The Ministry of Happiness

Wisdom and Happiness

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Michael Kane

Wisdom and Happiness

Today the consideration that without wisdom there cannot be happiness, what is wisdom, the piece linked to below believes that wisdom is:

1. Understanding and common sense

2. Ability to discern right from wrong

3. Curiosity

4. Versatility

5. Good critical thinking skills

Here is the link to the full piece http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ethics-everyone/201107/wisdom-and-the-search-happiness

Working on a Happy Monday

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Michael Kane

Working on a Happy Monday

Happy Monday

When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day. ~ Ella Woodward

Daylight Savings Time

Ahh Daylight Savings Time is back and I’m really happy about that. I’m one of these people who would actually prefer to have Daylight Savings Time all year. You see I’m not a morning person and I really don’t like leaving work in the dark for a chunk of the year. I know there are plenty of people who would prefer things the other way and even a few who probably enjoy the shifting back and forth. That’s just not me.

Believe in Yourself

Sometimes Mondays are dangerous

The big downside of the switching back and forth of course is that we lose an hour this weekend. Actually, we lose the hour we gained back in the fall, but that won’t wake getting up this Monday morning any easier. This isn’t just an inconvenience, or even just the makings of a sleepy morning, it is in fact dangerous. There is an 8% increase in strokes on the Monday after the time change to Daylight Savings Time. So truly friends, take it easy this Monday morning. Also watch out for sleep deprived drivers.

Happiness is a choice

Change your perspective on Monday

So we’re all going to go to bed early tonight right? Of course not and I know a lot of you are like me and find it hard to get to bed on time for a normal Sunday night. So, tonight, with the time change, it gets even harder. So tomorrow morning, or this morning, depending on when you are reading this, you’re likely to wake up a little more tired than a typical Monday, a little more grouchy and not in the best mood. That’s why it is so important to remember the quote above, you see we decide whether or not we’re going to be happy. Sure, it’s hard, but let’s all try just a little harder tomorrow morning to be kind, to be grateful, to not be so short with each other, to let someone into traffic, hold a door, say thank you and good morning and let’s all try to have a happy Monday my friends. ~ Rev Kane

Posted in personal happiness | Tagged be happy, daylight savings time, gratitude, happiness, happy, kindness, monday, Monday blues, mondays | Leave a comment

You ask, how to make myself happy, focus…

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Michael Kane

You ask, how to make myself happy, focus…

Live your dreams

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is not found in finishing an activity but doing it. ~ Greg Anderson

A question I often get when talking about happiness is, how do I make myself happy? I’d love to say to people that after 10 years of reading, writing and studying the idea of happiness that I have a magic bullet answer, I don’t. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know that I have my own struggles with happiness. We all have times when we are out of sync, life is complicated by our responsibilities and the people we interact with everyday.

Please don’t get me wrong, I have some answers, the problem is no answer is universal to everyone trying to find happiness. We are all at different places on the path. Some, just starting out may need to first learn to accept themselves, acceptance is crucial and it’s a lesson that was reinforced for me while hiking the Appalachian Trail. Like in life, there are things on the trail you just can’t change, the weather and geography foremost among them. It becomes crucial in life and in our pursuit of happiness to accurately identify what things we can’t change. We need very much to distinguish what we can’t change from what we won’t change, that’s the real kicker. So someone early on the path may need to go through that exercise and start to make what changes they are able to commit to that will improve their circumstances and happiness.

For others, there may be a very clear obstacle to their happiness. Perhaps they are in a bad relationship, either romantic, family or friendship that is killing their happiness. The answer to that person is really simple, get out. Of course, as usual, the idea is easy where as the implementation may be incredibly daunting. But it is the answer to how do I make myself happy. Another answer is often for people to overcome their fears. This is a big one, it often ties into worry which is a huge drain on your levels of happiness. However, what I find when I talk with people about this, is that often people know what they want to do. They know what change they need to make to be happy. However, they are afraid and use that fear to empower all of the reasons why they shouldn’t do the thing, they know would bring them happiness. There are ways and techniques they can use to get there, most really come down to careful planning and addressing what you’re afraid could go wrong.

For those of us a bit further down the line, the answer to the question how do I make myself happy is often a subtler issue. For me lately, the issue is how to find the focus I need to stay happy and even raise my level of happiness?

