PAPA’S ADVICE –MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY

‘I’ll be so happy when I finally win the lottery and have all the money I will ever need.  I know I’d be happy if I really had a fairy God mother.’

O.K. guys this one could really be important.  In 67 years I have learned a pretty important lesson I don’t remember being taught in simple plain words.  The Bible addresses it in many places but I need it laid out a little more simply.  NO ONE OR ANY ONE THING IS GOING TO MAKE YOU HAPPY.  If you are waiting for that fairy god mother or magic wand to appear and make you happy every day of your live you are out of luck.  It ain’t gonna happen, book it, take my word and carry it to the bank. 

But I have found you can be happy where ever you are and what ever situation you find yourself in if you follow a few simple principles.  It all depends on you and how much you want it.  I know so many people today and throughout my life that are waiting and will always be waiting for someone to make them happy.  Someone with a lot of money, that has access to something they want or just someone who will furnish all those people believe necessary to be happy.  IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN. 

Other people and outside influences can show you a good time for a short period of time.  All of you have what amounts to the fairy god mother image I mentioned earlier.  A special person it might be a relative or friend of your mom and dad’s, or just someone you know in some way.  Every time you are around them you have a blast.  They may have a place at the lake or on the beach; they may just make sure you never run out to donuts or funnel cake, they just seem to love you and treat you so great you always have a blast when they are around.  This is fantastic for you.  You really are having a great time and it is probably because they love you very much.  Enjoy it and always be appreciative for all they do.  But this is not to be confused with true happiness.  It would not be happiness if you lived with them and received the same treatment every day.   Happiness is still there when the donuts and funnel cakes run out.  Your ability to be happy is what sees you through those days that don’t go so good.

You happiness comes from you.  From inside you, a lesson your parents teach you when they demand you start task and most importantly finish task.  My parents were the greatest ever.  From an early age, because of the business they owned, I learned to work, to be accountable and to finish.  Later I had coaches who demanded I do things I literally hated doing, and I had to do them over and over until I got it right.  I know I learned something there I have carried for the balance of my life that has help me to remain happy in any circumstance.

 

First remember true happiness comes from you relationship with God.  Without a strong belief that God has your back I can’t imagine being happy.  Next I believe happiness is the result of the feeling you get when you accomplish something good.  I don’t care what it is.  If your mom tells you to clean your room and you do it, not half way by filling your closet and hiding stuff under the bed, but really clean it the way she wants it, then you experience happiness.  As you grow in your education process, nothing brings any more happiness that when you complete a test or course where you have really studied and learned.  You have gone beyond the homework assignment and really thought through the course matter and have mastered it evidenced by a good grade.  In your work life the same is true, you are happy when you complete your task after totally applying yourself and successfully doing your work. 

This happiness is not dependent on the large most obvious things I have discussed.  There are literally dozens of opportunities you build your happiness from the time you wake up until you finally go to sleep at night.  A winning day fills your happiness battery for days to come.  Your first win comes when you first wake up.  Thank God for a new day and ask him to direct your steps and actions for the rest of the day. (Mean it)  Next without anyone telling you get up clean yourself and your room and whatever mess you made the night before and get to breakfast.  You will be shocked at how happy you are.  Next help your family get ready to get about whatever the day brings.  Right here in less than an hour you have personal victories that will put deposits in you happiness bank.  Continue through the day to do the things you are supposed to and need to without being told or if directed with a willing attitude.  Completing the jobs creates happiness.  No matter how big or how small, no matter how rich you are or how poor, you are a winner and winners are happy people. 

Now let me explain why this works.  Whenever you fail to complete any task you undertake or are assigned what happens?  You don’t want to face the person you were doing the task for.  You immediately start worrying about the excuse you are about to make and the explanation of why the job did not get done.  What’s worse is convincing yourself you really didn’t feel like doing it or it was a stupid unneeded task in the first place.  The justifying doing a poor job or no job at all becomes baggage you carry until you start working on the next excuse or fabricated reason for not preforming to you best.  No one can be happy managing all this baggage.  Get rid of it and start making those deposits in the ‘happy’ bank.

IN SUMMARY:

1.     Don’t wait on someone to make you happy.  It is no one else’s job. 

2.     You do the work to get you where you want to go. 

3.     Don’t ever get having a good time get mixed up with being happy.

4.     Create a day’s worth of winning by starting with the simplest task then keep adding as the day goes on.

5.     God wants you to be happy, he gave you the tools to achieve it.

6.     Don’t whine, I hate whiners. 

Coach John Wooten was so great and wise there are so many quotes by him but here are a couple that really makes the my point.

-"Discipline yourself, and others won't need to," Coach would say. "Never
lie, never cheat, never steal," and "Earn the right to be proud and
confident." 

- "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming." 

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket... keep it in your own."  ---unknown