Life is complicated, happiness is simple!

Do you wake up in the morning with negative thoughts entering your mind? Do you start each day allowing unwanted thoughts to fill your head? Don't be a thought-a-holic because it will lead you to worry and torment your mind about things you have no control over.

The "Happiness Decision" is the first thing you can do to make happiness a part of your life. Now you can make the choice to be happy over anything and everything else in life.

Aristotle said, "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose to life, the whole aim and end of human existence."

When you are happy you are practicing emotional competence. When you are unhappy you allow yourself to become emotionally incompetent.

The Happiness Decision supports your health in positive ways and there is more scientific evidence discovered about this every day.

Gratitude is 95% of happiness. If you are grateful you can't be unhappy. Be grateful for the little things in your life. When you look at garbage on the lawn you can be grateful that you can see it with your miraculous eyesight.

Happiness is power! Happiness is the opposite of fear. When you are unhappy, you giving your power away. Happiness gives you energy and without it you are running on empty. Unhappiness is not only psychologically depressing it is also physically depressing, so your mind and body are needlessly stressed.

Unhappiness is disempowering. Feel good about yourself by liking yourself. If you don't like yourself the chances are that it would feel incongruent for you to feel good about someone else.

This can help you look for the good in others. Just by being happy and feeling good we affect the way other people connect to us.

Happiness is a letting go of trying to control events and people. Instead, happiness allows you to focus on controlling yourself. This is the one thing that can empower you to make the best possible choices in the moment.

Epictetus said: "All situations unfold as they do regardless of how we feel about them. Our hopes and fears sway us, not events themselves." So don't let your negative emotions decide the meaning of events.

Being Happy allows you to get out of your own way! Happiness is true freedom. One of the best reasons to have happiness is so that you have it in order to give it away. If you don't have happiness, you can't give it to others. Sharing our state of being happy with others enables us to maintain it more easily.

There is nothing more empowering that parents can do for their children than maintain their own happiness. This will teach children to become happy individuals by your own example.

Serving others is one of the highest forms of happiness. Start a Happiness Club in your area. Being interested in teaching others happiness is one of the best ways to have it for yourself.

Read some good books on happiness. We have almost 400 of them on our Happiness Club web site. You can read Gateway to Happiness by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, which is the most comprehensive book on happiness I have ever read. It was written for people of the Jewish faith but it is an encyclopedia of extensive happiness intelligence for everyone.

Your Best Life Now, by Joel Osteen is a New York Times Best Selling book that teaches the value and importance of happiness in your life from a common sense Christian perspective and is excellent for everyone.

The Art Of Happiness, by The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D. is an excellent study of happiness through the Buddhist religion and is good for people of all persuasions.

Happy 4 Life: Here's How to Do It, by Bob Nozik, M.D. Dr. Nozik has studied happiness and teaches it. Dr. Nozik has been happy for the last 19 years and he knows what he is writing about when it comes to happiness. Bob Nozik, M.D., and Aymee Coget, a Ph.D. candidate, both run the California Happiness Club in San Francisco.

Being in the present moment is essential to happiness. Awareness is a critical ingredient of happiness. Only a conscious person can be happy. Only a conscious happy person can use the power of making a choice for his own good. Ego is the enemy of happiness, and thinking can create unhappiness. Learn not to take things personally. Most of our thinking is about obsessing over things we have no control over. Happiness is a way to inner peace and a doorway for peace in the world. Find 10-15 minutes of quiet time twice a day to meditate or just be with yourself to embrace happiness and peace of mind. To know that you are on the right path, authentic happiness is found within, not in external situations.

Our next Happiness Club meeting will be on Thursday, May 19, from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. The presentation will be "The Unhappiness Conspiracy!" The meeting will be held at the Sullivan Independence Hall, Fairfield. Admission is free; everyone is welcome. Looking forward to seeing you. Come on down, meet some great people, get connected, and step out with joy in your life!

Published in the Fairfield Citizen-News

BE HAPPY ZONE
By Lionel Ketchian
May 11, 2005

Happiness Empowerment to You! LIVE RICHLY...PRACTICE HAPPINESS!

Sharing Love, Peace and Happiness with you,
Lionel Ketchian

Reminding you to make the "Happiness Decision." Giving you our Happiness Club Meeting dates, The Happiness Show, on television and on the Internet, the newest 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 beginning of this newsletter you can read the latest article called: The HAPPINESS HINTS!

The first step towards the solution of any problem is optimism. - John Baines

Think Smart, Look Smart, Be Smart...Be Happy!

Laugh every day, it's like inner jogging.
There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.

Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.

I can be sad because the rosebush has a thorn,

or I can rejoice because the thorn bush has a rose. It's all up to me.

Thinking of you..................Dorothy from Texas

Happ-E-Quote :)

He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses. - Horace

I just happened to stumble upon this website and found myself smiling while reading it. I would really like it if you would include my email on the newsletter list. Also, are there any groups such as yours in the Boston Massachusetts area? Thank you very much….Colleen

Happ-E-Quote :)

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today."- Dale Carnegie

I happen to stumble over one of your articles, entitled "BE HAPPY – YOU’RE WORTH IT".
It is a fantastic article with much truth in it. "Upon every obstacle, Success will create a new path!" Well done! Best Wishes, Teesha Ramnarian

Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you. - Satchel Paige

Please send me via email any and all information regarding your club. Do you have chapters forming outside of the State of Conn., and if so, how do I go about it? Thanks. D. M.