Find the focus

How to find the focus you need

Lately I’ve been feeling overwhelmed, this is always a really bad thing for me. The hardest thing for me is always getting started on something. Once I’m engaged I am incredibly productive, but when I have a hundred things that need to get I can freeze up, get distracted and generally not accomplish as much as I am capable of doing. In my work life this is a constant problem. I wear far too many hats in my position with too many competing priorities with similar levels of importance. So what ends up happening is you get driven by deadlines instead of the quality of ideas. You become incredibly tactical while losing the strategic vision you really need to be highly successful.

On the other side of my life, I’d call it my personal life, but people equate that to the social side of your life. But what I’m talking about is my plan to change my to make myself happy, or happier than I am now. I’ve mentioned my plans here before, my eventual goal to be able to give up what I’m currently during for a day job in order to focus all of my time on travel, writing, speaking and photography. I have a timeline and a plan in place and there are a lot of elements to the plan, and currently a number that all have to be done before December. Of course there is no real priority to which ones should be done first. So recently, after having my mood a drop I further complicated my brain by looking at all of the things at once. I was bouncing from item to item doing a bit on each but really not digging in and getting started or working productively on any one thing.

Focus. That’s what really was missing for me on this, thinking back to some of the basic tenants of mindfulness it became apparent to me that what I really needed to do was pick one thing and just dig in and get it done. So that’s what I’ve done, particularly where my next book is concerned. I have two books in progress, one a collection of essays on happiness and the other a book of my original poetry. This past week I decided to dig in hard on the essay book and get that one done and published. So the poetry book will come out likely six months later than I had hoped, but I’ve made my choice, not it’s just time to focus and make myself happy by getting the essay book done.

For you in your own life, ask yourself, what competing priorities are fighting for your attention. Can you take one and just focus on it and give it the attention that it needs so that doing what you have to do can help you be happy? I hope so, and I hope you have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Happy Anniversary Ministry of Happiness: Our Best Posts from the last Five Years

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Michael Kane

Happy Anniversary Ministry of Happiness: Our Best Posts from the last Five Years

Happy Anniversary to the Ministry of Happiness

Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about ~ Benjamin Franklin

Happy Anniversary Ministry of Happiness

Happy Anniversary to the Ministry of Happiness and the Church of Abnormal Acceptance. It was today in 2012 that I first started this blog. I had gone through years of fighting depression and in trying to help myself starting researching how to be happy. I’d helped myself and decided that I needed a way to share what I had I learned. I had also just become an ordained minister and so it all came together as the Ministry of Happiness. A short-time later I expanded the ministry to include an over arching structure, the Church of Abnormal Acceptance. The name was chosen specifically to make the point that everyone is welcome here. This church is not religion in the terms we ordinarily think of it, but more of a philosophy and a way of life. A place to find a little wisdom that you can apply to your life regardless of whatever beliefs you have may have, in hopes that I can help you find some more happiness in your life.

How to be happy

Over the years my focus on the blog has changed a bit. Initially I wrote about what I had learned from others. More general advice on how to be happy. I pulled a lot from some of the best sites on the web like Zen Habits. There is a lot of great advice on that site and it’s someplace worth checking out. But as I’ve learned more about the science of positive psychology, as I became a happier person, my focus began to change. The basics of course are important, good food, sleep, finding ways to reduce stress, being kind and exercising. These things will keep you happy at a basic level. But perhaps the most important things I’ve learned over the last few years are two things. First you have to find balance in your life and secondly, you have to learn to take risks and get out of your comfort zone.

Do something that scares you and be happy

If you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk

So when you write a blog on happiness and you tell people that they need to have balance in their life, you had better have balance in yours if you want any credibility. So I do my best to keep that balance day-to-day. However, years ago I also decided to take the whole balance thing to another level. I realize given my own personal circumstances and that I won’t have a standard retirement, I needed to get my retirement adventures in another way. So I instituted a plan and now, every time I hit a milestone birthday, starting at 40, then 45 and 50 so far, I take at least a leave of absence from work or quit my job and go on an adventure. I do this primarily because it makes me happy, because I can and because it’s a way for me to show other people that they can do it to.

