Chasing Happiness: Why not Wait and Let Happiness Follow You?

Power Up

It's interesting how we rediscover some things.

I have previously shared some stories I used to listen to on Family FM's (now Radio 316) 'Power Up', in both my [now defunct] Facebook Notes and past blog posts on The Walkabout.



Fable

 

The other day, I was reading the Sunday Nation and in Mutahi Ngunyi's article, I saw the full text of yet another story that was once shared on Power Up. It is from a fable by C. L. James.

Following is 'Chasing Happiness' for you. Be edified:

CHASING HAPPINESS

An old dog saw a puppy chasing its tail and asked, “why are you chasing your tail?” The young puppy replied, “I have mastered philosophy; I have solved the problems of the universe which no dog before me has solved; I have learnt that the best thing for a dog is happiness, and that happiness is in my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it, and when I catch it, I shall be happy.”

The old and seasoned dog stared at the little puppy and responded, “My son, I, too, have paid attention to the problems of the universe in my weak ways and I have formed some opinions.

I have realized that happiness is a fine thing for a dog. And that happiness is in my tail. However, I have also noticed that when I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, but when I go about my business as usual, it follows me.”

 

Precious Illusions

So, are you still chasing happiness?
Chances are, it'll still elude you just as the tail eluded the puppy.
Now is the time to get on with life, doing what is required of us, and purposing to add value both in our lives and those of others.

Only then will happiness follow us. It surely will.

There's Fire on the Mountain, and Nobody seems to be On the Run

"Step by step, heart to heart, left right left
We all fall down like toy soldiers
Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win
But the battle wages on for toy soldiers."
- Eminem (Like Toy Soldiers)

[caption id="attachment_471" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Fire on the Mountain: A Time of Crisis"][/caption]

A Time of Crisis

Reading news articles yesterday, I realized just how many things need our urgent attention.

World leaders are currently meeting in Denmark for the Copenhagen Climate Summit and bombings in Baghdad left at least 127 people dead. Even the rich and famous are not having such a good time, given that Tiger Woods is still not out of the woods yet.

Locally, I was appalled by the news that somewhere in Narok, in the Rift Valley, a man was found with enough military arsenal to power a police station for over a year. And just when House Speaker Kenneth Marende was praising China for hanging criminals and therefore ending impunity, it was being reported that Kenya is a major producer and exporter of pornography, especially to China. The Daily Nation has published an article detailing how young children are hooked to pornography. In an editorial, everyone is being urged to help save our children from greedy porn peddlers.

So what can we do?

Faced with the above and innumerable other crises, we need to rise up and upon realizing that many things have gone pretty wrong, get down to sorting the mess out.

In his Inauguration address, US President Barack Obama spoke words I can never forget, words that are both challenging and inspirational. He said:

...when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.

...in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter...

Fire on the Mountain

Many musicians have tried to highlight the social ills that bedevil our society, and the following song by Asa is so profound, that upon keenly listening to the words, you might wonder where you've been as many bad things happened all around you.

Be edified:

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN
By Asa

CHORUS
There is fire on the mountain
And nobody seems to be on the run
Oh there is fire on the mountain top
And no one is a-running

VERSE 1
I wake up in the morning
Tell you what I see on my TV screen
I see the blood of an innocent child
And everybody's watching

Now am looking out my window
And what do I see
I see an army of a soldier man
marching across the street

Hey Mr soldier man
Tomorrow is the day you go to war
But you are fighting for another man's cause
And you don't even know him

What did he say to make you so blind
To your conscience and reason
Could it be love for your country
Or for the gun you use in killing

REPEAT CHORUS

Hey Mr Lover man
Can I get a chance to talk to you
Cause you are fooling with a dead man's corpse
And you don't know what you do

So you say you have a lover
And you love her like no other
So you buy her a diamond
That someone has died on
Don't you think there's something wrong with this

Tell me who's responsible
For what we teach our children
Is it the internet
Or the stars on television
Why oh why
Why oh why oh

So little Lucy turns sixteen
And like the movie she's been seeing
She has a lover in her daddy
She can't tell nobody
Till she makes the evening news

REPEAT CHORUS

On day the river will over flow
And there'll be no where for us to go
And we will run, run
Wishing we had put out the fire

REPEAT CHORUS (till fade)

The above lyrics and artist names are copyrighted to Asa. They appear  here for educational and personal use only.

