Thought for today:
"There is nomistaking happiness when the heart is filled with love, for that is the time when the face is resplendent in fulfilment. That is the moment when one is happy with what they have and like the child, are excited about what they want and what is yet to come.
The wisest among us have known for centuries that doing what you like carries with it a freedom to rejoice and liking what you do brings happiness. If our purpose in life is to have few regrets, it makes good sense to be happy as often as possible, for when we smile we forget the chains of life which trauma and everyday problems tend to shackle us with.
Happiness, once caught is infectious. I first caught the virus of happiness when I developed the confidence to laugh at life and myself. Fifty years teaching Relaxation Training taught me that we use less energy to smile than to frown, so we may as well laugh at life instead of pulling a face when the choice is offered. I have always been lucky to have a job that was highly satisfying and soon discovered that once you do something you love, it comes more naturally and you find that you never have to work at it again. I found that I used less energy being happy instead of being sad and also learned that happiness, like love, wasn't particularly a goal I had to pursue in order to find it: it was all around me, just waiting to be picked up. I learned that happiness was the immediate product of a genuine smile and an open heart. I remember my mother telling me as a child, 'Billy, only the fool seek happiness in the distance when it is here for the taking.'
Until more recent years when global weather patterns have become more extreme and widespread, we were blessed in this country with the splendid bounty of our four seasons, all which I love and each one special for their different experiences and shades of happiness which comes with it. I long wondered why some people liked all four seasons of the year whilst others liked some yet disliked others. I have now come to strongly suspect that all seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within and that just as much glee awaits those who are prepared to dance in the rain as well as relax in the sun. In short, if you want to be happy you need not be a fair weather person. If you want to be happy, then just be so!
I have always been blessed with never once having to experience boredom or depression and though I have always enjoyed life to the full, I have tended to just get on with it and try not to measure the amount of happiness it has bestowed on me. I am now 74 years old and despite having a terminal illness, I continue to look forward to tomorrow every bit as much as I ever have. As the French novelist Colette, whose best-known work is probably the novella 'Gigi' once said, 'What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realised it sooner.' "William Forde: April 13th, 2017.
"There is nomistaking happiness when the heart is filled with love, for that is the time when the face is resplendent in fulfilment. That is the moment when one is happy with what they have and like the child, are excited about what they want and what is yet to come.
The wisest among us have known for centuries that doing what you like carries with it a freedom to rejoice and liking what you do brings happiness. If our purpose in life is to have few regrets, it makes good sense to be happy as often as possible, for when we smile we forget the chains of life which trauma and everyday problems tend to shackle us with.
Happiness, once caught is infectious. I first caught the virus of happiness when I developed the confidence to laugh at life and myself. Fifty years teaching Relaxation Training taught me that we use less energy to smile than to frown, so we may as well laugh at life instead of pulling a face when the choice is offered. I have always been lucky to have a job that was highly satisfying and soon discovered that once you do something you love, it comes more naturally and you find that you never have to work at it again. I found that I used less energy being happy instead of being sad and also learned that happiness, like love, wasn't particularly a goal I had to pursue in order to find it: it was all around me, just waiting to be picked up. I learned that happiness was the immediate product of a genuine smile and an open heart. I remember my mother telling me as a child, 'Billy, only the fool seek happiness in the distance when it is here for the taking.'
Until more recent years when global weather patterns have become more extreme and widespread, we were blessed in this country with the splendid bounty of our four seasons, all which I love and each one special for their different experiences and shades of happiness which comes with it. I long wondered why some people liked all four seasons of the year whilst others liked some yet disliked others. I have now come to strongly suspect that all seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within and that just as much glee awaits those who are prepared to dance in the rain as well as relax in the sun. In short, if you want to be happy you need not be a fair weather person. If you want to be happy, then just be so!
I have always been blessed with never once having to experience boredom or depression and though I have always enjoyed life to the full, I have tended to just get on with it and try not to measure the amount of happiness it has bestowed on me. I am now 74 years old and despite having a terminal illness, I continue to look forward to tomorrow every bit as much as I ever have. As the French novelist Colette, whose best-known work is probably the novella 'Gigi' once said, 'What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realised it sooner.' "William Forde: April 13th, 2017.