The adventures I’ve gone on have ranged from going to Burning Man, cycling in Ireland, hiking across Scotland, hiking to base camp at Mt. Everest, photographing polar bears in the arctic with spectacular northern light shows and my most ambitious adventure, hiking the Appalachian Trail and writing a book about it, Appalachian Trail Happiness.

Live your dreams

It’s happiness to live your dreams

So you might think, ok, he writes a blog on happiness, he’s happy, he travels, write books he must have it all worked out. Of course that’s not how it works, I struggle with one of the things that almost everyone struggles with and that is how to align my job with my dreams. We all hear the comment all of the time, read it online in quotes, you know, love your job and you’ll never work another day. Great idea, but how do you make it work with bills, family and all other types of responsibilities? Well, that’s what I’ve started to write about and work on my life. So there’s still a way to go before I get to the place I want to be, and lots more to write about on the way. And hopefully lot’s of happy days my friends.

Ten best Ministry of Happiness posts

I have assembled this list with absolutely no criteria in mind. I’ve pulled some pieces that have gotten a lot of comments, some that people have told me they really like and a few of my own personal favorites. Enjoy!. ~ Rev Kane

Remember the Sweet Things – including the most poignant piece I’ve ever read, it will make you weep and give you hope for humanity.
Fear is Killing Your Happiness – stop worrying and be happy.
Happiness is Taking Risks – you have to get out of your comfort zone to be happy.
Appalachian Trail Happiness: Acceptance is the Way – Learning acceptance on the AT
Happiness is Not Safety – Choosing safety and predictability will not increase your happiness
Happiness is Blue Poop – A cute little post about my niece potty training
My Polar Bear Adventure – Polar bears and an amazing Northern Lights display
Appalachian Trail Happiness: My Best Posts – My reader’s favorite AT posts
My Himalayan Travelogue – Both my trips through Scotland and Mt. Everest
Happiness is Art: Van Gogh – A popular post with Vincent Van Gogh’s art

Posted in personal happiness | Tagged balance in life, be happy, blog, Church of Abnormal Acceptance, happiness, happy anniversary, live your dreams, Ministry of happiness, way of life, writing | 5 Comments

A Happy Hiking Anniversary

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Michael Kane

A Happy Hiking Anniversary

White Blazes make me happy

Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Of all the upness accessible to mortals, there is no upness comparable to the mountains. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

The Appalachian Trail

So today Facebook hit me with one of those anniversary reminders, it was three years ago today that I posted an image from the Len Foote Hike Inn. This was the place I hiked into the night before I started the Appalachian Trail in 2015. I was met there and hiked into my first day by a good friend. We had a great night talking and a wonderful morning hiking to the literal fork in the road, Jim went down, I went up to mile zero and the beginning of a wonderful adventure that I wrote about in my book Appalachian Trail Happiness.

Me and my friend Jim on my first day on the Appalachian Trail

Three years feels like a long-time this morning, coming back to default world after being so free for a year has been a hard slog if I’m being honest. But happily I’m only four months from being back on the road again. I wrote last week about my upcoming adventures to Mexico and Machu Picchu.

What I learned about myself on the Appalachian Trail

I learned a lot on my time on the Appalachian Trail, long-distance hiking is one of those things that forces introspection and analysis of your life. The trail impacted me in some not so surprising ways, it deepened my love of the forest. It made me a much better hiker and taught me that even in my 50’s I could take on a serious physical challenge. But first, it taught me how resilient I am mentally, being challenged is such a good thing for you. Sure it’s frightening, but taking on a challenge and overcoming it builds so much inside of you. I’m a better person for taking on the challenge that I did three years ago.

I also learned some practical things, I’m calmer than I was before I hiked the trail. Something about living outside of all of the niceties and protections of our normal society teaches you not to be so jumpy. Not that I didn’t have my moments on the trail, a six-foot rat snake will make you jump. As will the rattle of a rattlesnake when you step to close to it under a pine tree and even an acorn slamming into the tarp over your hammock at 4AM after you’ve been convinced there’s a bear outside your camp.

