Don’t worry. Be happy. There is so much good still left in the world to be grateful for. For a delightful around-the-world look at the secrets to what makes people happy, check out this wonderful compilation put together by Hometogo.com.
From listening to birds sing in the morning to a shared meal and conversation with friends, these secrets to happiness are shared the world over.
What makes you happy?
Standing up to fear changes a person. It helps you to put matters in perspective. Where once fear loomed over you, insurmountable, now you can honor the courage it took to move past it into unfamiliar territory.
Eleanor Roosevelt was a courageous woman. Despite her husband’s attempts to placate the South, she regularly bucked segregation and was a vocal proponent of civil rights. She was able to call out racism and force others to see it for what it was:
By 1939, ER decided to attack the hypocritical way in which the nation dealt with racial injustice. She wanted her fellow citizens to understand how their guilt in “writing and speaking about democracy and the American way without consideration of the imperfections within our system with regard to its treatment . . . of the Negro” encouraged racism. Americans, she told Ralph Bunche in an interview for Gunnar Myrdal’s American Dilemma, wanted to talk “only about the good features of American life and to hide our problems like skeletons in the closet.” Such withdrawal only fueled violent responses; Americans must therefore recognize “the real intensity of feeling” and “the amount of intimidation and terrorization” racism promotes and act against such “ridiculous” behavior.
You can’t clearly see a problem before you if you are too scared to look at it and call it out for what it is.
How much of your life is planned and scripted? How much has become routine or ordinary? What if today you venture out into new terrain, take unexpected chances, engage with different people?
What if today is an adventure? You never know what unexpected surprises and delights you’ll discover!
Sure, living generously blesses those who receive your gift. But giving also blesses you as it reminds you that you can make a difference, that you have purpose, and that no one is as equipped to meet the particular challenge in front of you in this place and time, as you.
We each were born, and each will die. But in between is where we write the story of our lives. What will we have lived for? What do we care enough to die for? When will we risk, speak out, shine, dare, love, hate? What are the moments of our lives that will define why we are here and why we matter? Where is our passion?
We each write the story of our own lives. Let yours be a page-turner.
As we craft our lives, we can do well to listen to these words about a third-grade drop out:
How you living?
The world these days moves at a breakneck speed. Twitter and social media speed it up even further.
We are tempted to respond to everything and everyone immediately with whatever thought first passes through our minds. But is that always our best thought? Once said, can it be retrieved?
Often, it is far better to pause, to breathe, to contemplate before deciding whether what we have to say can meaningfully add to the conversation or will just contribute to the din.
Life is short. Seize it. Spend it. Enjoy it.
And find time to share little moments together with the people who are on this journey with you. For inspiration, watch this delightful video of a dad beatboxing with his very appreciative baby:
Stumbling around in the dark can be painful, dangerous, and frustrating. We bump into stuff; we get lost; we despair. We lose our bearings and do not know how to get where we are trying to be.
But we each can help by lighting the way–with our words and actions. Consider kindness, for example, and how it can shine light on a very dark situation. In a story now going viral, a woman shared about how she was young in an elevator with her mother, who was berating her. As they left, a stranger whispered to her, “It’s not you; It’s her.” Just those five words of encouragement helped her to see beyond the horrid situation she found herself in and to buttress herself against the abuse rather than assuming, as all children do, that her mother was correct in the condemnation. She found hope:
“When life gets really dark, when she hears her (inner) mother’s voice telling that she’s sh*t, she can’t do it, or to just plain give up,” Solomon writes, “she then sees that stranger’s face as the door closes in front of her.” In fact, sometimes, Solomon says, “it’s the only thing that keeps her going.”
Think of the power you have just with your ability to be kind to someone who desperately needs it! What a gift it is to have eyes that can see suffering and to be able to help. That ripple of kindness never stops.
There is something about organizing closets or sleeping floors that is therapeutic. Where once there was a mess, now there is order. And when done to soothe your mood, the activity brings a sense of calm. Short, angry jabs of the broom become slow graceful sweeps, until what was once dirty becomes clean.
Sweeping dirty floors is a great metaphor for tackling most any problem, including anger and fear. Anger tells us where the work needs to be done; activity gives us a place to put that surge of adrenaline, and focusing on the task turns our attention away from fear to the project at hand.
We love the myth of the self-made man, but it’s just a myth. There is always someone you can point to who helped you–maybe in obvious ways like putting a roof over your head or paying for your education, but even in more subtle ways like paving the streets you drive on and planting and harvesting the produce you eat. None of us can do it all. And that’s a good thing. Helping each other is what gives us purpose, and being grateful for that help keeps us humble.
In honor of Black History Month, each of the quotes this month for Quotable Creek has been drawn from Black voices. In keeping with today’s quote about accomplishments, consider this remarkable list of inventions by Black men and women:
We probably use at least one of these things each day. So to these men and women, and to all the others who have helped build our world into what it is today, thank you!
QuotableCreek.com 