PATIENCE

I've been subscribing A Daily Dose of Happiness from The Happy Guy since 2005 for inspiration and encouragement. Mr David Leonhardt is a Canadian Pharmacist by profession. He motivates positive thinking. I've known him since myspace dot com days. Again, this is unabridged.~BB

If patience is a virtue, very few people are virtuous these days.
Everything seems to move at a most impatient pace.

Here is an idea to increase patience and reduce stress (because they are inversely proportionate).

Set a timer to buzz every half hour and get up from your desk, your jigsaw puzzle or whatever you are doing. Walk about, stretch, roll your eyes, then go back to your activity.

As I type, there is a timer set for every half hour reminding me to flip the thawing turkey and replace the cold water. While the new water is flowing, guess what I am doing? Walking about. Stretching. Rolling my eyes. It is great stress relief.

Daily Dose of Happiness, August 13, 2009‏

By the way, there's a little more:

BRAIN WAVES

Did you know that the smell of mint stimulates brain waves, which in turn makes us feel more alert and alive.

Pop a mint for happiness this afternoon.

SINCERITY

I keep the original thought of the author intact, untouched, unmodified, un-paraphrased....~BB

People mean what they do, not what they say. We all say a lot of things we don't really mean. I call it the "What, this old thing?" syndrome. We tell dozens of white lies every day to avoid hurting other people's feeling or because of a mild embarrassment about our bodies, our homes, our weaknesses or our habits.

But everybody means what they do, because action is meaning. Somebody might say, "Please disregard the mess in here."...but if they scurry to clean up the house before guests appear, they really mean it.

Do your actions conform to your values? That is a silly question, of course, because some of your actions do and some don't, just as some of mine do and some of mine don't. A better question would be how well do your actions conform to your values? Can you do something today to bring your actions in line with your values?

You mean what you do, so why not try to do what you mean?

Source: The Happy Guy

MEMORIES

Rushing through the present, as we so often do, leaves little time for the past. But our pasts are each rich with wonderful experiences that should not be lost.

Brooding on the past is destructive, but allowing ourselves to slip back into sweet memories or recall happy times helps us restore our emotional strength. Reliving the positive feelings is like getting twice as much happiness for our time.

Let's take a few moments today to slip into the past and profit today from our investments of the past.

Source: Happy Guy

LESSONS

Yesterday, I suggested slipping into the happy memories of the past.

Today, let's take a good look at some of the lessons of the past. As much as brooding is destructive, learning from past mistakes is key to a happy future. As my father used to say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Sadly, most people tend to make the same types of mistakes several times.

We never stop learning, but as we rush around, it is easy to forget our lessons. Are there mistakes you've made with money, friends, relationships, career, etc.? Are you possibly heading down the same road again? What can you do to make sure you are not going to repeat those mistakes?

Happiness in Friends?

The Happy Guy said,

FRIENDS

If you are looking for happiness, look no further than your friends. While it is true that happiness must come from within, you’ll be amazed how helpful happy friends can be at pulling it to the surface. And how helpful grumpy friends can be at stifling that happiness you have within.

There is nothing like being surrounded by smiles to make it very hard for you not to smile. Surround yourself with positive people, and before you know it you’ll be at your most positive, too.

"TREASURE" - for the uncheery soul

I can't think of anything cheery to post today. I'm not sure if my feeling at the moment has something to do with the gloomy weather. From being bright and optimistic, my soul is feeling cloudy. So I went digging my email to check what's in store for me there to find one Happy Guy sharing his thoughts about Treasure.

Oh by the way, today is the beginning of our Winter...

Winter in Sydney is not really that bad. We don't get snow down here, being, it is located along the coastal lines. I live on the western area out of the city though, which is inland.

Below is a picture quote of Mohandas Gandhi that I have extracted from Inspiration Line.

Please enlarge to read the clear text.


This is what Happy Guy has to say: "Have you ever thought of happiness as a treasure? It is. Perhaps the greatest treasure you’ll ever know.

HAPPINESS

This is the day you get to make the big decision. You can choose to
let happiness find you from time to time, when it happens to be
passing through.

Or you can choose to embrace happiness, to hug it tightly to your
body and to your spirit. You can choose to be happy regardless of
passing circumstances.

Don’t worry, happy things will happen and unhappy things will
happen. It’s your choice whether to these passing things control
your happiness or whether you will retain control.
The good news is that there is as much treasure as you want, and it
is accessible as you choose to make it. So why not go on a treasure
hunt today. Look for the positive in everything. There is one, you
know. Even in the worst destruction of wartime, even in the most
unspeakably hideous acts of inhumanity, there is a positive.

