Posts from — November 2007

I love the thought of Thanksgiving!!!

Gratitude is such a key to happiness.

I am very grateful for my readers, those who are committed every day to expanding joy in their life and learning how to live at The center of Happiness.

I had to share this with you!!!! Pay it Forward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9z2ELaBVJY

May we all join hands doing the gratitude dance!

Rhonda

Rhonda’s comments:
OK, sports fans. This one’s for you! Steve Goodier always makes wonderful contributions to wisdom and happiness through is articles and stories.

Also I post this in honor of my son-in-law, who is a devoted Bronco’s fan.

So… enjoy.

Rhonda

THE POWER OF LAUGHTER

Did you follow the 1987 football season when the Denver Broncos
played the Cleveland Browns for the AFC title?

Less than two minutes remained in the game and Cleveland was ahead by
a touchdown. The Broncos had just fumbled the ball out of bounds on
their own 1/2-yard line. Hostile Cleve land fans were already throwing
dog biscuits onto the field and celebrating a sure Cleveland win.

While the announcer was discussing who Cleveland would play in the
Super Bowl and Den ver fans were nursing bruised egos, the Bron cos
huddled in their own end zone. Quarterback, John Elway, was known for
miraculous wins, but this situation was almost impossible.

All-pro left tackle, Keith Bishop, looked around the huddle at his
teammates, took a deep breath and said, “Hey, now we got them right
where we want them!” Tense silence was broken by laughter. One player
laughed so hard he fell down! Somehow the joke lent perspective to an
absurd situation and a sense of calm confidence replaced anxiety.

What followed has been dubbed in the an nals of football lore as The
Drive. In less than two minutes, John Elway and the Broncos drove the
length of the field and tied the game with just sec onds left. They won in
overtime and went on to the 1988 Su per Bowl (which, judged by the
Broncos’ poor showing, was itself a kind of joke…).

An amazing shift occurred in the huddle that day. Laughter prepared
them to bring their best to a demanding situation as nervous,
negative energy was swept away in the absurdity of the moment.

Laughter has a way of creating positive change in any tense and
stressful circumstance. But, as Mark Twain said, laughter is the
greatest weapon that we humans possess and it’s the one we use the
least. Daily, we have countless oppor tunities to use the power of
laughter to make a positive difference.

– Steve Goodier
http://www.lifesupportsystem.com

Welcome to the Center of Happiness. I hope you come here often. Become a part of an ongoing conversation about happiness. Life is an interesting journey, and here we can hold hands.

On a daily basis (except when it’s not) you will find reflections and tidbits about happiness here and have the opportunity to share your own.

And, by all means, invite your friends. Happiness is more contagious and fun when you travel together. After all…

“I think the most revolutionary act a person can commit today is to be publicly happy.”

~~ Patch Adams, M.D., author of House Calls

Wow! I couldn’t agree more. Start the (r)evolution now!!!

Have you ever been caught up in a grumpy mood and found yourself overhearing someone else is a moment of joy, only to criticize their happiness? “What do they have to be so happy about!!!?”, you might grumble. Deep down inside you want to be happy, too. You long to be set free from the prison created by your own negative thinking.

It is so easy to get bogged down in the flurry of demands, stinky thoughts, and the challenging potholes that life is certain to provide. Grrrrrr. You expect it to be different! Discontent comes not from the circumstances, but from living in the hallucination that ‘what is’ is supposed to be different.

Learning to love what is and choosing to be happy now is all it takes. Although simple, but not always easy, it is still important to devote yourself to expanding your joy, even if step-by-step and moment-by-moment.

So, for today, for now, for this moment, choose happiness.
Repeat.

Dear Treasured Traveling Companions,

I have always wanted to be one of those people who could who could think up really cool names for things, like a hair salon named “Curl Up and Dye”.

I stumbled across a wonderful organization/website with an equally wonderful name, Soles4Souls.org, and even better, they offer an amazingly easy way to give.

They have a simple mission: to impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes. We are partnering with charities and governments around the world to provide a basic (yet indispensable) gift that most of us take for granted. Whether shoeless kids in Guatemala, or people shoeless because everything they owned burned in the recent Southern California fires, there are souls who need soles.

You can help them in many ways: donating your own shoes, donating cash for freight, hosting a shoe drive, or even donating your time as a volunteer.

Cool, huh!

If you can’t spare the cash, you may be able to spare a pair of shoes.
On the road to happiness it is a little easier to maneuver if you have them.

And, you get to experience that warm feeling from having done something meaningful. They call that happiness.

In Joy,
Rhonda

Contrary to what most of us have learned, we must take care of ourselves first in order to authentically care for others. We just cannot give from an empty cup, or drive a car without gas. Even though we may have good intentions, when we force ourselves to take on more than we can gracefully handle, in out attempt to make a difference and teach about prosperity and possibility, we are instead modeling poverty and lack.

So it’s an important question to ask. Are you feeling overwhelmed? What exactly is the ‘whelm’ we are always trying to get over?

Overwhelm is defined as being overcome in thought or feeling, being decisively defeated, or rendered powerless. So how do we become overwhelmed by joy, rather than stress? My suggestion, even though you may not like it…

Give up multi-tasking. Well, maybe not completely, but at least when you find yourself frantic and reacting, rather than responding to life’s potholes. Trying harder only leads to disaster. Rather than go ‘cold-turkey’ at least make your multi-tasking more conscious. Don’t settle for just meandering through life on autopilot or attempting to force life along. It may work for a while, or at least appear to, but eventually you’ll have a six-car pile up! Trust me, you don’t want to miss the joys of the moment, and when you run too fast focused on all that’s not working, you miss out on the simple joys and miracles of NOW. When we move too fast and do too much, we aren’t really experiencing anything along the way.
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Can you imagine happiness? Can you imagine a Circle of Peace?

I was interviewed by Tina Carey on KGEM-TV in Monrovia, CA, recorded for an upcoming broadcast. It gave me the opportunity to explore with Tina and her viewers ideas about happiness, and the power of the Circle model of leadership as a way of providing and fostering key ingredients of happiness, connection and acknowledgment.

With the afterthoughts of that conversation bubbling in me, I visited my computer this morning to attend to emails overdue. In my inbox I found that dear friend had sent me the invitation to visit: http://www.imaginepeace.com/towerabout.html. I was touched by this clip, and felt compelled to share it with you, because to me it demonstrates the power connecting with a common intention of peace and happiness.

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