Secret to happiness

How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill!
- Sir Henry Wotton, 1568-1639, English diplomat and poet

Before I begin, I would like to introduce a rather admirable character- one whom I could call a best friend if we ever meet in this life!




Most of the people in this world would have probably know who this person is already- I know that. (In fact, it's a really old story already- even though I bet he wouldn't want me to say this because he knows and understands that not everyone in this world will know about him yet-anyway that's not the point here)

If you have watched the video,
See the point where I am getting to now?
Did you just see how happy he really is?

I can understand the pain and denial that he had to go through simply because I did went through similar mental torture- and the only difference between us is that he was born with the problem and I was "gifted" with the situation at the age of 19- MED SCHOOL. Nobody should ever ever ever take medicine lightly- even if you are the best worker in your department, you have a great career in your life, you have great success blah blah blah. I am not saying that it is the most difficult studies in the world. I am not saying that you can call yourself great if you are a med student and you survived this course at the end of it. In fact, it is the opposite. Because I will say; seriously, don't be proud of me; there's nothing to be proud of. Perhaps most of us (med students) will say too: don't be proud of us- there's nothing to be proud of. Because whatever we studied so hard for years can be thrown into the drain so very very very easily when we can't even diagnose a patient properly. What can we say more about saving a patient's life then. We can save our breaths bragging till we find ourselves running up and about trying and trying and trying even if the hope seems so frail and little. The very one thing great that I can speak about medicine at least is that it teaches you the real meaning of humility.

I remember listening to a doctor from home who came visiting us here in town. She was relating her experience to us and I remember sitting there stunned, almost driven to tears. She had two patients who suddenly started bleeding profusely at 4 or 5 am. To her knowledge and dismay, the hospital ran out of the blood at that moment. I can't remember well but if I was not wrong, she was the only doctor on duty that night. She went down to the ambulance and found the driver only to find that this driver too sleepy and tired so much so that he couldn't drive out that night. She said that people know this driver very well. You can never ever get him to work when he's really sleepy. Bad luck. He gave the keys to her. She didn't know how to drive. Second bad luck. She ran all the way as fast as her legs could carry her to the nearest blood bank. With the little hope in her. With the determination in her. With the strength that she could thrive out. She arrived at the blood bank, panting, asking for the blood to be prepared. The person on duty was surprised to see her exhausted- no, even surprised to see her presence and said something like, "wow, the ambulance driver actually took you here?". Doctor replied, "No my dear, I ran here." She got her two bags of blood- mind you, they were heavy, and ran all the way back to the hospital only to find that the two patients did not make it-they bled to death. That story really opened my eyes and taught me this- if you want to be a good doctor, you have to have unconditional love for your patients-one of the most important rules. Second important lesson- teamwork- you gotta find your (soul) teammates and make it work- it's not about talent or how smart you are- it's sacrifice and the more hands you have, the better- and mind you, for a stranger who is a patient- be it a noble or a criminal, be it of different race- simply because the person is a human being whom we have responsibility for.

Easy to say, hard to do.

I got a message from my dad a few days ago which informed me that a virus infected my friend and that he was hospitalized and that he is in a very bad condition and that he needs prayers. I emailed my friend's dad immediately and I got a reply from him the day after. He was already in Perth then and told me of his condition. You know how I felt at that moment, "oh my gosh, I have never felt so helpless because I realize I could do nothing to help this friend of mine nor his family." Nothing.

You want a secret to happiness?
Seek the meaning of humility and wisdom. Seek to improve your character by being humble enough to admit your mistakes and grow from there. Seek wisdom and you will see the bigger picture of everything. Get along well with people around you with sincerity and warmth from your heart without prejudice. Be yourself, stay true to your identity and give value to that identity you have earned so hard. Be pure-not naive because naivety can hurt many people, yes, it hurts deeply- but more importantly: be wise, humble, patient, gentle and loving.

I can't remember if I have mentioned this in this blog before:
Every great person we know in this world came from a humble beginning. Because life is not a bed of roses. Because life is not meant to be a bed of roses. Because if it is so, we would be spoiled brats with pride and arrogance as great as Mauna Kea Mountain- well, one thing that I will be honest to say directly; save your pride for somebody else if you wish to communicate with me- I don't need that from anybody. Because hey you know what, pride goes before a fall. How true the saying is.

Start with honesty. Be honest with yourself- and ask yourself this question: will I be happy if I do this? Am I brave enough to go for the narrow, dangerous-looking road that few people will tread on-I'm not talking only about Christianity here but anything in this world-job, family, love, friendship, humanity, studies, poverty, etc- and survive? Don't be afraid of death- we will all eventually die. Don't be afraid of losing everything- you are not finished as long as you have hope and determination and that you're living, breathing. Don't take those precious attributes away from you- you will be miserable if you do.
Be productive, have interest and passion, be accepting and try. Make an effort even if you don't like it at first. You can't always have things your way in life. You need a lot of sacrifice for that to happen. But it is not impossible to have the outcome you desire in the end, if you are determined and resolute enough to pull yourself through all the ordeal you have to go through. It is not suffering, it is not torture-those are negative point of views-if you take it from the positive light- it is experience, it is growing, it is learning. Because learning comes in different forms and I agree that Pain is one of the best teachers in the world.

