before I post the piece I want to briefly discuss the second thing I really concentrate on and that is what drives us as human beings...what do we seek and stress over?
READ AND THINK:
“When we worry about the things we don’t have we miss out on
the blessings of the things that we do have.”
A variation of this anonymous quote:
Happiness is not having what you want - It is wanting what you have.
Happiness is not having what you want - It is wanting what you have.
‘To the world you may be one person but to one person you
may be the world.”
These are quotes from my clients, I work as a Substance
Abuse Counselor. I hear them repeat these words like a mantra….AA and NA member
often say “fake it until you make it.” and I am a firm believer in the “act as
if _______.” But what does it mean to be happy? If people were truly happy
would therapist have a job? Would the drug companies be filling Pez dispensers
with Welbutrin, Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft and the likes?…don’t get me wrong I am
not doing a “Cruise” and knocking the use of these drugs. I believe the drugs
are useful and necessary but what I question is their over use or free flowing
scripts because it’s easier to medicate than to ferret out the source and do
some “self” work.
What does it mean to be happy? I did some internet surfing
and I found these quotes:
Democritus, (460?-370? BC)
Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.
Aristotle
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
Sharon Salzberg
It doesn't matter how long we may have been stuck in a sense of our limitations. If we go into a darkened room and turn on the light, it doesn't matter if the room has been dark for a day, a week, or ten thousand years - we turn on the light and it is illuminated. Once we control our capacity for love and happiness, the light has been turned on.
John Templeton
Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.
Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.
Aristotle
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
Sharon Salzberg
It doesn't matter how long we may have been stuck in a sense of our limitations. If we go into a darkened room and turn on the light, it doesn't matter if the room has been dark for a day, a week, or ten thousand years - we turn on the light and it is illuminated. Once we control our capacity for love and happiness, the light has been turned on.
John Templeton
Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.
Ursula K. LeGuin
I certainly wasn't happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can't earn, and can't keep, and often don't even recognize at the time; I mean joy.
Mary Baker Eddy
Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.
I certainly wasn't happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can't earn, and can't keep, and often don't even recognize at the time; I mean joy.
Mary Baker Eddy
Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.
joy (joi)
n.
n.
- Intense and especially
ecstatic or exultant happiness.
- The expression or
manifestation of such feeling.
- A source or an object of
pleasure or satisfaction: their only child, their pride and joy.
v. joyed, joy·ing, joys
v. intr.
To take
great pleasure; rejoice.
v. tr. Archaic
- To fill with ecstatic
happiness, pleasure, or satisfaction.
- To enjoy.
(joi)
n.
n.
- Intense and especially
ecstatic or exultant happiness.
- The expression or
manifestation of such feeling.
- A source or an object of
pleasure or satisfaction: their only child, their pride and joy.
v. joyed, joy·ing, joys
v. intr.
To take
great pleasure; rejoice.
v. tr. Archaic
- To fill with ecstatic
happiness, pleasure, or satisfaction.
- To enjoy.
Joy
comes from within and is not dependent upon circumstances. Joy is present when
you have an unshakable faith and when your relationship (not religion) with
your Higher Power is in tact. An individual can know joy and be in prison.
(Acts 16) – Living example Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Holocaust
survivors …these people knew that there was a power greater than
themselves....trusting and knowing that God is a God of supply
Philippians
4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus.
hap·py (h
p
)
adj. hap·pi·er, hap·pi·est
p)adj. hap·pi·er, hap·pi·est
- Characterized by good
luck; fortunate.
- Enjoying, showing, or
marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy.
- Being especially
well-adapted; felicitous: a happy turn of phrase.
- Cheerful; willing: happy
to help.
- Characterized by a
spontaneous or obsessive inclination to use something. Often used in
combination: trigger-happy.
- Enthusiastic about or
involved with to a disproportionate degree. Often used in combination: money-happy;
clothes-happy.
Happiness is temporal. Happiness is rooted in the frailties
of man – people, places and things….Daniel chapter 2 teaches that kings and
kingdoms set up by man will crumble. Scripture goes on the further state that
unless the Lord builds a house its builder labors in vain….. Who is the
architect of your home? Are you seeking joy or happiness?
