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A wise woman who was travelling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveller who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.

The hungry traveller saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveller left rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Please give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone.”

Sometimes it’s not the wealth you have but what’s inside you that others need.

Source Unknown

The whole key to happiness can be summed up in one sentence…

Understand what and who you are and truly express that in every context you find yourself in.

So here’s a few questions to get you to start probing the dark corners of your mind and getting clearer on who you are, which will then start to help guide your decision making on what actions to take in different situations.

Most people are so focused on what they dislike about where they are, that they wish they were starting from somewhere else. 

But where you are, is where you are!

Knowing where you are is the starting place to getting to where you want to be.

So this questionnaire is designed to raise your awareness of where you are so you can get to where you want to be.

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I have read many books offering ways to happiness. These can be categorized in three main ways.

appiness By Description: The first of the ways to happiness

The first way is what I call the Mystic or Poetic group. These are personal accounts of people who have reached a state of blissful happiness. They then try to explain what they have experienced… and how they have reached that stage.

This leads to a poetic or mystical description that seems to its readers to be impossible or unrealistic to reach.

The problem is that the gap between the reader and the author is so great that they cannot relate to one another’s experience.

The Author tries to describe how he or she reached this state. Their way to happiness. However what worked for the Author, is not what will necessarily work for the Reader.

Happiness By Prescription:

The second of the ways to happiness

The second of the ways to happiness is what I call the theory or formula route.

In this way someone or some group has a theory or formula that they believe leads to happiness for each of us.

Every religion or philosophy is based on a theory or formula, of the best or only way to happiness. It may be happiness in another life or world… but none the less it is happiness.

All of these believe that there are certain rules or behaviors that must be observed and kept before you can be happy.

The major flaw with this, is that the theory or formula can be believed so deeply, that believers try to thrust their own beliefs onto others. The most destructive acts in our history have come about because of this theory or formula approach. Nazi Germany’s attempt to impose an Aryan race was their formula for happiness.

Many tribes, such as Native Americans and Aboriginals, have found their way of life taken away from them. All in the name of technological progress or civilization. Which is the invader’s name for their formula to happiness.

Happiness by Observation:

The third of the ways to happiness

The third of the ways to happiness is to study happy people and look for what is different from unhappy people. Then they say this is what makes people happy.

This tends to be a lot by academics and other observers or researchers.

The problem with this is that the personality traits and behaviors displayed by happy people, may be the result of happiness… not what has caused it. The fact of being happy may lead to that personality trait or behavior.

We can also see this approach used in business. When a business, or an individual, is successful, they are analyzed and observed for clues to their success. Then hundreds of writers spew out articles, reports and books advocating some new fad.

However what works for one business, worked because it fitted in with;

- their strategy,

- their employees,

- their marketplace

and all the other elements.

Along come thousands of other businesses in entirely different situations copying someone else’s tactics and then getting frustrated when they do not get the same results.

There are no ways to happiness… And yet every route can be a path to happiness. Happiness is a choice in every instant.

If you follow any of anyone else’s ways to happiness, you will always be settling for less happiness than you could experience.

Happiness is a unique experience that must be reached in a unique way. This doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from the experience of others. However when a choice has to be made between your path, your choice and that of another, always choose your way.

A soldier was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.

They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

Author Unknown

If you’re not living your dream, the following story about turnips, turnip greens and pigs might help you understand why. I suppose you could say this story begins when my wife, was just a little girl, and I was a little boy.

We were raised in totally different cultures. However, we did have one thing in common, she spent part of her summer holidays on the farm and so did I. An American, Linda grew up in the deep south, in Alabama and I was raised in northern Ontario, Canada. You could say that fate brought us together.

Shortly after we were married, we were wandering through a Super Market when Linda asked me what I would like to have for dinner. I told her I would like to have some turnip. As I picked one up and put it in our basket, she said, “What are you going to do with that?”

I replied, “I’m going to eat it.”

She said, “Well, I’m not going to eat that.”

I asked “Why not? I thought you liked turnip?”

“I do, but I wouldn’t eat that. It’s the root of the turnip…we feed that to the pigs.”

You know, as strange as this may seem, I had never heard it referred to as the root of the turnip! It was always just a turnip to me. I must have looked at her rather strange when I said, “Well, what do you eat?”

“We eat the green of the turnip.”

I said, “Isn’t that strange, we feed the greens to the pigs.”

To my knowledge, I have never eaten turnip greens. I reluctantly put the turnip back where I got it and we went on our way. But I began wondering how far back I would have to go in our family tree, to find out who made the decision that we would eat the root of a turnip, and feed the green to the pigs, or how far back I would have to go in Linda’s family to discover who made the decision to eat the greens.

Neither Linda, nor I, have changed our eating habits with respect to turnip. As a result, we just don’t eat turnip anymore! But every time I hear the word turnip or see one in the grocery store, I smile and it causes me to think of all the ideas that are controlling our lives that we inherited at birth. You see, I never woke up one morning and decided which part of the turnip I would eat – I just ate what I was served. And I’m darned sure that my mother didn’t wake up one morning and decide which part she would eat either. She just ate what she was served.

How much of your life is being controlled by a decision you inherited that was made by some ancient ancestor?

Author Unknown

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me, and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men. And, alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great.

I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine. Plus, the intelligence of man.

You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.

Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.

Who am I? 

I am habit.

Author Unknown

Many years ago, in a time of great war and consternation, there was a monastery which had fallen upon hard times. There were few monks left, and they tended to squabble amongst themselves. Everyone was convinced their path was the right path, and the peaceful ways of the past seemed little more than a dream.

In a last ditch attempt to save the monastery, the Abbot went to seek the wisdom of an old rabbi who was reputed to have great insight and wisdom into the ways of men. When the Abbot told the rabbi of the situation, the rabbi shook his head with great concern.

“It is imperative that you find a way to resolve this situation before it is too late,” said the rabbi. “For what you do not realize is that among you is the One who will deliver us all from fear into love.”

The Abbot asked who among them was the One, but the rabbi would tell him no more. On the way back to the monastery, he wondered who the One could be. “I’ll bet it’s Brother Arthur,” he thought to himself. “He is kind and good. Or perhaps it is Brother Thomas – he is young but already shows great wisdom. Or could it be…no…I mustn’t even consider that it might be me!”

On his return, the Abbot shared the news with the monks. While they were startled, there was the ring of truth to what the Abbot had said. The One was amongst them!

As they contemplated which of them it might be, the monks began to treat one another with a very special reverence and respect. After all, someone among them might really be the One. And, on the off chance that each monk himself might be the One, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect and reverence as well.

As time went by, the monks developed a gentle, loving quality about them which was hard to quantify but easy to notice. They lived respectfully, in harmony with themselves and nature. An aura of respect and reverence seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling about it. Occasional visitors found themselves deeply moved by the life of these monks.

Before long, people were coming from far and wide to be nourished by the life of the monks, and young men were asking to become a part of their community. Within a few short years, the monastery had once again become a thriving order – a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the world.

Author Unknown

A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.”

His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!”

“No, I’m sure of it,” the Native American said, “I heard a cricket.”

“That’s crazy,” said the friend.

The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed.

“That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have super-human ears!”

“No,” said the Native American. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you’re listening for.”

“But that can’t be!” said the friend. “I could never hear a cricket in this noise.”

“Yes, it’s true,” came the reply. “It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you.”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk.

And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.

“See what I mean?” asked the Native American. “It all depends on what’s important to you.”

Author Unknown