Is it Possible to be Happy?

You've probably heard it often enough but it is worth reading in this context; “every human has a desire for happiness”. You can be happy most of the time, some of the time or it always seems elusive to you.

What were you doing in those wonderful moments of being happy?

It could be that split moment when a buddy told a hilarious knee-slapping joke and you forgot all the stress you were under. Then the stress kicks in and you are now no longer happy.

If you wax a smile even if you are not feeling up to it, you will almost certainly find something to smile about. And of course, if you can laugh, something will come up for you to laugh about. Try it, it works well.

You are really responsible for your own happiness, no one else. It comes from within and consequently it depends on what you have done or doing, right? If you have been complaining to your boss about another employee you don't particularly like, do you think during that time and afterwards you will be feeling happy?
It is highly unlikely you'd be feel happy unless you have a similar personality to Mr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or what is sometimes known as “bi-polar” (or what had been called “manic-depressive psychosis” by psychiatrists).

If you have a positive intention to achieve a specific goal and you have a passion for what you do, the nearer you get to achieving that goal the happier you will be. The climax will be when the goal is achieved and you'll be really happy. What then? You set up another goal and head for it.

Happiness really is having a positive attitude towards life, a bit like wearing a coat; you can either put on the coat of a happy attitude or even a nasty one. So wear the right coat and do good things for others.

Some Funny Facts of Life

There are weird facts of life, funny odd facts as well as trivia facts and a bit of truth about each. Part of being alive and having a great life is to be happy. See my earlier blogs on this subject.

One of the basic facts of life is that life itself is related to happiness. This world does not appear to be a happy place today, even yesteryear seems pretty much like today—full of hate, starvation, jobless, illiteracy, divorce—name your own "awfulness" here!

You will notice people who have an unlimited chunk of money and can buy anything are far from being happy.

Sometimes we look at our surroundings and think "How could anyone be happy in this hellhole where everything seems to go wrong?" There's a leak in the roof, the gutters are falling off, the garden is overrun with weeds and trash, the sofa needs replacing. "OMG, what can we do about it?"

Kids get their knowledge on the facts of life from the charm they put into it. Remember when you were a kid and everything looked beautiful and life was truly great? What changed? I guess you changed.

On a lighter note, a kids viewpoint on the funny facts of life can throw a little happiness here and there!

The Pursuit of Happiness

There's an article today on Yahoo's News about 5 things that will make you happier. There's also a picture there of a group of people at The Laughing Club giving off an early morning guffaw. Trouble is, they don't look happy at all.

Would it be true to say if you are pursuing happiness you don't have it? Otherwise why the pursuit?

Happiness is not having loads of bucks in the bank - look at some of the really wealthy people, especially celebrities, they look downright unhappy. So that isn't the answer is it? Being hopelessly in love can bring happiness but that doesn't last too long when it goes into stage 2 and 3. Do you have a good definition of happiness?

The five things listed (as research has shown) that can improve happiness is:

1) Being Grateful. Writing letters of gratitude or a thank-you letter.
2) Be Optimistic. Think optimistic thoughts by visualizing an ideal future.
3) Count your blessings; write some good things about yourself.
4) Use your strengths - do you have any?
5) Acts of Kindness; Help others, assist others in need. Well, we all do that.

Do you do any of these things? It certainly does have an effect on you when you "Pay it Forward"

A good definition would be overcoming the obstacles in life towards an achievable goal.

See these kids, they are very happy. Do you know why? Take a look!

What is funny depends on your viewpoint

Maybe this is how you see things and we all have our very own viewpoint of what can be funny. We often laugh at things we find strange and unusual and sometimes downright illogical. There is no really good definition of what “funny” is probably because there are many factors that come into play. Age – 6 or 60, culture – English or Chinese and time frames. Some humorous pieces do survive the ages as in Shakespeare, Mark Twain or Moliere and more. Notice that Shakespeare's romantic comedies have survived the ages and they are always funny – but not to get you rolling on the floor!

What you find funny other people may find downright ugly or bizarre.