I am not suggesting that there is no right moment for grieving or for
shock or even for anger. But most of the time, a treasure hunt for the
positive will help us feel happy. And even on those rare occasions
when there is a real tragedy, a treasure hunt for the positive can
help us cope better.

Here is a sample of what I mean, from a tweet (a post on Twitter)
published by @jodenecoza while I was drafting this Daily Dose:

“Got soaked in a rainstorm & then warmed up with hot tea and ginger
snap biscuits! Everything has its upside in life ;-)”""

Let me end this up with a joke from Daily Happiness Fun Page.

A piece from a Happy Guy dot com

DIRECTION

"A father and his son, a young adult, were driving to the cottage. The
father was worried, because his son had fallen into companionship with
people who might lead him astray, and he was trying to help his son
see that it was time for him to take his life a little more seriously.

“Aw, dad, I know you mean well, and I know I’m not really doing
you proud, but I like to party. I’ll get on the right track some
day. I don’t need to worry.”

They drove a little further, when suddenly the son said, “Hey dad,
that was the turnoff for the cottage. You missed the turnoff.”

“I know,” said the father. “I think I’ll just keep driving
this way for a while. I can always go back later to take the right
road.”

A few more minutes – and a couple turnoffs – passed. The son
began to think of the swimming he would miss if they arrived too late.
“Dad, the farther you go down this road, the longer it will take to
get back.”

The father replied, “That’s true. The further you go down the
wrong track, the harder it is to get back. So when were you thinking
of turning your life around to head down the right track?”

Where do you want to go? What do you want out of life? Most
importantly, what are you waiting for?"

URL:http://www.happyguy.com
David Leonhardt, Canada

I wish I can

I really wish there is someplace, somewhere I can shout to the top of my lungs and say, "I'm angry!"

Oftentimes, when something displeases me or causes me to get upset, I just bottle it up and let tears roll down my face unashamedly. I couldn't careless. Nobody is around to see me crying anyway.

I wish no one will tell me that I'm "goody-goody" and when my moment comes, I am right away condemned and my imperfection not taken.

I wish some particular people will see me that I am human, capable of my own human emotion. That I am capable of getting hurt, sensitive and onion skin. That I can make mistakes; not that I'm a murderer, a covetous person, a robber and what else. Trivial mistake which is ridiculous to become a big deal enough to get cold shoulder from friends whom I thought are friends.

I wish there is a place where I can hide away. Just run and hide away. Run, run, run.

I just wish that my day today will have a happy ending after a terrible dream of war last night, in fact, not really night but early in the morning when I went back to sleep. I dreamed of a horrible war with smokey dust clouds from somewhere and the deafening sound of bombs and gunshots and war planes and I was down there on a trench all alone by myself. I couldn't fathom where everybody was gone running. I heard their hasty scary feet running and their voices screaming eerily but I saw no one.

Then my eyes opened and realized, it was all but a bad dream. A nightmare.

Addendum:

Some comforting words from Happy Guy. Though the above was posted yesterday, 29th April, I decided to insert it here, where it is appropriate.

SHIPPING

Sometimes we wait for our ship to come in. Sometimes we work very hard to haul that ship in to shore. Sometimes … sometimes, it doesn’t matter; for all our efforts, the bay is just to shallow.

Don’t mope about the ship that won’t come in. Take a smaller boat. You can sit there and cry, stuck ashore, or you can row yourself out to sea. It’s really up to you.

So there was a mistake ...

The firestorm that broke out in the State of Victoria, leaving hundreds of people dead and reducing properties down to ashes on a Black Saturday ... was a total disgrace.

I wrote two related long blogs about this bushfires which I posted in another blog. Please read here.

1) and the fire keeps going - February 15, 2009
2) The Nation in Mourning - February 22, 2009

Please click to read the article here.

In addition, please do have a look at the Nature's Little Wonders photo gallery that you will find on the same page located on the right panel. They are amazing pictures of unusual beautiful creatures, so unheard of.

If not, just click here for more convenience.

Source:www.ninemsn.com.au

Addendum from Happy Guy forward date: 29, 2009

FIRE

Fire is wonderful. I love a good campfire – the warmth, the aroma – aaaahh.

Fire is destructive. It can bring a once-mighty building to its knees, making it worthless to live in and pretty much destroying the lives of its inhabitants.

Fire is good, if you use it right. Fire is bad, if you don’t.

Use things the way they were meant, and life will be much easier.