Are you happy yet?

“Oh, make us happy and you make us good.” ~R. Browning, the ring and the book

What does it take to make you happy? A new car, a bigger house or a pocket full of money will make some people happy, for a moment. Things do not bring lasting happiness. True and lasting happiness comes from within. It is an attitude. That attitude is a part of the ultimate healthy lifestyle.

I had my first realization of true happiness when I visited Trinidad in the West Indies. I was in the navy, a member of a patrol bomber flight crew, and we spend a week in Trinidad as one stop on what was termed a good will trip. I have never been one for sight seeing, but am very interested in the cultures and the people.

The plane crew and I were stating in a hotel near the airport. I became friends with a native cab driver and he would take me along with him when he had fares. He told his passengers that I was his cousin and he was training me to drive a cab. We continued our friendship after I returned to the US. I would send him Jazz music magazines and he would send me island music albums.

Well, while I was in Trinidad he invited me to visit with some of his friends. He took me out into the country. His friends were working as sugar cane cutters. There I was a city boy from the states in the middle of a sugar cane field surrounded Usseff E. Bobb Jr, that was his name, and his friends. They were drinking rum and I joined in. As we were laughing and joking it came to me. These were the happiest people I had every experienced. These people that didn’t have, as the saying goes, a pot to piss in, yet they really enjoyed life.

It was then that I realized that it didn’t take things to make you happy. The enjoyment of life is an attitude, an attitude that comes from a loving heart. You decide whether to be happy or sad. You make that choice each day and with each experience

Happiness is simply feeling good. It sure feels good to feel good.

TODAY’S TIP: Whenever you feel down repeat this phrase over and over: I feel good, I feel good, I feel good. As you repeat it put more and more feeling into it. You will find that you just have to feel good. It’s as if with each repetition your body feels lighter and lighter.

Is your heart a loving heart?

Tags:achieving success,Attitude,Becoming disciplined,Being happy,Happiness,Health and wellness,Healthy lifestyle,persistence,personal change,self help,self improvement,Wellness

Technorati Tags: achieving success, Attitude, Becoming disciplined, Being happy, Happiness, Health and wellness, Healthy lifestyle, persistence, personal change, self help, self improvement, Wellness