Words on Happiness Vol. I
Copyright 2011 by Jen Bluekissed
Smashwords Edition
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Introduction:
This short book explores tips for happiness. Happiness here is not defined as enjoyment, pleasure, or warm fuzzies. Instead, happiness is the realization that life provides times of laughter, joy, and solace. But, it also provides times of neutrality, pain, and battle. Sometimes the battle scars are so deep that we should rightfully not have survived to tell our stories. Happiness is the acceptance of all these times and the courage to live through them.
Words on Happiness:
Walk in the other guy's shoes. Before you do, sanitize them so you don't get foot fungus. After you've walked a mile in them, give them back, and respect that he might not be willing to walk in yours yet.
Give of yourself. When you die, what you've held back will be forgotten, but what you've given will be remembered by all those whose lives you've touched.
Most people act out of a desire to have their wants and needs met. They do not act out of vengeance or specifically to hurt you. If you are hurt in the process, realize that it's probably easier for the them to ignore the pain you're feeling than to deal with their own issues.
When you speak softly and carry a big stick, try not to do so in the house of someone who keeps a loaded pistol near his/her bedside.
When upset, make sure to tell the people you're talking with afterward whether or not you're looking to vent your frustration or for them to help you fix your problem. Your friends need guidance for when to listen and when to speak.
Deliver the goods you've promised. If you can't, chocolate always helps to smooth things over.
Keep your sense of awe and wonderment.
Spend time near flowering trees.
Root for the underdog, but don't necessarily place a bet on them with anything other than Monopoly money.
Hold your friends close, your enemies closer, and your family closest.
Smile, even when you don't feel like it.
Allow yourself anger, frustration, sadness, despair, envy, bitterness, etc., but schedule a time to end those things so that you can again feel hope.
What isn't said speaks as loudly as what is said.
Make time to ponder and reflect.
Own a teddy bear to hug when you're down. People are great for hugs, but teddy bears aren't ever too tired or too busy for a good squeeze session.
Money is a finite resource. Treat it as such.
Love is not a finite resource. Give some away, and you'll always get more back, even if it comes from unexpected places.
Forget you're a grown up sometimes.
Schedule a day every now and again to have no responsibilities.
Allow yourself to cry when crying is necessary. Do decide that you will stop crying after you get it out of your system.
Pet dogs and/or cats.
Deliver bad news with compassion.
Hands are shaped for holding other hands for a reason. Try it sometime.
Be careful whom you trust. Trust is a privilege, not a right.
We are fish in a giant fishbowl. Very few things are secrets if the right people employ the right tactics to know your business. Live life knowing that someone will probably find out.
Believe.
Make friends with someone very different from you. You'll probably have a few bumpy times in your friendship, but you'll also probably learn a lot too.
Evil is seductive. It rarely jumps up and down announcing itself for what it is. Learn to recognize its deception.
Dress in layers. You'll never know when you'll be cold.
If you think you might need it, put it inside your purse. You probably will.
Choose to see the world in color.
Plan as if you'll probably get really sick someday. You probably will if you live long enough.
Think about what you want people to say about you at your funeral/wake. Live your life so that people actually say those things about you someday.
You aren't perfect. Don't try to be.
There are twenty four hours in a day. Enjoy the one you've got right now. The other twenty three might slip through your fingers. Or, if you're like me, you might take a nap and lose a few that way.
You can't hit rewind on your life, so don't try to fast forward either. Simply hit play.
Eat cookies.
Learn to bite your tongue when you know how to fix someone else's problems. Learn to bite it when you're speaking to that person, and learn to bite it when you're talking about that person when he/she isn't present.
Practice civility. Practice it most especially in uncivilized situations.
Dust yourself off when you fall. Rub a healing salve into your wounds when you fall again. Ask for help when you fall for a third time. Demand help when you fall a fourth time, and then help others when you see them falling once you've learned to stand on your own two feet again.
Be adult enough to know that winning doesn't mean you're necessarily right. Being right doesn't mean that you'll win, either.
When the sun shines on your face, close your eyes and be warmed by it.
Walk barefoot in the grass.
When you accept a gift from another person, reflect on what it might have cost him/her to give it to you, especially non-material gifts.