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There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.
For some reason, the other day I got to thinking about my grandfather, which is perhaps not that unusual since I am now a grandfather myself, many times over.
At any rate, I got to thinking about what brought him happiness in his time as against what brings me happiness in the world in which I live.
My grandfather was a farmer in the latter part of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th. He met God every morning as he began his chores and gave thanksgiving for the dawn of yet another day.
There were no superhighways to bisect his land, nor a nearby chemical plant to pollute the cool mountain stream that rippled along the bottom of the hill on which his house stood.
In the mountains of southwest Virginia where he lived, he might have appreciated a little global warming during the cold winters, but not for long for he was an intelligent man and would have understood how bad a thing it is.
There was no internet to constantly keep him informed in intimate detail that the world seemed to be falling apart. In fact, he lived so far out from civilization he never did get so he could even raise a radio station.
His was a simple life.
All this reminiscing about his yesterdays got me to thinking of me and mine and how we live.
I don't drink thick, rich milk straight from the cows as I used to when I visited my grandfather's farm. Milk so thick it could stand all day and never got tired. Instead I drink pasteurized, homogenized, skinny low fat milk because my cholesterol is too high. I conveniently get water from a faucet instead of a well.
And my vegetables come from the supermarket, not a garden I have planted and tended.
I sometimes, move slower in our motorized traffic jams than my grandfather did when he would simply take the shorter distance between two points on his horse.
So, are we happier in our 21st century abundance or was he happier? Perhaps the underlying question is, What is happiness?
I've long found inspiration in the life of Abraham Lincoln and one of his quotes hits what I'm aiming at right between the eyes, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
Using these questions and Abe's observation to ratchet up my thinking a little bit, I decided to increase my application of the following ideas for improving my opportunities for happiness.
Be a good mathematician. Learn how to count your blessings. Some days a blessing may be hard to find, but even the smallest one will help put a little sunshine into your attitude. Get a gratitude attitude and hold on to it with might and main.
Try to be persistently patient; otherwise you will have too many negative google-moments. (You know what I mean - the last time it took 1.4 seconds to boot up an answer to one of your questions and you were instantly impatient).
My grandfathers philosophy keeps coming back to under gird my present way of thinking. "Focus on today to make it your best, learn from yesterday and don't waste your tomorrows by worrying about problems, most of which will never happen."
And as I wrote these thoughts I got to thinking. My grandfather's time of living and mine are years apart but a gratitude attitude is timeless.
I was a very young lad but I still remember him telling me, "Son" (he called me what my mother called me) "Son, pleasure is something that comes from outside yourself. Happiness is something that comes from within."
It took me a few years to fully grasp his meaning, but I'm grateful he talked to me as if I had enough intelligence to understand.
There is an old Chinese proverb that sums it all up quite well, "If you want happiness for an hour - take a nap. If you want happiness for a day - go fishing. If you want happiness for a year - inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime - help someone else."
I don't remember who said it but it is a phrase that has a glow to it, "Happiness is having something to do, something to love and something to hope for."
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made the Lord his hope and confidence.- Jeremiah 17:7
STARTED SUNDAY MARCH 5, 2011 Serialization of another book SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING
This book, SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING, is about dealing positively with the challenges of getting older and fosters the belief that "If we would have new knowledge, we must get a world of new questions." (Susanne K. Langer)
MANY OF THE IDEAS IN THIS BOOK FOR BETTER LIVING ARE GOOD FOR ANY AGE.
"I am come that they (you) may have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
Anyone who lives long enough gets older. There are no other options. How we handle the adventure is filled with options.
Keep both eyes on life, and not on the calendar. Admit your age, but don't admit to the fallacy that you have to act like it. Saying, "I'm 39 and holding," is more tragic than humorous because it argues that age has no attributes.
V. Neil Wyrick
Below a quote from it...
"Be like the farmer who, when asked what he was building, replied, "if I can rent it, it's a rustic cottage. If I can't, it's a cow shed."
It's called attitude and it can make us prematurely old or longer young. For truly, things aren't just what they are, but rather how we choose to see them."
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE
A quote below from tomorrow's ONE A DAY blog entitled OF COURSE YOU CAN BE MORE COURAGEOUS
"Will you live a half lived life?
Will you chase challenges at high noon or let fear drive you into the shadows?
Will you drive with your foot constantly on the brake and your vision aimed at no horizon higher than the rut in the road?
Will you put wings on your dreams and give them free reign to fly?
Will you place yourself at risk so you can be proud to have shown courage when at the moment you did not have as much as you just showed?
Will you at least sometimes seek to grow on the side of a rocky mountain slope so that even if you fail you will have had the exhileration of knowing you tried?"
To access his other book's; BOUNDARIES UNLIMITED, RUST ON MY SOUL, POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC, I AM SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING, THE ABC'S OF PARENTING AND GRANDPARENTING, LETTERS TO AMERICA...go to Amazon.com (books) and type in Neil Wyrick.
TO VISIT T Neil's other blog WYRICK'S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL
HTTP://WYRICKSWRITINGS.BLOGSPOT.COM
TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING
HTTP://WWW.SPEAKERNEIL.COM/
V. Neil Wyrick's ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available
at MAGNUS PRESS.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON'S Kindle.
To visit their Web Page click on the URL below
HTTP://WWW.MAGNUSPRESS.COM/OURPRODUCTS2.HTML
25% off all books, buy 4 get 1 free and free shipping
