Happ-E-Newsletter for August 15, 2004

Welcome My Dear Friend,
Sunday, August 1st, is International Friendship Day, and I consider you my very dear friend. That is why I wrote the article in this issue called happiness...JUST BE IT! You ask...Why? Life is short and you only have right now to start being happy! The question should be, Why Not? What are you being lately? If you not busy BEING HAPPY than what have you been so busy doing. Start Being Happy, right NOW!

Lance Armstrong said, "If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on."
Happiness Empowerment to You! LIVE RICHLY...PRACTICE HAPPINESS!

Happiness is one of the most important things in your life. Happiness is an inner state of well being. A state of well being that enables you to profit from your highest: thoughts, wisdom, intelligence, common sense, emotions, health, and spiritual values in your life. Happiness does wonders for your soul. I want you to practice "Premeditated Happiness." Happiness is an issue of power. We give our happiness to others for many reasons, and we think that they will make us happy. The truth is that we have given others the power over ourselves. We must take our power back in order to be happy again. Now is the time to learn to use happiness in dealing with challenges and difficult people in your life so you can develop the strength to prevail. 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!

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 Articles that are published every other Wednesday in the Fairfield Citizen-News. At the end of this newsletter you can read the latest article called: RELATIONSHIPS.

"A strange fact is that most of the time getting what we want won't change the essence of our lives very much." - Bob Nozik, M.D.
Think Smart, Look Smart, Be Smart...Be Happy! - Lionel Ketchian

Happ-E-Mail:) Just finished reading your newsletter, loads of fun and packed with good information about happiness. I'll look forward to reading them each month. I am also enjoying your "Be Happy Zone" article on Happiness Club Friends. I'm looking forward to a long and extremely satisfying relationship between the two of us. We'll have to meet in person one day. Happiness rules! All my best and I know you will continue to be happy. Author of Happy 4 Life: Here's How to do it. Bob Nozik, M.D.

Happ-E-Book Recommendation:) I have just finished reading Happy 4 Life: Here's How to do it, by Bob Nozik, M.D. and I recommend it to everybody who wants to be happy and learn how to do it. I have had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Nozik on the phone. He lives in California and he has been studying happiness and living it for 15 years. His experience, attitude and wisdom have produced this important contribution to the rapidly expanding field of human happiness. Read the recently published book, Happy 4 Life: Here's How to do it which is available on Amazon.com.

Happ-E-Quote:) "Living effectively means we need to differentiate between what we can and cannot change. Accepting what we can't change isn't the same as liking or condoning it. But acceptance frees us to put all of our energy and creativity into what we can change and improve in so doing, we become more effective in the world and promote happiness, for ourselves and others." - Bob Nozik, M.D.

Happ-E-Mail:) Thank you for the newsletter. I just printed it out for my mother. Oh, I read it as well. I really like Bill Cosby's quote. My mother will be so blown away that I chatted with you today. Have a great evening…I'm sure you will…you happy guy! O, Judy

Happ-E-Quote:) "The value of compassion cannot be overemphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be born by an individual than to know no one cares or understands." - Arthur H. Stainback

Happ-E-Mail:) When I was growing up in the l930's poverty was widespread in America. I never owned a new pair of shoes. I went to school in hand-me-downs two sizes too big. Try running to first base in shoes you can hardly get off the ground. When World War II ended, my generation was sick and tired of being poor. Millions of us who would never had gone to college without the G.I. Bill, roamed the corridors of the America's great universities with just one thought in mind - success. It is now the dominant theme of our society. It has reached cataclysmic proportions - success at any price fills the minds of our youths.

I was appointed a Vice President of a Fortune 100 company when I was 42. I knew many successful people. Here is my acquired wisdom based on many years of experience. "Every man I ever met had a strong desire for happiness yet I never knew a single person who attained happiness because they achieved success. On the contrary, I had a number of close friends die young. Stress did them in. It is time for a paradigm shift. We must teach our children nature's definition of success. "You are successful when you have made yourself a happy person." Seek fame and fortune only after health and happiness are well in hand. I love you all !!! mike - happyplace.net

Happ-E-Quote:) "The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." - William Wordsworth

Happ-E-Mail:) Can you please add me to your list to receive the happiness newsletter. Your web site is so inspirational and I hope to attend a meeting in the near future. Thanks, Tracy F.