Changing your life

The biggest thing that my time on the road taught me was that time on the road wasn’t just a fantasy. Sure, it was terrifying at some level, uncertainty always is, change always is, but it showed me that if you plan well and have the courage to make the jump you will get rewarded. I talk about this with people all of the time. People quite honestly are both fascinated and envious of the freedom that results from living life this way. And then, because people have to have a reason to justify not following their own dreams I often get the question. Are you married, do you have kids? When I say no I get the same standard response, oh that’s why you can do these things, you’re lucky. I find this response interesting, I’ve always said humans have two superpowers, rationalization and denial. People want to live a life outside the box, to travel or chase other passions that they possess. But society frowns on people living outside of the approved script it has written and our great weakness is that most of us truly fear being viewed as outsiders. So they have to justify why they don’t.

The idea of being seen as different, having someone call us bad parents or bad people, having the people we care about be disappointed in us has far too much power over us. The fact that the opinions of others weigh so heavily on us so often chains us to unhappiness. It takes courage to break those chains, but courage leads to freedom.

Chasing your dreams

I do want to address that question I get so often. First there are plenty of married couples who do the sorts of things I do, who live the type of life they want to live. Two of my favorite people on earth fit this bill. They met when both were single and working as traveling health professionals. Now married, one has completely changed careers to follow his passion and they are currently living in Sitka, Alaska for their latest adventure. They are two of the best and happiest people I know.

I also have two friends who with their son are currently taking a sabbatical year in New Zealand. Neither of them work in education where a sabbatical might be part of their normal career path. What they did, was simply what you have to do in order to do these sorts of things. They planned, they saved and now they are giving their young son an unbelievable experience, the type we all wish we could have had as a kid. They are not alone, a lot of people take their family on a gap year.

Sitka, Alaska – photo credit my friend Kara

I write about these two examples for a simple reason, they shoot down the immediate excuses most people put forward as to why they can’t chase their passions. I don’t do this to put down anyone for not doing, I do this to show you all that it’s possible. One of the main reasons I write this blog, why I write about my stories and the things other people do is to help you see that you can do it to. My most sincere hope is that living vicariously through what I do isn’t just entertainment, but also inspiration, a seed that grows into a desire you can’t deny and that it causes you to plan, to save and to chase your dreams and have many happy days my friends, because I know you can. ~ Rev Kane

Happiness is Poetry: Raina Maria Rilke

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Michael Kane

Happiness is Poetry: Raina Maria Rilke

Tonight another poet suggested to me by the wonderful Suzanne Burns, Raina Maria Rilke. Short, powerful pieces, reminiscent of Peter McWilliams but with a somewhat haunting quality. Amazing to me these pieces where written a hundred years ago, they feel incredibly relevant even now. This first piece is absolutely amazing, enjoy my friends and have a happy day ~ Rev Kane

You Who Have Never Arrived

You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
from the start,
I don’t even know what songs
would please you. I have given up trying
to recognize you in the surging wave of
the next moment. All the immense
images in me — the far-off, deeply-felt
landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and
unsuspected turns in the path,
and those powerful lands that were once
pulsing with the life of the gods–
all rise within me to mean
you, who forever elude me.

You, Beloved, who are all
the gardens I have ever gazed at,
longing. An open window
in a country house– , and you almost
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon,–
you had just walked down them and vanished.
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors
were still dizzy with your presence and,
startled, gave back my too-sudden image.
Who knows? Perhaps the same
bird echoed through both of us
yesterday, separate, in the evening…

*******************************************

Again and Again

Again and again, however we know the landscape of love
and the little churchyard there, with its sorrowing names,
and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others
fall: again and again the two of us walk out together
under the ancient trees, lie down again and again
among the flowers, face to face with the sky.

****************************************************

Falling Stars

Do you remember still the falling stars
that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes–do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars: each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

***************************************************

Autumn

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.”

And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.

We’re all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It’s in them all.

And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

**************************************

Before Summer Rain

Suddenly, from all the green around you,
something-you don’t know what-has disappeared;
you feel it creeping closer to the window,
in total silence. From the nearby wood

you hear the urgent whistling of a plover,
reminding you of someone’s Saint Jerome:
so much solitude and passion come
from that one voice, whose fierce request the downpour

will grant. The walls, with their ancient portraits, glide
away from us, cautiously, as though
they weren’t supposed to hear what we are saying.

