Mother’s Day invites the topic of happiness

On this first Wednesday in May, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY. THANK YOU to all the moms, grandmas, aunts, friends, and neighbors who love and contribute to raising productive, responsible adults. I hope Sunday brims over with calls, cards, and hugs!

Thinking of the joyful celebration in honor of mothers invites the topic of happiness.

I often hear, “I just want to be happy!” Forest Gump might wisely say, “Happy is as happy does.” I agree—we are responsible for our happiness and need to prioritize activities we most enjoy and select people to join us who help us laugh.

Sounds easy enough, right? It’s not so easy—we find grumpy folks most everywhere, and sometimes they look back at us from the mirror.

Psychologist James H. Fowler, professor of Medical Genetics and Political Science at the University of California, San Diego, studied 5000 people for over twenty years and found that one’s happiness benefits other people. He says: “We found a statistical relationship not only between your happiness and your friends’ happiness but between your happiness and your friends’ friends’ happiness.”

He says we are happier if we hang out with happy people because there is a chain reaction. In other words, one person being happy can influence and enhance the happiness of several – maybe dozens – maybe hundreds of people. I think Ronald Reagan did that; his joy influenced a nation – millions of people.

I told myself the other day I could feel happier if I turned up the corners of my mouth. It is easy, strengthens the smile muscles, makes me look younger, and could become a positive habit after three days.

Last week I stood in a casino and watched people gamble at a regulation-sized electronic Crap table. Six of the players were in town for a bachelor party, and yes, they were partying a little hearty, but they were laughing and bantering and having a blast. I stood there, and even though I didn’t know any of them, I laughed and had fun just being in their presence.

Happiness IS contagious.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, said, “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.”

Happiness perpetuates happiness.

I remember a Spring Concert I attended a few years ago at Sterling Middle School. It was excellent, and the last song the combined 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Choirs sang was the Power of One. Although intended to address issues of bullying and hurt, the song also related to happiness—happiness begins with one person, and it might as well be you and me.

Today, I choose to be happy—How about you?

Until the next time: Live while you live