Happ-E-Quote:) "Because I took a moment to speak And you took a second to smile A tiny part of me will leave with you And a little bit of you will stay." - Jevan

You will also find on page 66 this article...The Simple Secret To Happiness...which I think I seem to live most of the time...please note done on many pages a small colored block that tells you to go to various helpful web sites for more helpful hints to rediscover the joy of living for some folks...I am sooooo happy that I picked up this magazine yesterday at the grocery store...hope you can get a chance to see it at the library, etc. Have a brilliant, beautiful week, and be good to yourself...life is toooooo short not to value every gifted second on Earth! Blessings! Joanie

Happ-E-Quote:) "If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of the world, and his heart is no island, cut off from other islands, but a continent that joins them." - Francis Bacon

Happ-E-Quote:) "People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound." - As A Man Thinketh - James Allen

Happ-E-Mail:) Even though I have had my share of ups and downs I will choose to be up and be happy thanks to your words of inspiration and unconditional love you have for people in your life. Thanks and I hope your summer is going well. You always know how to put a smile on my face.... Thanks! All my love, Barbara

Happ-E-Quote:) "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances." - Thomas Jefferson

Happ-E-Quote:) "Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

The Happiness Show on TV:) Watch "The Happiness Show," every Monday night, at 9:30 - 10:00 PM. Your CO-hosts are Lionel Ketchian & George Ortega. The TV show is broadcast in six towns on Cablevision of Connecticut channel 77. It airs in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Milford, Orange, Stratford and Woodbridge. It can be seen on Cablevision in White Plains, New York on channel 76 every Thursday night, from 9:00 - 9:30 PM.

Happ-E-Quote:) "When we view life as little more than a series of unending irritants, our capacity for happiness is diminished. Or, more positively: in broadening our awareness so it includes the quite beauty and wonder of life, we allow appreciation and gratitude to raise our happiness." - Bob Nozik, M.D.

HAPPINESS CLUB MEETING:) Our next Happiness Club meeting will have a presentation called, Happiness…JUST BE IT! It will be on Thursday, August 19, from 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. at Sullivan Independence Hall, Fairfield, CT 06824. Come on down to the meeting. What's better than meeting some happy people? Admission is free. I look forward to seeing you at our meeting.

2004 UPCOMING HAPPINESS CLUB MEETINGS DATES:)
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Thursday, December 16, 2004

Directions to Fairfield Sullivan Independence Town Hall
725 Old Post Road (corner of Beach Road)
I 95 Southbound Exit 22: Left onto North Benson Road, then cross Post Road/Route 1 and
continue one block to stop sign. Take a right onto Old Post Road and continue one block to stop sign. Town Hall is across the street on the left and Independence Hall is down the driveway from Town Hall.
I 95 Northbound Exit 22: Right onto Round Hill Road, then cross Post Road/Route 1 and
continue one block to stop sign. Town Hall is across the street on the right and Independence Hall is down the driveway from Town Hall.

Happ-E-Quote:) "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

Happ-E-Quote:) "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Carl Bard

BE HAPPY ZONE
By Lionel Ketchian
August 11, 2004

RELATIONSHIPS

We have many relationships in our life. I have a great relationship with this newspaper and the nice people like you that read it. This is the beginning of my fifth year with the Fairfield Citizen-News. Thank you for the wonderful relationship that we share. I positively appreciate your interest in my column.

Relationships are very interesting. You start off by having a relationship with your mother and father, then you meet the rest of your family members. You developed relationships while growing up and making friends in school. You developed relationships at work. Then you find that special person that you want to spend the rest of your life with and live happily ever after. How does it all work out? For most people it turns out that relationships are one of the most difficult things they have experienced.

People think that relationships can cause happiness or that relationships can cause suffering. The truth is that relationships don't cause either one. Relationships can't make you happy, but if you are happy then you can experience happiness in your relationship. People think that relationships can make you experience suffering. The truth is that relationships do not make you unhappy or create suffering. They reveal the unhappiness that is within you.