And reflected on the faded tapestries now;
the chill, uncertain sunlight of those long
childhood hours when you were so afraid

***************************************************

AT the Brink of Night

My room and this distance,
awake upon the darkening land,
are one. I am a string
stretched across deep
surging resonance.

Things are violin bodies
full of murmuring darkness,
where women’s weeping dreams,
where the rancor of whole generations
stirs in its sleep . . .
I should release
my silver vibrations: then
everything below me will live,
and whatever strays into things
will seek the light
that falls without end from my dancing tone
into the old abysses
around which heaven swells
through narrow
imploring
rifts.

~Rilke

Happiness is Poetry: Even More Bukowski

Happiness is Poetry: Suzanne Burns

Happiness is Poetry: Pablo Neruda

Happiness is Poetry: William Blake

Posted in Happiness is Poetry | Tagged Austria, bohemian, bukowski, happiness, poem, poet, poetry, Rilke, Suzanne Burns, writing | 6 Comments

A Selection from Otherness

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Michael Kane

A Selection from Otherness

The cover image for my next book Otherness

Tonight friends a couple of pieces from my newly published poetry book, Otherness, available on Amazon as a paperback or ebook through Kindle. Enjoy ~ Rev Kane

Falling at the ground and missing 8/28/16

That I’m different
has never been in doubt
I speak different
I look different
I certainly think different
apparently,
I love differently as well

People,
are always telling me
to not love, who I love
or to love, who I don’t
I guess other people
have the ability
to control their hearts
I don’t

I fall in love,
not partially
not a little
but totally and completely
I don’t even know how
to fall out of love
I still love
every woman, I’ve ever loved

I envy you
you controlled beasts
who decide to love this person
or stop loving that one
I’ve certainly known women
who’ve stopped loving me
sometimes on a dime

I’ll never be that way
It’s not in my nature
nor a skill that I’m capable of learning
so mock me if you will
taunt me for my disability
but I don’t understand it at all

I guess
the rest of you are super
because when you fall
if need be,
you know how to fly
change course
land softly on the ground
all I can do
is fall blissfully
until I hit the ground
and break my heart
Tonight a Toast 03/29/16

Tonight a toast
to you feral fucks
you barbarous bastards
motherfucking masochists
careless cocksuckers
to all you soul murdering farmers
who have planted
your kernels of pain
in the pit of my stomach

Congratulations
your seeds, still viable
sprout at the worst of times
the pain grows
so elegantly, so quickly
that Monsanto
if it still had one
would sell its soul for the patent rights

Like anything that grows
all growing things, parasites really
take vital need from the source
your hell born seed
bellicose bushes
rapacious roots
dig too deep
they burrow into vital things
steal the essential essence

What you philistine fucks harvest
with your hateful herbs
what your parasites purloin
compassion, love, caring
openness, sharing, vulnerability
after you slash and burn
in their place
devoid of essence
on the black ground
that once was my living heart
you leave only
callousness, anger, disinterest
inaccessibility, selfishness, cynicism

So tonight
a toast to you
may you reap
all that you sow
a better man might forgive you
a better man would open his heart
but you’ve left me no heart to open
so here’s hoping
the wheel comes round
and crushes you
like the rotten kernels of grain
you stole my soul to create
you fucking fucks

Posted in Happiness is Poetry | Tagged blog, otherness, poem, poems, poet, poetry, rev kane, writing | 2 Comments

Happiness Resources from Positive Psychology

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Michael Kane

Happiness Resources from Positive Psychology

Positivity is the key!

Managing expectations can make you happier http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200911/not-so-great-expectations

Action for Happiness, an interesting site on changing the world for the better http://www.actionforhappiness.org/

Who knew, Huffington Post has a happiness section?! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/happiness

A scientific experiment Tracking your Happiness http://www.trackyourhappiness.org/

The benefits of curiosity http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200608/cultivating-curiosity

Finally a little humor, happiness and laughing http://www.happinessandlaughter.com/

Have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Some Other Posts You Might Enjoy!