You can oftentimes find yourself in a serious situation which gradually becomes absurd and then ridiculously funny. I was once acting in a play “The House By The Lake” by Hugh Mills and I played the main character and Stella was my sister. We plotted to murder our very unloved brother Colin – so this was a serious thriller, full of counter-plots and intrigue. After brother Colin was “murdered” we dumped him upright in a closet (during a curtain fall after act II.) Soon after the opening of the 3rd act, the door fell off (it wasn't constructed too well) and “dead” Colin came with it. The audience screamed as though it was part of the act, it wasn't. And so Colin began to laugh, then it got to a raucous laugh to almost a hysterical laugh, the audience still thought it was part of the act and also began to laugh which ended in so much noise we all began to laugh! In the end, tears began to run down Colin's face – then came the curtain call and Act III ended abruptly.

Shakespeare knew the ups and downs of life were sometimes funny as well as tragic. You do not see too often the comedians in a tragic play or movie come on scene to lighten it up! Check some of Shakespeare's final lines that are all to often taken seriously when in fact they are humorous, “Oh, now I am slain!”

If you truly want to have some fun and laughter, go to this
Kid-Friendly Website A top line resource on clean humor for young families.

Funny Stuff About Humor Writing

There are no degrees one can get in the higher education lobbies for a certified professional humor writer. There are few unions for gag writers and only a dearth of books written on the subject. But humor is getting more and more in demand in higher education, in board rooms, in seminars, in TV sitcoms, and in film scriptwriting.

There are a few universities offering humor writing courses but the bulk of comedy writers for TV and films come from Harvard which surprisingly does not have a humor writing course. Didn't George Bush come from Harvard? Now here's a dude who has a sense of humor. Ever read “George Bushisms?” which is really funny and he never did a humor writing course!

You CV should now have “I have a sense of humor” but how do you assess this? Humor of course depends on the audience it is addressed to. America's Funniest Home Movies goes down well here but not every country likes this type of humor where someone falls off their bike or hurts themselves in some way.

Some say humor indicates command and when we grin it becomes a sign of assurance as fears are indicated by scowls and frowns. Is there a difference between comedy and humor? Well yes. Comedy can be considered the execution of humor and how one gets this across to the audience.

Jokes as themselves are not really part of humor writing...they are just jokes that are used by the amateur comedians to get a laugh but serious comedy writing has an audience spellbound by her presence alone as there is an anticipation of something funny coming now and at any moment soon.

Many jokes have been written years ago and have been regurgitated many times from Mark Twain, W.C. Fields, Milton Berle, George Burns and many others. So the jokes you hear now have been in the archives for some time!

Families Can Be Funny - Some of The Time!

Families can be really, really funny. Oftentimes they can be a pain in the butt, but I love my family dearly and I think they love me also in their strange ways.

Some families, which includes our next door neighbor, love to fight and yell all the time! This can go on seemingly for days, then comes silence and I think someone has been murdered! Our next door neighbor lives about 200 yards from our house and even over that distance the decibels can be as loud as a 747 flying 50 feet overhead.

When father next door is yelling at mother and mother at father, all their little secrets are broadcast for all to hear within our neighborhood. Mother sometimes starts up early in the morning to get the kids off to school, to make sure they've had their breakfast, their hair is combed and they are presentable.

Father comes down and repeats what mother has vociferated, and the kids moan back in unison “Oh, Dad, please leave us alone, we're on time for school.”

Father: “Please keep a civil tongue in your head! Don't talk to your father like that!”

“Sorry Dad.”

A squirrel runs past their window and Fido lets rip with his bark in his anxiousness to make chase. This adds to moms shrieks for the dog to “Shut up, or else I will get the broom to you!”
Fido ignores her as he always does so he is let out the house to do his early morning duty.

The neighbors' house is then silent for a few days, know why? It's the weekend and the entire family is cocooned in the soundproof entertainment room and they are all watching TV and knocking back sodas and chips.

Yeah, this family with all their rants and raves, love each other dearly and sometimes, not often, can be really funny even when they are yelling at one another.

Have some fun and laughter here with this:
Kid-Friendly Website A top line resource on clean humor for young families!

