Thoughts and actions that lead to happiness

I assume that everyone wants to be happy although I’m not just talking about happiness alone here. Happiness has a lot to do with our thoughts, attitudes, behavior, and actions. Let’s jump to the conclusion. Here is what you need to do in order to be happy. Every step counts and contributes.

You need to quit getting upset easily.

You need to let go and forgive easily. You won’t be able to forget until you forgive.

You need to love, and care about others. Here is how. If you care about others, do something to make someone happy each day. Then you’ll see the difference. The more you do, the more people you do for, the happier you are. Start with simple things, if you want to make someone happy:

Smile at people.

Ask them how they are doing.

Tell a joke to make someone laugh.

Guide them to discover the true meaning of life if they don’t reject.

Give them a hug when appropriate.

There are many other things that can be done if money can be involved. But be careful not to spoil children because material things can do evil.

If you have the time and energy, you can provide free services.

Sometimes it might be hard to smile when burdens get heavier. As we were walking from our car to the church building this morning, I felt obligated to teach my daughter to smile. I told her that when she smiles at people, people will smile at her and they’ll be nicer. So she listened to me and started smiling. Then the whole morning she was pretty happy.

Being happy, or even smile when no one is around, is being kind to oneself. After all, no matter how bad it gets, there is always hope.

There was a fictitious man named Ah Q in old China. He was poor all his life, but he was always happy. Even when he was going to be executed, he still wanted his thumb print to be perfect and he didn’t seem to be sad. Of course it’s hard to do. But it wouldn’t help Cinderella for her to be upset all the time when she was mistreated by her step Mother and sisters. When burdens get heavier, we need to patiently endure, meanwhile we need to be nice, kind, and considerate to ourselves. We need to help our own spirit to be happy, to have hope.

As my understanding increases these days, I can spot the beauty of spirits around me more and more, when the person is considerate of others, patient, and can let go of the bad experiences in the past.

Even if I were the only person left on this continent, I still need to smile and bring my spirit to hope and happiness, for being upset and feeling lonely is not going to help.

I heard a really nice speech about charity by brother Richard King recently. He mentioned about the words written on Mother Teresa’s door (or wall), originally composed by one of his friends. What’s left on my mind were ,”Be kind anyway. Do good any way.” Don’t let other people’s behavior stop us from doing good, for in the end, it’s between us and God, not between us and them.