Happiness and Becoming Who You Are

Fear is Killing Your Happiness

Our Best Happiness Posts for 2015

Revisiting Some of Our Best Posts & Pictures

There are Angels Among Us: A True Story of Giving & Kindness

Posted in happiness resources | Tagged curiosity, happiness, inspiration, laughter, positive, psychology, resources | 5 Comments

Kahlil Gibran on Pain

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Michael Kane

Kahlil Gibran on Pain

Khalil Gibran

Happiness is found in truth and the truth of life is that sometimes we feel pain, I only wish I could express this the way the master Kahlil Gibran did, enjoy and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

On Pain

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the
daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem
less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
even as you have always accepted the seasons that
pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the
winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within
you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy
in silence and tranquility:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by
the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has
been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has
moistened with His own sacred tears.

Khalil Gibran

Overcoming Demons to Be Happy

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Michael Kane

Overcoming Demons to Be Happy

Rev Kane in his first year at Burning Man

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encompasses your understanding ~ Kahlil Gibran

Overcoming Demons

Today is a very special day for me my friends, it’s an anniversary for me, a pretty significant one, it’s the anniversary of the beginning of me overcoming demons and finding a way to be happy. You see today I have been clean and sober for 33 years, clean and sober in the photo above as well, just because I’m not loaded anymore doesn’t mean I’m boring. This also should go a way to dispelling the idea that everyone at Burning Man is on drugs.

I want to be very clear, I was never a physiological alcoholic or addict, I’m fortunate in that respect. My addiction was purely psychological, I was using drugs and alcohol as a way to escape from my life. Becoming clean and sober means I climbed a hill, but nothing compared to the hill millions of physiologic alcoholics and addicts climb every day. My struggle was initially hard but in many ways it’s over, for them, they climb that same hill over and over, day after day and they always will. I have more respect for addicts and alcoholics in recovery than I can ever convey.

For me my thirty-year anniversary means that I’m no longer loaded day after day as I was from around October 1982 until June of 1984. I have not been perfect in my thirty-years, I’ve been drunk from time to time, I have the occasional drink, I even had some mushrooms one night a couple of years ago and fittingly ended up on a very bad trip. But, I don’t feel the need and most importantly when I’m angry, upset or sad my first thought is not to get drunk or loaded. I have to admit to still wanting to do hallucinogens, I do miss them but it always seemed to me it needed to be an all or nothing sort of decision. Recently, I’ve started to consider that I might have to lift that particular prohibition once I turn 60 should I be fortunate to live that long.

The time to be happy is now

As I have shared in another post, recently a friend from high school who I hadn’t seen since graduation said to me, I’m glad you can be happy now. I wasn’t happy in high school, hell I hadn’t been happy for sometime at that point in my life. Something almost no one knows, when I was 15 I pointed a loaded shotgun at my chest and tried to pull the trigger, I couldn’t. So I went on living fairly miserably, then once I left home and went to college I was fully able to escape in every sense of the world. My choice of vehicle was initially booze and then I moved on to marijuana and LSD. One unfortunate night I even did PCP by accident, a joint had been laced, it was a very crazy night.

To be a bit of a cliché my life spiraled, I got kicked out of college, faced the embarrassment of returning home a failure. Suffered some pretty heavy psychological abuse from myself and others and eventually squarely hit rock bottom. It was at that point that I realized how lucky I was, I wasn’t dead, I had a chance to change my life.

be happy, overcoming demons, anniversary

Yes it does

Finding a way to be happy

After hitting rock bottom, the first part of the journey was of course self-analysis. I’ve always envisioned my inner self as a brick house and I ripped it to the ground and took each and every brick and decided whether or not to keep it. The process took months and on the other side of that process I started rebuilding my life. I went back to college and have been moving forward ever since. The slowest part of that process was finding a way to be happy. I’ve suffered a lot of emotional ups and downs over the years and some pretty hard bouts of depression. The best tool I found for myself was to write, I began writing about my thoughts and feelings, found my way eventually into writing poetry and it was in poems that I was finally able to really release the energy, the negative energy I held inside me.

It was still a few more years before I started really looking at the idea of happiness and the field of positive psychology. The final step in this process for me my friends was the creation of the Ministry of Happiness and the Church of Abnormal Acceptance. So you see my friends you are doing just as much for me, as hopefully I am for you. It’s my anniversary of me overcoming demons to be happy and I’m proud of the ground I have covered but it has become far more important for me to help others cover that same ground. So extend a hand and I’ll do my best to help you have a happy day my friends, and I do it in gratitude because helping others in the end, helps me. ~ Rev Kane

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