Practicle Jokes

Practical jokes are something parents and kids use to have playful fun with each other and it can keep the lines of communication open between kids and parents. Even though parents might be better at playing practical jokes on kids, it is fun to see how your child comes up with ideas for funny pranks or practical jokes to pull on you.
 
Of course, it can depend on the personality of the child as to whether they have a sense of humor about your practical jokes. You want to come up with little practical jokes that aren't too scary or too emotionally traumatizing, or they can have the opposite effect. Using humor to keep the lines of communication open between children and adults can be a good way to encourage creativity and sensitivity, too. Practical jokes can be a way to incorporate humor into fun and communication.
 
Practical jokes that seem to work the best are little things that involve a great surprise or reward at the end. While some parents might not think of practical jokes as a way to open the lines of communication, think of the creative ways you use to make your child believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Do you think that these are much different than some of the practical jokes you might be able to play on your child?
 
One of my Dad's practical jokes came back three-fold one Easter. My father dug a hole at the corner of the house and placed a few plastic Easter Eggs in it without my younger sisters seeing him. I was older and had outgrown the "Easter Bunny" theory. When my younger sisters woke up and saw their Easter baskets full of candy, they questioned my father how the "Easter Bunny" got into the house.
 
Dad took them outside and showed them the hole with plastic eggs and claimed the Easter Bunny dropped them while digging into the house. They were getting old enough to question this far-fetched way to get candy and gifts, but they went along with it. The ideal opportunity for practical jokes came along when the kids next door got three live bunnies for Easter from their aunt that had a farm.
 
My younger sisters devised a way to pull practical jokes on Dad with the bunnies. The neighbors loaned out the baby rabbits for a couple hours as they helped us plan the practical jokes that would be played on Dad. The first sister went into the house, carrying her little live bunny and told Dad she found it in the hole that the Easter bunny dug. A split second later, the next sister took another bunny in saying the same thing.
 
By this time, the practical jokes couldn't get any funnier. Dad's face was priceless when the third bunny came through the door, left in the Easter bunny hole, of course. Dad was relieved to admit that the Easter Bunny hole was one of his practical jokes, but we made him sweat before we told him that the bunnies were on loan.
 
The moral of the story about practical jokes with your kids is that you need to be prepared to get paid back with ingenious practical jokes they come up with on their own. Practical jokes can be fun and humorous, when used with good intentions.

Do you have a practical joke you's like to share? Go Here: A Kid-Friendly Family Site

Does your kid call the tune?

Savvy parents know the worst thing to do to a child is smack, scold, whip, plead, punch, intimidate, take their possessions, or invalidate in any way. Why? Any form of control like this results in long-term emotional conflicts and worse, the kid becomes alienated from her/his parents.

If your kid is given a prize for a job well done, this signifies they are loved by their parents only when they perform exceptionally well.

So what do you do when your child flies into a rage, throws his toys out the cot and screams incessantly?

Would a nice calm voice do the trick? I don't think so. What about letting him continue with his antics until he knows he is not producing an effect any more? He is being "cause" as he is creating an effect on his parents, right? So perhaps ignoring it altogether might work?

How many times have you heard "Say please!" from parents or "Try being nicer to your brother" or "You will learn discipline!"

Is this robotic approach workable? So what would be the solution for extremely bad behavior like this in a child?

Any thoughts on this will be welcome.

Family Fun and Games

The day is not always family fun with everyone agreeing with everyone else. Some days are stressful with Dad having enormous pressure at work, he has to get the job done no matter what. The kids are also stressed out with their schooling, they have to get their projects done on time or else there is a black mark on their record. Mom is at sixes and sevens because she has to do a balancing act with the the schools' schedule, then there is a ballet lesson for the youngest tike. In between there is shopping to do and a meeting with the book club.

The only animal not stressed on this particular day is Kiva, the dog. All he wants is a little food, maybe a few bones thrown in and time to do a little sniffing. Kiva knows when there is stress in the household, nobody is smiling or singing, there is no laughter, no playful scene with the kids or joking around. Just a rush. Now Kiva likes this in a way because the kids gulp down their breakfast and usually drop a few crumbs on the floor, then he can sniff and enjoy a tiny morsel before they all rush out the door.