You are probably saying to yourself right now, "He never met the person I am living with." Well, being right or wrong has nothing to do with it. It does not matter who is right or wrong. What matters is whether you react or respond to the person. The reason we react in a relationship is that something within us is there to begin with. If we get angry, sad or afraid, then the relationship can only evoke the emotion that was there all along to be provoked.

Relationships are a great way to experience knowing yourself. That is what a relationship can do for you. A relationship can get you to really know yourself better that anything in the world. Why does this happen? In every relationship there comes a time when the other person cannot meet the needs and demands that you think you have, or your ego thinks you have. This is when the problem presents itself. At this point the relationship acts more like an addiction than a loving bond. This is the point that you need to learn more about yourself than you ever have.

It is at this stage of a relationship that pain, suffering and unhappiness surface. They were there all along, but the relationship just enabled you to see it. The relationship is not here to make you happy. It is here to help make you conscious. In other words the relationship provides the means for you to realize you have a choice to be happy. The relationship cannot make you happy, it can only awaken you to your potentiality for being happy.

One of the biggest problems for relationships lies in the inability to let go of the past. The other side of the coin is our fear of the future. When we live in the moment we can truly embrace our relationship now. People believe that through negativity they can change their relationships. This is the heart of the problem. Only when you accept the situation in this moment and not resist it, can you have any power over it.

So, if you become unhappy in a relationship you have an opportunity for growth. Relationships give you a chance to get to know yourself and experience growth. The most important relationship you can have is with yourself. Just learn to be yourself. As you get to know yourself better and accept yourself you get along better with yourself. You are who you are, accept it. It does not matter what other people think of you. Self-acceptance is of the utmost importance in your relationship.

Once you have begun to like yourself and have stopped trying to change yourself, then you can finally become friends with yourself. This is one of the most important relationships you can have. Only when you have accepted yourself can you accept other people. Only when you stop being judgmental of yourself can you be less judgmental of others. It is at this time that you can love others as yourself. It all starts with being yourself, your direct relationship with yourself.

Our next Happiness Club meeting will be on Thursday, August 19, from 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. at the Fairfield Sullivan Independence Hall in Fairfield. The topic for the evening will be "Happiness…Just Be It!" Come on down, meet some great people, get connected, and be happy. Admission is free; everyone is welcome.

Legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein, lived from 1887 to 1983, and he loved life to the fullest. He once described himself as the happiest person he had ever met. As Arthur Rubinstein once said, "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."

Do you want to see Dr. Bernie Siegel?
The DVD Video: Conversations with Bernie, Health & Happiness, is ready for those who would like to see us. Dr. Bernie Siegel and I share in a delightful conversation together for over one hour. The interview took place in Dr. Siegel home, and it was aired on Public TV. Three cameras were used to beautifully capture the mood and the moment professionally done by Van Gorder Studios. You will feel like you are there with us, as we journey together. So join us and share the moment now!

This DVD Video aired on Public TV. It is presented in two parts.
Part One: To Learn and To Live
1. Introduction, 2. Kids as Teachers, 3. No False Hope, 4. Fifteen Minutes, 5. Love as a Weapon, 6. A Bitter Potion, 7. Worse Than Nothing, 8. A Past Life, 9. Credits.
Part Two: In the Journey Together
Introduction, 2. Wings, 3. Beyond Surgery, 4. The Journey, 5. Heal Your Life, 6. A Subway Doctor, 7. Wounded Healers, 8. A Modern Parable, 9. Credits.

You can order a copy by sending a check (payable in US funds) for $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping in the US, for as many DVD's as you want. Send check to LRK Communications, Inc. 63 Unquowa Road, Fairfield, CT 06824.

The DVD Video: Conversations with Bernie, Health & Happiness is available at one store: The Wisdom of the Ages, located at 1408 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT 06070. Phone #. 860-651-1172.

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.

"Don't let go of the vine." - John Weissmuller, from the film, Tarzan.
Life is full of opportunities. Go For It! Carpe diem!

© Copyright 2004, Lionel R. Ketchian, all rights reserved.