A mother, father and daughter were taking a walk, enjoying the sounds of nature.

Mother: I love the sound of the wind rustling in the trees.
Father: I love the twittering of the birds.
Little Girl: I love the sound snails make.
Mother and Father: Huh?
Mother: But, Honey, snails don’t make any sound.
Little Girl: Yes they do. See! (Stepping on a snail crossing their path.) They go CRUNCH!

Just another reminder that not everyone sees the world the way we do. It pays to ask rather than trust our assumptions.

I never eat organic food. At my age I need all the preservatives I can get.
—Anonymous

Thanks to the efforts of the wife, a couple lived a healthy lifestyle and were doing fine until they were killed in a traffic accident. When they arrived in heaven they were overwhelmed by how fantastic it was. They were delighted at first, then the husband started berating the wife:

If it hadn’t been for you and your organic food, we could have been here ten years ago!

What do you think about organic food?

Square Peg Guy raised an interesting point over at rummuser’s site the other day. The subject was freedom and happiness, and SPG wrote:

I’ve heard it said: We all want what we cannot have.
………………….
But regardless, happiness isn’t getting what you want; it’s wanting what you get. Or at least accepting it.

Do those lines resonate with you? Do they describe your view of happiness? They don’t quite work for me.

Wanting What We Can’t Have
I was lucky when I was a kid. I went through a period of depression, no doubt a result of being isolated and bored out of my mind. At that time my mother was also feeling trapped and depressed, and my father was happy and fun to be around when he was drinking, but he hated his job and hated the fact that all he had no interests except alcohol. We didn’t have much money, but it was clear to me that there were more important things in life that just things. I wanted to feel alive and involved rather than emotionally dead…hating to wake up in the morning because it meant I had to stagger through yet another day.

Having been through that once my main goal in life was to never have to do it again, and that meant not winding up feeling trapped like my mom and dad were then. I also had no doubt I could figure out how to do it. I like the above Wizard of Id comic because it reminds me I’ve been there, but I didn’t stay.

Getting What You Want vs Wanting What You Get
I have gotten what I wanted out of life and I love what I have, so for me it’s both, not either-or. The neat thing is my husband and I were able to pass this attitude on to our daughter. In If You Had Led the Life I Lead and Our Garden in the Woods I wrote about some of the projects we did together as a family. So she grew up not only feeling loved but having experienced the joy of working.

We also made sure she wasn’t “underdeprived”, that there were some things she wanted that she had to earn for herself. That’s one of the best gifts that parents can give to a child, I think. The knowledge that they aren’t helpless, that they are empowered to get what they want in life.

What About You?
Anyway, that’s what worked for us. What about you? What are your views of happiness? Have you found it? Do you value it?

Are you as fascinated as I am by the different ways people think?

Picture Credits

Robert Hruzek’s writing challenge this month is What I Learned From a Mountaintop Experience. Robert writes:

The question you have to ask yourself is, Have you ever had what is commonly known as a mountaintop experience? You know what I mean, right? I’m talkin’ about an experience so amazing, so profound - maybe even so life-changing - you’ll never forget it.

Well, chances are, you have, and if so, we’d like to hear about it!

Oh, sure. Been there. Done that. For me it was a shift of consciousness that occurred in the fifth grade. I still remember looking at that book on the origins of the solar system and suddenly getting it…how small and insignificant we humans are compared to the immensity of space. The experience blew me away and shaped the rest of my life. I wrote about it in At Home in the Universe over at Cheerful Monk. I also wrote about what I did about it in Building a Solid Foundation.

So for now I’ll simply summarize what I learned from the experience: The power of humility and humor. The two are related. It’s hard to take ourselves too seriously when we realize how small we are in relation to the universe (assuming there is only one, which some people doubt). And getting our egos out of the way is empowering. We can focus on what we’re trying to do without worrying about what other people think. We completely free ourselves from comparisons with other people because our differences are insignificant. What could be more liberating?

What about you? Have you ever had a mountaintop experience?

 
I don’t think there’s anything more cozy than being inside looking out at a gentle Spring rain. But I realize not everyone agrees with me.

 
 
Question: What do you call a sunny day after two consecutive days of rain?
Answer: Monday.

Then there’s the tourist who goes to the Northwest for a vacation. It rains the whole time. Towards the end of the visit he asks a kid, “Does it rain here all the time?” The child answers, “I don’t know. I’m only 10 years old.”

How do you feel about rain?

 
Conrad introduced me to this comic, and to comics.com. The cartoon resonated with me because

1. I often forget the words,
2. I usually sing way off-key, and
3. I do my best to sing when no one can hear me.

Just because we’re not perfect doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy life to the hilt.

What do you think? Do you ever do some things you’re not especially good at, just for the sheer joy of it?

cheerfulmonk. Creative Commons license.

 
 
How do you feel about exercise? Do you agree with the Enthusiast or the Couch Potato?
 

The Enthusiast:

I love the way I feel when I exercise. Not only that, it will add years to my life.

The Couch Potato:

missmac. Creative Commons license.

 
I hate exercise. Besides, if God wanted us to do it He wouldn’t have invented the remote.
 
 

The Young Man and the Shirts
A young man was visiting his folks at Christmas and his mother gave him two new shirts. The fellow was pleased and immediately went upstairs to change into one of them. When he came down his mother looked hurt and said, “It’s too bad you didn’t like the other one.”

The Hunting Dog
Another fellow was tired of his friend being so negative, but he was sure the friend would be impressed by the fellow’s new hunting dog. So the two men went duck hunting, and when they shot a duck and it came tumbling down into the water, the dog went to retrieve it. But instead of jumping in the water and swimming, he walked on top of the water. He simply pranced over, picked up the duck, and came prancing back. The owner was thrilled and looked expectantly at his friend. The friend gave him a disgusted look. “That stupid dog of yours doesn’t know how to swim, does he?”

Sometimes You Just Can’t Win
Have you ever known people who always see things in a negative light? How do you handle it? Can you see the humor in it when it happens to you?

Last week I mentioned the snow we had in the middle of this month. It reminded me of one of my favorite commercials involving Clydsedale horses. It shows some young whippersnappers harassing some older folks. The older folks may not have as much exuberant energy, but they’re smart enough to teach the pesky youngsters a lesson.

I’m not a beer drinker, but if I were I would certainly think of Budweiser. Do you have any favorite commercials or jokes?