Life With Happiness

So, my wife and I are dogsitting for our “grand dog,” while my daughter and son-in-law are on a vacation in New York City. We see the dog (Heidi, a miniature black schnauzer) regularly, since we drop by their house every evening and take Heidi with us on our daily walk.  She’s a sweet, well-behaved, and incredibly well-trained dog.

Living with a dog, however, is very different from visiting with one.

With Heidi living at our house for the past few days, I am reminded of the many reasons why we no longer own a dog ourselves:

1. Dogs demand attention. Every 30 minutes or so she removes herself from her blanket and makes it quite clear that it is “time to give the dog a backrub.  NOW!”  It’s been interesting the past two workdays, as she comes out to my office, lays her head on my lap, and stares up at me.  Shooing her away does not work.  Only after I give her several minutes of attention will she shake herself off, look at me with satisfaction, and head back for a (yet another) nap.
2. Dogs watch everything you do.  Everything. It’s sort of creepy when she just sits and stares at me.  While I eat: staring.  When I brush my teeth: staring.  While I grade papers, write, or read the newspaper: staring.  It’s sort of like having a stalker, only smaller.
3. Dogs have their own agendas. Like, “I want to go out and smell stuff at 3AM” or “I love to snuffle around in decomposing leaves — you don’t mind if I bring them inside, do you?”
4. Dogs don’t wear boots outdoors. So when it’s raining, they bring mud samples inside.  And when it’s snowing, they like to collect several pounds of ice and bring it in to melt it on the linoleum floor, right where I stand in my socks.  Brrr!
5. Dogs don’t use toilets. This means we cannot leave the house for longer than 7 hours.  Well, this is not too much of a hardship for a few days, but I feel very restricted by that timeframe.  Our goldfish can go up to two days without us — much more convenient.
6. Dogs can’t open doors. So, you were thinking weekend, and sleeping in?  NOT!  This dog wants to head outside and then be fed — and let outside again — at 6AM, 7 days a week.  Bummer.
7. Wet dogs smell. Yep.  No matter how cute, a dog that’s been out in the rain exudes an odor like… well, a wet dog!

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh.  Heidi truly is a joy.  She’s small enough to sit on my lap, and is overall a very well-behaved dog.  While she may demand back rubs a bit often, her show of gratitude always warms my heart (dogs are great at being Happy!).  Plus — and this is a mystery — this dog almost never barks.  Truly!  Her orginal owner trained her well.  So she’s never disruptive while I’m on the phone, even when she’s trying to crawl up onto my chair while I’m typing.

Plus, I’m realizing that this training may serve me well for when we eventually have grandchildren.  Can you see the parallels? Grandchildren: demand attention, watch everything you do, have their own agendas, track in dirt, don’t use toilets, can’t open doors (we hope!), and when they’re wet… they smell. 

Should the government stop dumping money into a giant hole?

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_should_the_government

You decide this important issue (Video clip, 2 mins)

So, the buckle on my good leather briefcase broke, and while it’s getting fixed I’ve been using another smaller case I purchased from a Life Is Good store in the Chicago Midway airport. It’s actually an over-the-shoulder messenger bag, so when I’m walking around with it the bag hangs behind me.

I’ve been having lots of people say to me, “life’s good, eh?” or “so, life’s good for you?” in the past ten days, and I was feeling pleased that people are relating to my “happiness guy” theme. Then yesterday I was waiting in line for coffee when a gentleman behind me caught my eye and snarled, “what’s good about it?”

Huh? What are you talking about?

Turns out that the “life is good(r)” logo is embroidered nice and big on the three-inch wide strap that hangs down my back when I’m wearing the bag. Here I thought it was my personal, happy presence that was provoking all the comments.

Nope. It’s just the bag.

And funny thing — that same bag that caused most people to smile at me also caused that surly gentleman to snarl. Who am I, indeed, to be happy?! How dare I? I’m ruining his perfectly good funk, and before his morning caffeine!

Some people got a lot of nerve. Yep!

I heard the other day about Bhutan’s new (young) king being crowned, and how his 52-year old father (my age, how funny!) had abdicated the throne and put his son on it in order to aid the country’s transition to a new age.  The king emeritus (or whatever they call him, now) created the concept of Gross National Happiness as a way to measure his country’s progress in more humanistic terms — not just in terms of dollars.

Happiness in Bhutan

While conventional development models (like GNP, or gross national product) stress economic growth as the ultimate objective, the concept of GNH claims to be based on the premise that true development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other. The four pillars of GNH are: the promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance.

Bhutan is an oppressively poor country that has experienced oppressive government, as well.  To the old king’s credit, in addition to establishing GNH as his country’s success indicator, he is also pushing the country toward democracy — he established a parliament and gave up much of his power and converted his role to that of a constitutional monarch.  While instituting some brutal actions against foreigners in the country, and imposing strict (and often arbitrary) rules on things like dress code… he’s also pushed through societal reforms that have, over the past few decades, increased life expectancy by 20 years.  TWENTY YEARS!

How’s that for the power of Happiness?!

A colleague (thank you, Barbara Ropog, of The Tangram Edge) sent me several interesting links to more information on GNH

Article from the Taipei Times on the new king’s coronations ceremonies, demonstrating how much the younger generation will change that country:Bhutan’s new king aims for Happiness

More on the worldwide discussion of Gross National Happiness: http://www.grossinternationalhappiness.org/index.html

and a wonderful article on some of the advances this poor, landlocked country has made over the past 20 years, since the GNH entered the discussion:http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/bhutan/larmer-text

I’m thinking, Wow, how great would it be if our new American president and leaders put four Pillars of GNH near the top of America’s agenda?  Perhaps “…the pursuit of happiness” language in our Declaration of Independence would become more real than ever!