Growth in wisdom may be exactly measured by decrease in bitterness. - Friedrich Nietzsche

I read about the Happiness Club in the newspaper and accessed your web site. I believe that the Happiness Club is appropriate for me and would hope to make a contribution to its success. I am Ralph E. Becker, 73 years old, and I look forward to attending my first meeting on Thursday evening, May 19, 7 P.M. and meeting you. Best regards, Ralph Becker

You Must Be the change you want to see in the world. - Gandhi

Hi there Lionel, I watched the interview with me on your show yesterday for the first time. It brought back the great memories and great feelings of meeting you and George. "The Unhappiness Conspiracy," that sounds like an interesting topic. Will you and George have that as a discussion on your show besides the meeting of your Club. I wish I was there when your club discusses it. I spoke to my publisher yesterday in N. Y. about sending me my copy of the "THANK YOU" book I just had published. I will be grateful when I get it. Of course, you can print up some excerpts in your newsletter. I will try to suggest some sections after I see the actual book. I wish you everything great and terrific. Be well always, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

Thank you so very much for your congratulations. I'm very excited about spreading gratitude in the world. This is a wonderful trait that lifts the people who have it and the people who receive it. It creates friendships and good feelings. I wish you continued success in your ideals to spread Happiness. All the best always, Zelig

I hope that everything is going extremely great for you. Now and always. Here is an excerpt from my new book "THANK YOU!" that I feel is appropriate for your ezine:

WHAT DO HAPPY PEOPLE REMEMBER?

"Happy people remember what was positive and how they gained and grew from events, occurrences, situations, and periods of time. Therefore they are happy. And their emotion of happiness influences them to see even more of what was positive and how they gained and grew. Happy people realize that they can mentally relive their grateful moments as often as they choose. So their enormous mental library of the good things that they have already happened to them enables them to be grateful for all the past positives that they have experienced at any time during their lives. Master this, and your own happiness will be greatly increased."

Once again I read your newsletter with great enthusiasm. I have just finished teaching for this semester and have had a great year. I have met a genuine marvelous man and our journey together has just begun. This summer I will finish my book and spread happiness and joy to all I encounter. I feel so blessed with my life. I have been able to channel all my heartaches into wonderful life lessons. You have supported me and given me encouragement. I know that when I came upon the Happiness Club that my life would be changed forever. Thank you Lionel. I love you, Barbara

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Reinhold Niebuhr

Hello, From My Heart Buddy, I think you'll enjoy Paula Peterson. - Gary.

Watch "The Happiness Show," every Monday night, at 9:30 - 10:00 PM. Your co-hosts are Lionel Ketchian and 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. Watch "The Happiness Show," every Thursday night from 9:00 - 9:30 PM on Cablevision in White Plains, New York on channel 76.

We are proud to present, at no charge, over one hundred 28 minute episodes we've taped so far in streaming audio (for 28.8 Kbps+), streaming video (for 56 Kbps+), and Select episodes in broadband streaming video (for DSL, cable, wireless and satellite) Internet connections.

Our next Happiness Club meeting will be a presentation called:

We look forward to seeing you. Come on down, share the joy and meet some great people!

Meeting :) "The Unhappiness Conspiracy!"

Date :) Thursday, May 19, 2005

Time :) 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Place :) Sullivan Independence Town Hall

Address :) 611 Old Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06824

To see a photo taken at one of the meetings of the Happiness Club.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Directions to Fairfield Sullivan Independence Town Hall
725 Old Post Road (corner of Beach Road) Fairfield, CT 06824

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.

"Optimism is an intellectual choice." - Diana Schneider

Jane Bradley is President and conducts the meetings.

Meetings are held at: The Normandy Resource Centre (The Legion),

111, Church Street,

St. Catharines, Ontario.

The time: 700 - 8:30 PM.

This facility is fully accessible. ADMISSION: A smile and always free.

Cheers! Jane

He who laughs, lasts. - Mary Poole

Our next Happiness Club meeting

When: Sunday, May 22nd.

Time: 3:00 - 5:00 PM.

Where: 333 First Street San Francisco, CA 94105

Hello Happiness Club! Last month's meeting was so powerful and life changing for some of the attendees, I am confident that this meeting will be as equally touching. The location has changed for our May meeting so we can invite up to 69 people! The meeting will be held on May 22 from 3:00 - 5:00 PM. Thanks to Mr. Ben Bedi we were able to secure a spectacular meeting/activity room at 333 First Street San Francisco, CA 94105 (near the Embarcadero BART). Our meeting topic will focus around "Why we should not be afraid of being happy" Even though we are not restricted to 15 people like last month, I would still like to encourage you to let me know if you will be attending and if you are bringing guests, for it helps Bob and I prepare.

Happily, Aymee Coget & Bob Nozik, M.D.

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

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

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 2005, Lionel R. Ketchian, all rights reserved.