Happiness Resources on the International Day of Happiness

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Michael Kane

Happiness Resources on the International Day of Happiness

Today is The International Day of Happiness, so enjoy some happiness resources a little sunshine and finally an Irish Blessing to help you have a happy day  ~ Rev Kane

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13 experts on the pursuit of joy

A selection of TED talks on Happiness 

This is interesting, The World Database of Happiness 

An Irish Blessing ~ Author Unknown

May the blessings of light be upon you,
Light without and light within.
And in all your comings and goings,
May you ever have a kindly greeting
From them you meet along the road.

 

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Happiness, Travel & Experience

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Michael Kane

Happiness, Travel & Experience

Rev Kane goin native in the Scottish Highlands

Rev Kane goin native in the Scottish Highlands

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost. ~H. Jackson Browne

Today I’d like to talk about experience and happiness. We can talk about how we can be happier, the actions we need to take, even how our thoughts can drive our actions. But in the end we have to take action on our thoughts in order to make ourselves happier. In the past we have talked about being grateful for what we have but that is not enough, how have you shown your gratitude? We have talked about pushing those who are negative out of your life, but what have you done to make this happen? Our actions truly do speak louder than words, but taking action isn’t easy. How do you get the strength to take the actions you need to so that you can be happier?

The most common way is necessity, when something is so horrible that you can no longer abide it, you’ll do what you have to do to make the situation better. However most of us are not in that position, we are trying to be happier and if we don’t take action we’ll just be less happy. To me the best way to gain the strength to make changes is through experience and particularly through travel.

Traveling is a way to encounter different cultures and be exposed to a different way of thinking. I have been very fortunate in my life to have traveled globally, to have seen cultures in South and Central America and Asia, but it isn’t necessary to travel abroad. Having been to all 50 states and having lived in several of them, I can tell you that just traveling around this magnificent country can get you the experience you need.

New experiences give us a new way to see how things are done, a new way to think about the world. Showing us that difference and therefore that change is possible, have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. ~Author Unknown

Other Posts You Might Enjoy!

Happiness and the Benefits of Gratitude

Fear is Killing Your Happiness

Happiness is a Choice

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Happiness and the immensity of it all

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Michael Kane

Happiness and the immensity of it all

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires. ~ Kahlil Gibran

the world

So the other day I got a really interesting note from a friend who also happens to be a follower of the Church of Abnormal Acceptance and the Ministry of Happiness.   She went on a bit of a rant, not much of an oddity for my friend if you know her, in fact her rants kind of make me smile.  They come from a really great place because my friend Becky is all heart and so she comes at the world that way.  This makes her one of the most loving and caring people you can imagine, but of course when she gets hurt she feels it with her whole being.

What got her rant started on this particular night is the immensity of it all.  The world can be a really horrifying and incomprehensibly terrible thing.  There are sooooo many problems in this world, poverty, starvation, global climate change, the way we treat animals, the way we treat each other, don’t even get me started on US politics.  The thing is these things and many, many more will always be there, we’ll never live in a perfect world.

So we have to find ways, not to ignore all of it, but to address the things we can.  We need to address the problems closest to us, the problems we can impact, that we can handle.  If everyone just made their individual worlds a little better, a little happier then maybe we’d be a lot closer to that perfect world.  Have a wonderful and happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

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Tuesday has got to be better than Monday

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Michael Kane

Tuesday has got to be better than Monday

monday

Seems like a lot of folks had a hard Monday so to quote a friend, “Tuesday has to be better than Monday, it’s a very low bar.”  So here’s hoping Tuesday brings you more happiness than Monday and a little wisdom from the Dalai Lama and have a happy day my friends  ~ Rev Kane

Dalai Lama:  For the rest of your life to be as meaningful as possible, engage in spiritual practice if you can. It is nothing more than acting out of concern for others. If you practice sincerely and with persistence, little by little, step by step you will gradually reorder your habits and attitudes so as to think less about your own narrow concerns and more about others’ – and thereby find peace and happiness yourself.

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Happiness & Gardening

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Michael Kane

Happiness & Gardening

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”  ~ Jack Kerouac

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How do you know when you are truly doing something you are passionate about?  For me it is that time slows down, the wheels in your mind slow down and the normal concerns of the day don’t enter your brain.  You become completely and totally mindful and in the moment, nothing else exists but what you are doing at that second.

One of the things that I am truly passionate about is gardening.  I can spend an entire day turning over earth, planting, weeding, building fences and tending plants.  Hell, and apologies to my Buddhist friends, I can even be mindful of killing slugs.  Today happily was one of those amazing days, the sun was shining and I spent hours building a fence and planting.  It was a truly a happy day for me my friends.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our jobs made us feel that way every day?  Well that is one of the things I’m personally working on, I hope you are having more success on that path my friends and have a happy day of your own.  ~ Rev Kane

Other Posts You Might Enjoy!