Email and Happiness. Hmmm.

More like Email VERSUS Happiness.

From where I sit today, I don’t see these two as being compatible. No matter how doggedly I seek to clear my Inbox, more messages flow in.  I often feel like I’m battling the mythical Hydra — each time I cut off a head, two more grow in it’s place.

One week ago I wrestled my Inbox down to 38 items, which for me is remarkable!  As I leave my office today, it sits at 234, and 75% of those require action/response.

Sigh.

OK, Jim.  Take a deep breath. It’s only email.  Let it go.  Go to your happy place.  Omm…..

Just whining.  Thanks for listening! 

P.S.  am I the only one who has a love/hate relationship with email??

My oldest son attended the University of Notre Dame.  Justin was a true fan (as in “fanatic”) of Fighting Irish football.  He lived and died by their win/loss record, hosted a weekly campus radio show on the subject, and even dyed his hair kelly green one semester.  He dressed as a (6-foot tall) leprechaun for every home game, and in the midst of a student section filled with screaming fans, he so stood out from the crowd that he was twice named “fan of the game” and we got to see him on national television.

Sometimes we’d say to him, “Justin, d’ya think you’re maybe taking this whole thing a bit too seriously?  It’s only a game, ya know?”  His reaction to our suggestion that Notre Dame football was NOT the center of the Universe was, typically, “ARE YOU KIDDING?!”

We just let him be.  He was, after all, in college.

This year he’s living in Nashville and studying with a chef as he takes a year off before starting graduate school next year.  To keep expenses down, he linked up with five other guys to rent a house.  Those other five are all still in school, two of them in grad school themselves.  Saturdays are spent glued to one of the many flat screen TVs in the house, following college football.

This weekend Justin called home on Sunday to tell us a funny story.  One of his roommates (Joe) graduated from Tennessee State. During their game on Saturday, Justin observed, Joe was ‘over the edge’ — screaming at the screen, swearing at mistakes, jumping up and down, angry when Tennessee fell behind and jubilant when they scored.  And Justin had a huge insight.

“I suddenly realized ‘Ohmigod — that’s what I’m like when I’m watching a Notre Dame game!’  No wonder people are always telling me, ‘calm down.’  I’m a maniac!”

Yes.  And how interesting that you could not see that in yourself until you encountered someone just like you.

How often do we not recognize in ourselves when there’s a concern, yet we can so clearly see it in others?  I think that’s because people are mirrors, and they reflect back at us what we are unable to see otherwise.

The party’s over, boys and girls.  Now, the real work begins.

You’ve got 77 days to come up with a plan to save the world.  For real.

Don’t try to make everybody happy.  Just do the right thing.  Please.

Use your new powers for the greatest good.

That will make me very happy.

A reflection for Election Day:

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town.
I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.
My family and I could have made an impact on our town.
Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”
~Rabbi Israel Salanter, Nineteenth Century Professor

While we all focus on casting ballots for the next US President, hoping he can “fix” our world and improve our lot, let’s remember that in the end, he’s just one person.  Even if we consider all our U.S. leaders — Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches combined — they are only 555 people.  They can’t make anything happen until and unless ALL of us take on our share of responsibility.

Change you, change the world.

I’m so sick of election stuff, stuff, stuff; and I’m sure you are, too.  Yet please indulge me for two more days.

No matter who wins tomorrow, we will make History — either way, we will have placed someone other than a white male in one of the top two posts of the land, and after 232 years of history, that feels like a HUGE shift!

And so, I’m excited.  Do I have a favored candidate?  Ya, ya betcha!  I voted last week and am praying that my candidate wins.  But I’m not a sour grapes voter.  If the other party wins, then we shake it off and move forward.

Bottom line, I’m happy that no matter who wins, we’ve successfully broken the paradigm.  When the Constitution was first written, the definition of citizen was, “white, male, landowner, who was debt-free.”  For two centuries, even as the makeup of our country shifted considerably, that small minority has remained the sole source of serious contenders for the top job.  But that’s gonna change in just a few hours.

From tomorrow forward, when parents say to their kids, “you can grow up to be president,” it won’t just be the little white boys who take that suggestion seriously — it will be the rainbows of both genders who now pay attention.  And since our country is within just a few years of seeing causcasians become the non-majority, I’m excited for the future of America.  Because in this complex world, we are far more likely to succeed when we leverage ALL our human resources, not just a portion of them.

This is just one of the many reasons why I truly believe this is the most important U.S. election that has occurred in my lifetime.  I am bouncing up and down in my excitement.

I AM THRILLED TO BE BOTH A PLAYER IN — AND A WITNESS TO — HISTORY!

I truly believe this is the most important Presidential election that has occurred in my lifetime (since 1956, then).

I don’t know who will win… and frankly, both candidates have enough pros and cons going for them that I don’t believe we can mess up too badly either way, and in any case neither is capable of solving ALL (if any) our problems.

What concerns me is the possibility of another tiny win that keeps us polarized.  In 2000, Bush beat Gore by a mere 537 votes in the Florida recount.  That was a margin of three one-hundredth of a percent (.03%, or .0003).  The 2004 election was not tremendously better.

What I wish for more than anything is a turnout that is so huge that no one will be able to say, “Americans don’t care,” and for a win so decisive that the winner can say, “a clear majority of the people want me here.”

I mailed my absentee ballot.  I’ve completed my civic duty.  I pray that millions of other people do theirs.

Do your part.  Vote.  And every time you encounter someone of voting age, ask them, “are you voting on Tuesday?”  Don’t let anyone get away with saying “my vote doesn’t matter.”  It does!  Yours could be THE VOTE that determines the next President of the United States!

How cool is that?!