Despite of how much I wrote, I have a lot to learn still. I lack in many areas that many have already achieved. God willing to make things fall into place for me.

Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.
Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.
-Benjamin Franklin

Unbroken happiness is a bore; it should have ups and downs.
-Moliere [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin], 1622-73, French Playwright

One would suffer a great deal to be happy.
-Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1689-1762, English writer

Compassion

I received this email from a dear friend of mine recently-the story that the email contained brought tears to my eyes and then I knew that I just have to share it here. I don't know how old this email is- it may be new, it may be old- but for the sake of the people who have yet to come upon this beautiful story, I am extending this piece of experience to them.

*****
Breakfast at McDonald's


I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree.

The last class I had to take was Sociology.

The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'

The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake, literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.

It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.

I did not move an inch... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men..

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'

His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching..

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.

He said, 'Coffee is all Miss' because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.

That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.

I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Thank you.'

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope..'

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it.

Then she looked up at me and said, 'Can I share this?'

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son, the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS -

NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

*****
One of the very important example that Jesus taught us in the Bible is the very same value shown by this woman in the story. Like R mentioned in his blog, R for Randall, it reminds me also of the Parable of the Good Samaritan from the book of Luke.
Like I always say, we need to have application in our lives. The book of James teaches us so. You can read and learn more about what James has to say here.

There is one part that I find a little "disagreeable" though- I want to make it sound delicate because rationally, what she said was wise and not wrong:- (the part in italic):
"I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'"
I personally feel that it should be more than just that.
Think about why I feel so.
It's a question of sincerity. It's a question of having a bigger but wise heart. It's a question of understanding God and His teachings.

This is one value which I have always taught myself since I was little because I did believe in the greater good- till at one point, I find myself actually losing it. Yes, I completely lost that simple innocent thought that I instilled in me till only recently, when I started picking the pieces of myself back up again. I went through a whole period of depression; I was broken and lost, only finding myself hanging unto God and His guidance- the only one thing that I could do. And now, I find myself getting out of the shell and seeing the old light that I lost and a new light which is teaching me many new beautiful things in this life.
And I was thinking about what R said to me last night, "Drastic changes usually don't end up well." Even my roommate felt that I am changing drastically.
I told R, "Then I will surprise you. Because I am loving myself more than ever."
Because this is the true me. The me who was young me when I was pure and untainted was someone I loved dearly. Like God loves little children and their innocence and purity, so do I.
Nevertheless, I realize one important thing though. This is not a drastic change. God teaches us to be fruitful and the results are only showing now. I have been revolutionizing my mind, mentality and character ever since the beginning of last year. I have been doing major thinking, philosophizing and re-evaluating myself and the situation that I am in and how I should deal with them. But intentions and thoughts and beliefs will only remain as intentions and thoughts and beliefs until I put them into practice and works. And I am glad and grateful to God because it looks like it's going the right way. And by no means am I having the intentions of being boastful. I guess I have this habit of making self-explanations because not only do I want people not to misunderstand me, I do want understand myself clearly too. But maybe I shouldn't reveal so much. Life is more interesting when you discover things and people yourself, isn't it?


P.s.
Let us share something together:
"What is my secret to happiness?" is the title that I will be working on for my next post. R, may I tag you with this title, please? *smiles with a tongue-in-the-cheek manner*
The theme centers around ideas like "What does happiness mean to you? What makes you happy? Do you think happiness helps you to discover yourself- or perhaps one of the major factors that influence the discovery of your current identity? If not, what are the other factors then? etc etc (you can talk about anything actually, not necessarily specifically those- I encourage heart-felt and meaningful sharing! You know, I feel this is what "tagging" should really be all about =) Okok, it feels like I'm becoming a very demanding person now.. Do what you like. But if you don't have the time, it's okay. I understand. It's just a personal request that you can turn down.

I assure everybody one thing, I don't need to read Rhonda Byrne's piece of work to discover my secret of happiness. From the way I heard about her writing, according to someone I know, he mentioned this specifically; "it carries an anti-Christian perspective of life and existence." Maybe, one day when I have the time, I shall read her side of story and see what he meant by that. I don't want to accuse or be pointing fingers at anybody of course. Because I want to discover the truth myself. We all have our own opinions and opinions always differ when we have a different stand, when we see things from a different perspective.

Verse of the day:
1 Timothy 1:5
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned