Being Happy

During an elegant welcoming reception for the new Director of Marketing of an company, his spouse was asked a question,

"Does your spouse make you happy?"

Her husband the new Director, who was at her side, felt secure knowing that his spouse would answer affirmatively.

Nevertheless, to his and the others' surprise, she simply replied:

“No, he doesn't make me happy...”

The room became uncomfortably silent, the husband was petrified.

He couldn't believe what his wife was saying, especially at such an important occasion.

To the amazement of her husband and of everyone, she simply placed enigmatically on her head an elegant black silk scarf and continued:

No, he doesn't make me happy (pause)   I AM HAPPY.

The fact that I am happy or not, do not depend on him, but on me.

I am the only person upon which my happiness depends.

I make the choice to be happy in each situation and in each moment of my life.

If my happiness were to depend on other people, on other things or circumstances on the face of this earth, I would be in serious trouble!

Everything that exists in this life changes continually: humans, wealth, my body, the climate, pleasures, etc. I could enumerate an infinite list

Over my life I have learned a couple of things:

It's not the responsibility of my spouse to make me happy...

He also has his experiences or circumstances.

I love him and he loves me, often in spite of his circumstances and of mine.

I decide to be happy and the rest is a matter of experiences or circumstances; like helping, and understanding, accepting, listening, consoling; and with my spouse, I have lived and practiced this many times.

He changes, I change, the environment changes, everything changes;

Having forgiveness and true love, and observing these changes that can be, big or little, but always happen, we must face them with the love that exists in each one of us. If the two of us love and forgive each other, the changes will only be experiences or circumstances that enrich us and give us strength. Otherwise we would only be living together.

For some, divorce is the only solution; (in reality it is the easiest)

To truly love is difficult. It is to forgive unconditionally, to live, to take the experiences or circumstances as they are, facing them together and being happy with conviction.

There are those who say: I cannot be happy because I am sick, because I have no money, because it's too cold, because they insulted me, because someone stopped loving me, because someone didn't appreciate me!

But what you don't know is that you can be happy even though you are sick, whether it is too hot, whether you have money or not, whether someone has insulted you or someone didn't love you, or hasn't valued you.

BEING HAPPY is an attitude about life and each one of us must decide !

BEING HAPPY, depends on you !

This was a good speech by the wife. But the happiness she was referring to was the state of mind. To some extent she is right when she says that you are the author of your happiness and it has to stem from within you, but true happiness can manifest only when you are at “Peace with yourself”. There are plenty of factors that can influence you but prayers and meditation is the foremost influencing factor for the elusive peace. True Peace can only come from a pure heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God". Mathew 5:8. For that, you ought to train yourselves to have pure thoughts, speak pure words and do works that can make you pure. It's not easy and never was, but good things were never meant to be so.

For believers in Jesus Christ, you have His first and great commandment for being at “Peace with yourself”: - "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" His second commandment is "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Mathew 22: 37-39). It won’t be easy with all your earthly distractions? But make the effort and IT WILL NOT BE IN VAIN.

The Tongue

"During a Sunday Service in church, a priest gave the following sermon:
Dear Brothers and Sisters !!!!!
Today I want to talk about a Piece of MEAT.
YES.....THAT Piece of MEAT !!!!!! Sometimes strong and hard, sometimes loose.
That Piece of MEAT that separates brothers and sisters!!!!! Men and Women. !!
That Piece of MEAT that causes Husbands and Wives to divorce!!!
That Piece of MEAT that causes hatred and jealousy between brothers.!!!!
That Piece of MEAT that causes women to fight with women,
It is that Piece of MEAT that is sometimes outside and sometimes more inside than outside .

Beloved brothers and sisters,
It is that Piece of MEAT that can give so much pain, but it also brings a lot of UNBELIEVABLE PLEASURE !

Beloved Brothers and Sisters, that's the Piece of MEAT, I want to talk to you about : -

WHICH IS .............................. ...............

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS .....

THE TONGUE !!!!!!!!!

So true are his words. How many times have we cursed, abused, character assassinated and used profanity in our words with the very same tongue with which we praise the Lord. Think about it. A tongue can destroy peace and at the same time it can heal too. What would you prefer?

The Bible says: "Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue". - I Corinthians 14:19

On Faith and Belief

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love: - Ephesians 3:17

How can you believe if you do not have faith? You say you believe in God, but how much faith do you have in Him. While Jesus walked on this earth He knew that His Apostles believed in him yet He always reprimanded them "Ye men of little faith". You may wonder what is the difference between Belief and Faith. I will try to illustrate the point with a short story: -

There was this a tightrope walker, who was so good that he could walk between two twenty stories building on a tight rope with a balancing pole. 

Thousands of people would watch him perform this breathtaking feat. After he walked across the building he would have his close assistant sit on his shoulder and he would proceed to walk across the building.

Everyone watched in rapt attention as he performed this breathtaking feat. At the end they all gave him a thunderous applause. He asked them whether they believed that he could do it again. The crowd shouted, "Yes, we believe that you can!"

Acknowledging the crowd's belief in him, he asked if anyone from the crowd would volunteer to get on his shoulder? All of a sudden the crowd became silent. No one volunteered.

This is the difference between Belief and Faith. We can believe what we see. In the above story, the crowd believed in the tightrope walker because they saw him perform the feat. But when he asked them who would want to get on his shoulder everyone became silent. You see, the crowd had Belief in his ability but their Faith in him was weak. 

Think about it. Faith is more than an act of trust. Faith in Christianity is based in and on the work and teachings of Jesus Christ. In Hinduism Śrāddha (ITRANS: shraddhA) is translated as faith in Sanskrit. In Islam, faith (iman) is complete submission to the will of God, which includes belief, profession and the body's performance of deeds, consistent with the commission as vicegerent on Earth, all according to God's will. In the Bahá'í Faith, faith is ultimately the acceptance of the divine authority of the Manifestations of God. Faith is an important constituent element of the teachings of the Buddha. Same with Judaism and Sikhism. St. Augustine of Hippo and Alvin Plantinga, hold that all of our beliefs rest ultimately on beliefs accepted by faith. 

The Real Meaning of Peace

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Hebrews 12:14

Its difficult to fathom what is Peace. The Religions of the world talk about peace, Prayers begin with utterance or signs of peace, its a culture in many places to welcome or greet you in Peace. But Peace is elusive. To attain Peace you have to experience it, to experience it you have to understand it, to understand you have to know it and to know it you have to be on the opposite side. Here is a small story written by an unknown author who has done his best in trying to illustrate "The Real Meaning Of Peace" 


There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. There were many well known artists in and around the kingdom who tried their best. The king examined all the pictures minutely and narrowed down to two of them. But he had to choose only one of them.


One picture was of a calm and serene lake. It was a perfect mirror of peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds that gave an aura of tranquility. Everyone who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.


The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.


But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest - in perfect peace.


The king chose the second picture.


"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."