. www.happinessclub.com.
Call Lionel Ketchian (203) 258-7777 or E-mail: PrintLRK@aol.com

Directions:
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-Quote:) "Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things." - Frank A. Clark

Happ-E-Mail:) I thought the happiness club might be interested in this web site,
www.light-up-your-life.com. Sincerely, Michael Gluckman, michael@light-up-your-life.com

Happ-E-Quote:) "No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." - Agnes DeMille

Happ-E-Mail:) Hi!- My is Pam and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Is there still room at the Peppermill for me to attend the meeting in June. Do you have meetings in the summer?

Happ-E-Quote:) "The ability to love oneself, combined with the ability to love life, fully accepting that it won't last forever, enables one to improve the quality of life." - Bernie S. Siegel

DR. BERNIE SIEGEL AT HAPPINESS CLUB DINNER MEETING:) Join Dr. Bernie Siegel and the Happiness Club for a dinner celebration to honor Bernie's work in bringing happiness to the world. Dr. Siegel is the author of Love, Medicine and Miracles. He has written several other books and is also the founder of ECaP - Exceptional Cancer Patients, in 1978. To see and listen to Dr. Siegel: Click here: Conscious Healing

The dinner meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 25th at the Peppermill Restaurant in Westport. You can find maps and travel directions on their web site Click here: Peppermill Restaurant in Westport, CT.

Event: HAPPINESS CLUB DINNER WITH DR. BERNIE SIEGEL
Place: Peppermill Restaurant
Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Address: 1700 Post Road East, Westport, CT 06880
Time: 6:30 - 9:30 P.M.
Price: $32 includes tax and tip. Payment must be received by June 11, 2003
Choose one: A) Aged, Boneless Prime Rib of Beef
B) Baked Stuffed Jumbo Shrimp with Seafood Stuffing
C) Chicken Cordon Blue
D) Vegetarian Plate - Roasted Vegetable Trio (eggplant, zucchini & yellow squash) tossed with penne pasta and marinara sauce.
Includes: Salad, entrée and vegetable, rice pilaf or roasted potato, soft drinks, coffee, cake and ice cream.

$32 Check payable to:
American Litho
63 Unquowa Road
Fairfield, CT 06824

Please send your check along with your choice of entrée.
Seating is limited, if you wish to attend please send your check today!
Lionel Ketchian (203) 258-7777, E-mail: PrintLRK@aol.com.

Happ-E-Quote:) "No one lives forever; therefore, death is in not the issue. Life is. Death is not a failure. Not choosing to take on the challenge of life is." - Bernie S. Siegel

BE HAPPY ZONE
Fairfield Citizen-News
May 7, 2003

TWO WAYS TO BE UNHAPPY
By Lionel Ketchian

There are really only two ways to be unhappy. The first way is not getting what you want. The second is getting what you want. OK, that may seem strange to you, but it's true. We all know that the first way, which is not being happy unless you get what you want, seems reasonable. However, to think that we can be unhappy even when we get what we want seems strange.

If getting what you wanted made you happy, how come you're not happy yet? There must have been times that you satisfied what you wanted. How come you're not happy now? Perhaps you have based your happiness on external reasons. You let circumstances and situations, and people dictate how happy you can be. This is not a very effective way to run your life. It certainly is not the way to experience a happy life.

I really love good quotes because of the insights they impart to us. Let's see what some smart people have said about being happy.

Bernie Siegel, MD said, "Recognize that if you don't like your life and if you can't change your external circumstances at this point, you can change your attitude toward your life. You can say, "I choose to be happy. I choose to view what I do every day as a way of contributing love." When you go about your life with this attitude, you'll find that your circumstances do begin to change."

Andy Rooney said, "For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you're not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness."

Sarah Ban Breathnach had said, "When we can't access our inner resources, we come to the flawed conclusion that happiness and fulfillment come only from external events. That's because external events usually bring with them some sort of change. And so we've learned to rely on circumstances outside ourselves for forward or backward momentum as we hurtle through life. But we don't have to do that any longer. We can learn to be the catalysts for our own change."

Dennis Prager said, "One day... the thought occurred to me that being unhappy was easy -- in fact, the easy way out -- and that it took no courage, effort, or greatness to be unhappy. Anyone could be unhappy. True achievement, I realized at an early age, lay in struggling to be happy. To this day, when I am unhappy I tell myself that I am taking the easy way out, that happiness is a battle to be waged and not a feeling to be awaited."

Joseph Campbell had said, "The way to find out about your happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you really are happy -- not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what I call 'following your bliss.' If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time."

The author of this piece is Jerry, a friend of Harvey Mackay. "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today: you can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood. The bottom line: it's your choice how you live life."

Our next Happiness Club meeting will be held on May 15, from 7:00-8:45 p.m. The topic is HAPPINESS IS ALL YOU NEED. Don't miss this valuable meeting and the opportunity to meet some wonderful people who are using happiness in their lives. The meeting will be held at the Fairfield Public Library, located at 1080 Old Post Road, in the Rotary Room. There is no charge for the meeting or the happiness you will find. Join Dr. Bernie Siegel and the Happiness Club for a dinner celebration to honor Dr. Siegel's work in bringing happiness to the world. Dr. Siegel is the author of Love, Medicine and Miracles. You can find additional information on our web site.

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.

Share a smile and forward this motivating Happ-E-Newsletter to your friends and family members you care about. Brighten their day by giving them a FREE Newsletter. Or, it's FREE, and easy to subscribe, just send your blank e-mail to happinessclub@aol.com, or subscribe online at: www.happinessclub.com.

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle." - Erin Majors

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you 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. You can smile about that!

REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS: To be removed from this Happ-E-Newsletter reply with "Remove" in the subject line.

Life is full of opportunities. Go For It! Carpe diem!

© Copyright 2003, Lionel R. Ketchian, all rights reserved.