Happiness and the Benefits of Gratitude

Fear is Killing Your Happiness

Happiness is a Choice

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The Dalai Lama on Education & Money

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Michael Kane

The Dalai Lama on Education & Money as a source of Happiness

dalai lama

Education

We have to think and see how we can fundamentally change our education system so that we can train people to develop warm-heartedness early on in order to create a healthier society. I don’t mean we need to change the whole system, just improve it. We need to encourage an understanding that inner peace comes from relying on human values like, love, compassion, tolerance and honesty, and that peace in the world relies on individuals finding inner peace.

Money as a source of Happiness

These days, in our materialistic culture, many people are led to believe that money is the ultimate source of happiness. Consequently, when they don’t have enough of it they feel let down. Therefore, it is important to let people know that they have the source of contentment and happiness within themselves, and that it is related to nurturing our natural inner values.

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The words of the Dalai Lama

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Michael Kane

The words of the Dalai Lama

So tonight a collection of the wisdom of the Dalai Lama, enjoy ~ Rev Kane

WARM HEARTEDNESS

The ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness. This means extending to others the kind of concern we have for ourselves. On a simple level we find that if we have a compassionate heart we naturally have more friends. And scientists today are discovering that while anger and hatred eat into our immune system, warm-heartedness and compassion are good for our health.

INNER PEACE

It is clear that inner peace is the principal cause of happiness. We can observe this in our daily lives. On days when we are calm and happy, even if difficulties arise or we fall victim to a mishap, we take it well, it doesn’t bother us unduly. But on days when we feel sad or have lost our usual calmness, the least little annoyance will take on enormous proportions and be deeply upsetting to us.

ANGER

If your mind is dominated by anger, you will lose the greatest part of your human intelligence-wisdom that is the ability to discern between good and evil. Anger is one of the greatest problems that we have to face in the world today. In the course of our daily human relations, if we speak straight forwardly and in a reasoned way, anger is not necessary. Any point of difference can be discussed. Whenever we cannot justify ourselves through reason, that is when anger rises. It is when reason ends that anger begins. In my experience, even if anger gives us the strength to reach or to respond in the event of conflict, the energy it gives us is blind and difficult to control. Anger is a sign of weakness.

OUTLOOK

Our feeling of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, loss of hope and so forth are in fact related to all phenomena. If we do not adopt the right outlook, it is possible that anything and everything could cause us frustration. Yet phenomena are part of reality and we are subject to the laws of existence. So this leaves us with only one option: to change our own attitude. By bringing about a change in our outlook towards things and events, all phenomena can become friends or sources of happiness, instead of becoming enemies or sources of frustration.

UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY

I believe that to meet the challenge of the next century all human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. It is very old-fashioned to think in terms of my nation, or my country, Universal Responsibility is the real key to human survival.

 

 

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Local Food and Happiness

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Michael Kane

Local Food and Happiness

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. ~ Charles M. Schulz

garden

I have a strong interest in sustainability and work with several organizations on that front.  One of the things I’m involved in is a Sustainable Living Series and one of the classes we are putting on a class on local foods.   Food is a significant factor in our health and thus our happiness.  Eating good healthy foods gives us energy, freedom from illness and can just plain make us feel better.  Eating locally has many other benefits from improving our health to helping our local economy.  After our class meets in April I’ll post some resources related to local food here at the ministry.

One of the people involved in our class is a wonderful woman by the name of JoAnne, she’s an older lady although you would never know it given her energy.  We met about the details of the upcoming class and after the meeting JoAnne and I got to sit and chat for a time.  I told her about the Ministry of Happiness and she gave me the following, whenever people ask her how she is, she responds with the following.  “I’m adorable, and some parts of me are perfect.”

She told me this with a twinkle in her eye and followed up by telling me that of course she doesn’t have to reveal what parts.  This woman is an inspiration to me, she’s bursting with energy, completely passionate and really committed to making this a better world.  She is the model of happiness I think all of us are looking for and talking to her helps me see more clearly my own path to this place.  I hope you all have people in your life who do this for you, they help guide and mentor us and of course, help us have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

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Happiness Resources – December 13, 2014

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Michael Kane

Happiness Resources – December 13, 2014

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Be brave and be patient. Have faith in yourself; trust in the significance of your life and the purpose of your passion. You are strong enough to sit in the space between spaces and allow divine inspiration to shed some light. When you put positive energy and productive effort into the world it will come back to you. Occasionally in ways you might not immediately understand and on a time frame you didn’t expect. Look. Listen. Learn. Stay open. Your destiny is awaiting you – Jillian Michaels

 

Global Happiness Map

An interesting piece from the Atlantic, a map of US happiness based upon tweets

I really like this piece a lot, 10 Actions that will always make you happy

Some good advice and not letting other people negatively impact your happiness

Twelve steps to happiness

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Happiness Resources – Feb 7, 2013

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Michael Kane

Happiness Resources – Feb 7, 2013

So tonight a tour around the web to find some ways to help us all have a happier day ~ Rev Kane

angel fix

From Zenhabits

Doing less

Savoring Life

28 tips for a brilliant life

 

From around the web

22 steps to a happier life

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