So, are you still not bothered?

Ponder the above lyrics to Fire on the Mountain, and honestly ask yourself if you are among the many who remain unconcerned, those who choose not to be bothered by whatever ills are happening all around us.

If we each do a little more, we all do a lot more. The time is now to do the needful.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

IDEAS WORTH SHARING

Every once in a while, we all experience something so wonderful that it becomes really hard not to share.

Well, for a while, I have been reading a most wonderful document. Yeah, it is really short (only 24 pages). It's quite a deep piece, trust you me.

It is a report by Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence. A note titled Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Following are excerpts from this document:

INTRODUCTION

This note is designed to help you rise above your instincts and urges to begin a search for the life you were meant to live. Once you have abandoned a foolish quest for the ephemeral rewards of happiness, wealth and power, you can begin to look for your true calling on this earth – a Hero’s Journey. To do this, you must first learn to lose yourself.

CONTENTS

The following are discussed:

• Understanding the Difference between Happiness, Satisfaction and Fulfillment
• Pursuing Sensual Pleasures and Material Success for the Wrong Reasons
• A Twisted Sense of Perspective: Misjudging the Present’s Impact on the Future
• Sliding From Self Interest to Self Centeredness to Self Delusion
• Losing Yourself in a Hero’s Journey
• Spirituality: Losing Yourself Through a Connection with the Transcendental
• Getting Started on Your Quest

A little deeper into the note, you find the following piece, that underscores our need for others.

Love: Losing Yourself in Relationship

Long-term studies of satisfaction and fulfillment show that relationships are critical to satisfaction and fulfillment. We live in relationship with others and we need to belong. We need others to complete us.

People who place a high priority in caring for others have more fulfilling lives. “There are few stronger predictors of happiness than a close, nurturing, equitable, intimate and lifelong companionship with one’s best friend.” Long-term studies on aging show that a lack of true friends would be one’s biggest crisis later in life. People get depressed when they are alone too long. They revive when with others.

Much of your long-term satisfaction and fulfillment will come from a relatively small group of family members and friends with whom we create the memories of a lifetime. Developing such relationships takes time, energy and courage.

You start with small steps. Beginning a relationship simply requires a little curiosity about others. Relationships grow by give and take. You ask about the other person’s goals, affirm them, and offer to help in some way. (Starting with people who have compatible goals makes it easier to invest attention).

Then something magical happens. You actually become more interested in others than yourself. You forget your own problems. Horizons open. Perspective broadens.

Favors, attention and self disclosure lead to trust. Obligations and constraints add more structure and meaning to life. You learn that giving is more satisfying than getting. Over time, a web of healthy relationships blossoms into a support system. Then you develop a reputation for helping others, a fragile treasure. Extraordinary opportunities follow.

Consciously choosing who to invest in relationships with makes a difference. Want to be a better person? Surround yourself with good people. Close friends have the most positive effect on fulfillment (families have only an average effect). Develop relationships with all ages. Always have friends from three generations: the generation below to add freshness and energy, your generation for understanding and companionship, and a generation older for perspective and wisdom.

SHARING

Download this report in full (24 pages, PDF 345KB) here.

I very strongly believe in learning and sharing useful information. This report is highly recommended.

Learn, share and achieve true Happiness, Satisfaction and Fulfillment in your life.

The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves.
- Sidney and Suzanne Simon (WisdomQuotes.com)

Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger for a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. But who gets to forgive who?

In some contexts, forgiveness may be granted without any expectation of compensation, and without any response on the part of the offender. In practical terms however, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, apology, and/or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.

To better understand forgiveness, consider the following:

• Forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself. It is not something you do FOR someone else. It is not complicated. It is simple.


• Choice is always present in forgiveness. You do not have to forgive AND there are consequences. Refusing to forgive by holding on to the anger, resentment and a sense of betrayal can make your own life miserable. A vindictive mind-set creates bitterness and lets the betrayer claim one more victim.


