Bird Droppings October 5, 2012

Where do we find happiness?

 

“The very purpose of our life is happiness; the very motion of our lives is toward happiness.” the Dalai Lama

 

It has been several years since in my journey through life I wandered through the Mall of Athens on a particular day. It was one of those synchronous moments in life and of course this was prior to me finding the tea shop Teavana at the Buford mall.  I happened into a store where Native American artwork and handicrafts were sold. Since that time they have moved to a new shop in Hawkinsville Ga. A very pungent smell filled the store; it is a smell you do not forget easily that of rawhide. I recall that smell from another journey in my life to a saddle tree maker in North Georgia in Demorest where the vats of raw hide provided a sensual stimulus you do not block from your memory. However in this case at the Athens Mall on that day it was a traditional Native drum maker and he was building drums in the old way. The process involved stretching rawhide over hand carved and tooled shells of native cedar and spruce. This drum maker had left a good construction job to make drums full time, traveling around the country making drums for sale and doing workshops while he worked just as he was here.

 

 “Happiness is a sort of action.” Aristotle

 

“The really happy man never laughs — seldom — though he may smile. He does not need to laugh, for laughter, like weeping is a relief of mental tension — and the happy are not over strung.” Prof. F.A.P. Aveling

 

As I left that the mall that day I felt at ease, at peace with myself. Sitting here this morning thinking back perhaps it was how this artist as he worked exuded peace and happiness. He was doing what he wanted to do, where he wanted to be and I believe that is a key to happiness. It is about being where we should be and doing what it is we were meant to do. For people that journey may take you through many jobs and many travels. My own personal journey took me nearly twenty five years in graphic arts as well as in various teaching situations along the way to be where I am now.

 

“Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.” Mildred Barthel

 

“When one is happy there is no time to be fatigued; being happy engrosses the whole attention.” Edward Fredric Benson

 

I was thinking to some of my students, who are not happy, it could be perhaps a chemical disturbance or imbalance within them causing this. Clinical depression is actually a chemical imbalance, and can be treated. One method is chemically, however the most successful and longer lasting is talking about it. However so many may choose not to be treated and or not talk about it. My question becomes can we each search for and attain happiness and is this a choice behavior to seek happiness.

 

“The world’s literature and folklore are full of stories that point out how futile it can be to seek happiness. Rather, happiness is a blessing that comes to you as you go along; a treasure that you incidentally find.” Louis Binstock

 

“It is the paradox of life that the way to miss pleasure is to seek it first. The very first condition of lasting happiness is that a life should be full of purpose, aiming at something outside self.” Hugo Black

 

So in effect happiness finds us, this is what I am thinking as I read. If you look under happiness on the internet you can find happiness scales to show you how happy you are and if you are truly happy. I looked up happiness in the dictionary always a good start and according to Dictionary.com, happiness is “Characterized by good luck; fortunate. Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. Being especially well-adapted; felicitous: a happy turn of phrase. Cheerful; willing: happy to help.”

 

“The truth is that all of us attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to their greatest extent.” Smiley Blanton

 

Who is Smiley Blanton, actually a famed psychiatrist and author of numerous books and co-partner since 1937 in the Peale Blanton Institute with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale? I thought he was a clown by his name. Dr. Peale’s name took me back a good bit it has been many years since I shook the hand of Dr. Peale in MaconGeorgia. I was involved as a teacher in a program for severely disabled children and adults in Macon Georgia at that time and working with a group called the Church of the Exceptional. This little church was named Church of the Year nationwide by Dr. Peale’s group. Of course he came to Macon to present the award and somewhere in my room at school is a picture of my brother with Dr. Blanton.

 

“Happiness and virtue rest upon each other; the best are not only the happiest, but the happiest are usually the best.” Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

 

“When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him; and you are torn by the thought of the unhappiness and night you cast, by the mere fact of living, in the hearts you encounter.” Albert Camus

 

I always write about the journey we are on, each one of us is traveling as we go each day. I do believe we seek happiness, as the Dalai Lama states in the first quote I used today “The very purpose of our life is happiness; the very motion of our lives is toward happiness.” I do think we venture towards happiness in our daily walk inherently. Somewhere we get lost or off track and many then find it hard to get back to the trail. This is for so many people may happen as they stumble through life and along their journey and I wish we could each offer a hand as we go. Though it is early in the morning please any one you meet offer a hand and please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your heart and to always give thanks.

 

Wa de (Skee)

bird