Mom gets her schedule completed, picks up her daughter, manages to get most of the shopping done and the book club meet goes smoothly. She's now more relaxed and can have that latte she has been thinking about since breakfast.

The kids arrive back from their respective schools and seem very chirpy and very noisy with the intention to tell the rest of the family how their day went and the success they had with their projects. Two of them have to do their homework which they detest, they complain to mom and dad often about how boring it is and it does not seem worthwhile learning some of this stuff because they will never use it in their lives. Who wants to learn all about the anatomy of a frogs back leg? “When will I ever use that knowledge?” Dad chirps in “You might need it if you go into the medical profession.”

Homework is now completed and the fun begins. As the kids are now relaxed teasing the younger ones begins. There is raucous laughter which provokes more teasing. Then mom pipes up “Stop that will you?” and the noise abates but only slightly. Then it creeps up to it original decibel and mom ignores it as she is busy in the kitchen.

Dad is more relaxed now as the day is over as he starts playing with the kids. They enjoy dad's playfulness especially the rough on-the-floor wrestling. You might call it physical bonding. Supper is served and the entire family is relaxed, there is lovely idle chatter with a little bantering thrown in. Mom is very happy as she knows her family is relaxed and well.

Just wait until tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off!

Your Typical Family Guy

Joe is a great guy at heart, he has a lovely family of four, two teenagers (boys) and one boy of eight and a darling daughter of six.

He works hard during the week and sometimes on Saturdays. He is the manager of a large grocery store and is on his feet the whole day from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm. When he arrives home he is nearly always tired but the sight and greetings from his kids gives him renewed energy. And of course his wife throws her arms around him with a passionate kiss. That makes his day.

Joe thinks often when he's working at the store “What would life be like without my wife and kids?” and he then dismisses the thought immediately. He hates Monday mornings because his 'stand-in' manager has been running the store almost totally “by the book” or by the store's policy. And that means there are lots of employee problems to sort out – and that eats up half the day. This occurs as regular as clockwork.

Then along comes Friday and Joe is as happy as can be. He is going to spend lots of time with his wife and kids. His eldest son Mark loves playing online games and can sit their for hours non-stop. Of course his younger brother complains he never gets a turn as there is only one computer. Joe knows about this and wonders if he should put time limits on Mark to give the rest of the family a turn.

Then Joe thinks it would be better if he purchased another computer because they will need it for Lance as he will be using the school's Apple Mac and will have homework to do on it. Joe knows his budget is stretched and that is why he cuts back on buying a new car, he drives an old clunker which he is not proud of. It spews out oil and is heavy on gas. He is putting money away for his kids college and we all know how much that is going to cost!

It is Friday evening and the kids are excited! They know it is candy night and a movie to watch on TV. They are only allowed to eat candy once a week and watch TV. Dad can sit back and watch the movie with his daughter on his lap. He thinks “Hope I am not going to be too bored with some of this animation stuff.” Sometimes he tells his wife that was a great family movie.

Saturday arrives and Joe can hear his sons playing football in the back yard. He decides he is going to have some fun with them before breakfast. He dons his gear and joins them. After half an hour his wife calls them in for breakfast. They are all famished of course and devour just about everything served up.

On Saturday afternoon Joe loves to watch NFL with his six pack within easy reach. The kids go off and make up their own games. As the NFL games develop, Joe tends to get very excited for his team, he becomes vociferous at the TV as his side drops a point. The game is over and Joe murmurs under his breath that they could have done a lot better and the coach should be fired.

Sunday and they all decide democratically as Joe calls it, to go for a McDonald's and then to the local flea market where there are lots of things for the kids to see and do. The day goes quickly, much too fast for Joe as he starts thinking about Monday morning and that puts his tone down a little as he does not like his job. He'd like to be his own boss.

Someday he knows he will work for himself but he has to study hard, get a degree perhaps and then get on the Internet and promote his real passion in life, something he's always wanted to do! This instantly gives him direction and something he can aim for. He'll chat with his wife and make some decisions of when and how. Good luck Joe, and let's know the sequel to this!