• The greatest misconception about forgiveness is the belief that forgiving the offense, such as an affair, means that you condone it. Not true. In fact, we can only forgive what we know to be wrong. Forgiveness does not mean that you have to reconcile with someone who badly treated you.


• Forgiveness is an act of the imagination. It dares you to imagine a better future, one that is based on the blessed possibility that your hurt will not be the final word on the matter. It challenges you to give up your destructive thoughts about the situation and to believe in the possibility of a better future. It builds confidence that you can survive the pain and grow from it.


• When you forgive you do it for you, not for the other. The person you have never forgiven. . . owns you!Forgiving someone else is to agree within yourself to overlook the wrong they have committed against you and to move on with your life. It's the only way. It means cutting them some slack.


• Forgiveness is a creative act that changes us from prisoners of the past to liberated people at peace with our memories. It is not forgetfulness, but it involves accepting the promise that the future can be more than dwelling on memories of past injury.

Ponder the following about forgiveness:

FORGIVENESS
by Reinhold Neibuhr

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Has anyone wronged you lately? Now is the time to free yourself by forgiving them.

This week, be reminded of what Confucius said.

"The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself."

Learn, share and experience the power of forgiveness.

Until My Change Comes... I'll wait, Renew my Strength and Keep Holding On

The first episode of the fourth season of Grey's Anatomy is titled 'A Change is Gonna Come'. Following is an excerpt of the episode transcript:

"In the practice of medicine, change is inevitable. New surgical techniques are created, procedures are updated, levels of expertise increase.
Innovation is everything. Nothing remains the same for long. We either adapt to change...or we get left behind........"

The above words got me thinking.
Yeah, it's true that we get inspired and hopeful whenever we envision change. We even get motivated when we encounter new people and situations that effect change and thereby enhance our lives.

But what about that transition period? That period of waiting as change happens? What keeps us going at the time?

I found my answer in a song I first listened to ten years ago - 'Until My Change Comes' by Commissioned. It's from the album 'Times and Seasons', which was released in the year 2000.

Consider the following:

UNTIL MY CHANGE COMES
By Commissioned

It's been a long time coming
But a change is gonna come
When the dark clouds pass away
Feel the warmness of the sun
I know that You love me, oh yeah,
I know that you care
I can't wait to be by Your side
In the middle of the air.

CHORUS
Until my change comes
Here's what I'll do
Renew my strength
Keep holding on
I'll wait on You.

(REPEAT)

It ain't gonna be easy
But I'll be strong. Some say if You
Really cared um,
It's wouldn't take so long for You to
Return for me
If with You is where I ought to be
But I'm gonna believe until that day
I will.... until...

CHORUS

BRIDGE

Gotta wait gotta wait on you
That's what I'm gonna do
I'm gonna stand still
I just wanna be in your will
Just like David and Goliath
I gotta encourage my soul, yeah
Said I'm gonna stand still
Until um...

CHORUS * CHORUS * CHORUS

The above lyrics and artist names are copyrighted to Commissioned. They appear  here for educational and personal use only.

So back to the Grey's Anatomy transcript...

"Change. we don't like it, we fear it.
But we can't stop it from coming.
We either adapt to change, or we get left behind.
It hurts to grow. Anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying.
But here's the truth. sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same.
And sometimes...oh, sometimes change is good.
Sometimes change is...everything."

Learn, share and be an agent of positive change. Both in your life and those of others.

Optical and Word Illusions: The Bigger Picture

Once again, we get a chance to have fun with pictures and words.

Enjoy:

[caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="419" caption="Dead or Alive"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_157" align="aligncenter" width="418" caption="Peace or War"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_160" align="aligncenter" width="406" caption="Threat Pretext"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="379" caption="Tyranny or Freedom"][/caption]

Look again and see the bigger picture...

Belief System: Challenging Convention, Convictions and stepping out of the moral high-ground

Belief System and Convictions
On Thursday, I read a blog post by Jamaapoa on the Foundation of a Belief System. Jamaapoa is currently on a pilgrimage of rejuvenation, self-motivation and self-improvement.

Jamaapoa writes that a belief system is "what you stand for, what guides you and what forms a basis for your values in life." Something I also believe.

[caption id="attachment_135" align="aligncenter" width="291" caption="Self Discovery"][/caption]

Exit the Comfort Zone
He goes on to write that prior to embarking on a journey of self-improvement, or in my case, a walkabout of insight, inspiration and self discovery, one has to first discard whatever they once believed in, ready for the new. And we all agree this is particularly hard to do. Challenging long-held beliefs and convictions never comes on the cheap. The mind is such a difficult thing to deal with.

That reminded me of what Alan Alda said, that on a self-discovery mission,

"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."

Stepping outside the Moral Matrix
In his talk at TED Global, Jonathan Haidt outlined openness to experience as a requisite trait for objectivity. At one point, he quoted Sent-ts'an,

"If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between 'for' and 'against' is the mind's worst disease."

In sum, it helps to sometimes step out of the moral matrix, to step out of the battle of evil and good, and be not for or against anything.

Everybody thinks they are right, however. You may not believe this, but our "righteous minds" were designed to unite us into teams, divide us against other teams and blind us to the truth.
Methinks, this is what prompted some (unknown) author to write,

"If you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions."

Why do you Believe?
Few of us have dared question our faith (here, I deliberately avoid the word religion).
One of my friends keeps saying that the reason he is a christian is because his fore-fathers (somewhere near Mt Kenya) were influenced by the British missionaries to adopt the christian faith. Had he been at the Coast, he continues, he would have ended up being a muslim.

After meticulously questioning my own faith, I have finally come to settle on the one I subscribe to, with solid reasons to support my claims and my conviction. Have you?
This post is not a discussion of what faiths and religious beliefs are worth  subscribing to. They do however, form the basis of our value system, and are therefore worth getting right. Otherwise, one would continue to live a lie, guided by a firmly held fallacy.

Getting back on track
In his book The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli writes,

"he that lays not the foundations first, might be able with great difficulty to lay them afterward, however it'll be with great trouble to the architect and danger to the building."

Yet, it is possible to get it right. That is the essence of hope and positivity. You get it right when you first understand who you are. That way, you are able to find your place in this world.

Then, you can make your own life a revelation, realize your potential and and turn your days into a spiritual quest. Learn to make the most of every moment and find the power and peace waiting within this oh-so-wonderful you.

The Challenge
Upon realizing that we think we are always right, it becomes possible to step outside these unquestioningly firmly-held beliefs and watch things play out from without. One then acknowledges and appreciates that everyone has some reasons why they think they are right.

At this point, one gains moral humility. But only when one steps out of the blinding self righteousness, which by default, is the normal human condition.

So, take the bold step and seek to see things for what they really are. Without bias. Without prejudice. With no prior unquestioned beliefs. Without being 'for' or 'against'. Objectively.
Guided by your own intuition and informed by a mind that is open to experience, you will discover something wonderful. What you will discover  is yourself.

Word Illusions: Do You See Good or Evil, Me and You, and can you Learn as you Teach?

The Duality of Life

There are two sides to every coin. The heads and the tails.In life, a day is not complete unless there is both light and darkness. Accordingly, it is the presence of short people that makes some people tall. This is the inevitable duality of life.

A second, long, and keen look always reveals the bigger picture. Suddenly, the scales fall from our eyes and we get to see what we have all along been missing.

Do You See What I See?

The following pictures might make you laugh, but try and see the deep lesson within them. There are optical word illusions alright, but we can also learn that there is much more in life than simply meets the eye. Literally.

GOOD and EVIL?

[caption id="attachment_49" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Good and Evil?"][/caption]

ME and YOU?

[caption id="attachment_50" align="aligncenter" width="174" caption="Me and You"][/caption]

LEARN, even as you TEACH

[caption id="attachment_51" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Learn, even as you Teach"][/caption]

Is this an OPTICAL, or Word ILLUSION?

[caption id="attachment_52" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Optical, or Word Illusions?"][/caption]

The Last Laugh

So c'mon, have a laugh. Enjoy. But be sure to see the bigger picture, that will assuredly make you have the last laugh. In life, that is.

Cheers!