Residents in Powys explain why the county is the happiest place in the UK to live. "Powys has some of the lowest crimes rates in the UK and that gives us peace of mind." Mrs Dunsford, 62, said: "Everybody knows each other and it's such a friendly place. A five-minute trip to the shops can turn into 20 minutes when you stop and chat."

For Robert Grady, the more the merrier. After all he have nine children with ages from 18 years to 7 weeks old. Together with his wife Debra, they originally planned to have 12 kids. She actually gave birth to 10 children but unfortunately, one died during infancy.Robert never actually grew in a big family. His fascination to have kids was inspired by his uncle in Indiana who have 12 kids. “It was a big Catholic family. I was so impressed with the family, I thought it would be nice to have one.” he said.

He like to do things with his whole family.. Even though he is a registered nurse in the intensive care unit of San Juan Regional Medical Center in Flora Vista, he was blessed to work for long hours which he can have four days off in a weeks. He spends his free time with his family wisely by going to the grocery together, sports events or late night movie watching at home.

The only thing Robert is concerned is the trend nowadays -that is happening to the whole world - that people often disregard having a big family with concerns with the economic and financial situations.

Even though food and oil prices are rising in dramatical heights everyday, Robert is optimistic and does not worry about the future. He believes that his faith in God will provide for his family abundantly.

“Get Canal Club sushi at lunch at James’ beach!  James’ Beach now serves Canal Club sushi, Wednesday through Sunday for lunch til 3:00!!  Enjoy it on the patio and know true happiness!!”from the Canal Club’s menu, Venice, CA

This sad story of Jay Hendrickson is both memorable, touching, and inspiring.

Jay is just a young boy when he finished his treatment for osteosarcoma, a common form of bone cancer in children. His family grasped for his recovery – hoping that he will get well forever. He was just 11 that time, but inside of him is an already matured man. When he talks, meaningful words come out in his mouth; words of determination and bravery to survive his fight. Unfortunately, the cancer came back and weakened his already frail body which eventually took his life.

One day, Jay’s mother found a poem in his journal.  She recognized that is was made by her son as it is signed by him.  It reads:

“Life is like a day, the sun goes up, then down, and I figure, life is like that, you go up, and you go down; don’t give up though, for you’ll make it. Remember, sun up, sun down.”

During his burial, his family made his poem the final prayer and his epitaph. It will serve as a reminder to everyone, to keep striving for life is short.

Source: www.star-telegram.com

The real source of happiness is inner peace.

According to buddhist traditions, all living things in this world desire to be happy and without any suffering. Though very few are knowledgeable of the causes of happiness and suffering That’s why most people resort to obtain happiness from material things. But if we will understand it logically, these things causes the sufferings and problems and not the happiness we are pursuing.

Buddhists believe that we cannot find the causes of suffering in external sources as our mind controls it. Therefore, we must get happiness from inner peace, the peaceful state of our mind. With inner peace, we are not disturbed by external conditions and our tolerance to be unhappy decreases tremendously. But external conditions are not necessarily the culprit.

The teachings always implies that when one have inner peace, the peaceful mind can literally filter the external conditions and absorb only the things which can make us happy. It is something like having an optimistic attitude, when one thinks positively, everything will be positive to him even though some causes feelings of extreme pain or suffering.

According to Dhammapada 1,

“Mind precedes all things; mind is their chief, mind is their maker. If one speaks or does a deed with a mind that is pure within, happiness then follows along like a never departing shadow.”

But how can we achieve inner peace?

Buddha says meditation. It is a method where we will bombard our minds with thoughts and feelings that causes happiness. It is also the time wherein we will just let our mind do the job and talk to us. With this, our mind becomes peaceful, when our mind is peaceful, worries or any suffering are taken aside, paving the way for the happiness to fill our minds.

Scientifically, meditation can be done almost everywhere. One of the most convenient and practical is the breathing meditation. This kind of meditation just takes the pleasure of breathing as the subject of meditation.

But take note that meditation is not the only way to be happy. Meditation can only help us gain not only inner peace but to overcome delusions, anger, ignorance and attachment to earthly things which leads us to nirvana, or the extinction of desire and sufferings: eternal happiness which no external condition can destroy!

Sources: www.parami.org, www.aboutbuddhist.org

Here is a charming article we found from a Philippine News report:

Estrella Clamar turned 100 years last May 3, despite her age, she can still cook, do gardening and go to the market; all by herself.What made her stay that long?

She answers that she always put labor into practice. “If you don’t work, your blood will not properly circulate throughout your body, making you feel weak,” she said.

Her 60-year old daughter Lilia Camral is telling her mother to stop working because of her old age, but her mother just continues to do so because that is what makes her happy!

This native from Iloilo City in the Philippines said that she is still alive because she simply loves to be happy. She said that worrying about problems in a big no-no. “There’s no use in wallowing in our daily problems, as long as there’s joy… dance! I’m a good dancer you know,” she said, laughing.

Source: www.abs-cbn.com

When I first saw the French movie “Le Fabuleux Destin Le Amelie Poulain,” I am instantly astonished. It maybe for the fact that the main actress (Audrew Tautou) gave justice to the character so much that I can’t think of anyone else playing the role; she’s also cute.The story is quite simple. She accidentally discovered a small tin box of childhood memorabilia in her apartment. After asking her neighbors, she found out that the box is hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment years ago. Realizing it is important to the boy - now an old man - she embarked on a quest to find him.

With the help of her neighbor, she successfully found the person. Preferring to be anonymous, she put the box on an empty telephone booth and rings the number when the person passed by it. He picked up the phone and saw the box. He was moved to tears instantly. Amelie never stopped there, she followed the man and observed him secretly. She saw the positive effect she had on him. In that moment, she devoted her life bringing happiness to others. To make the story short, she became some sort of a “happiness-agent,” bringing happiness to others by helping them and thereby making her happier in the process. Her actions dramatically changed her life forever.

Amelie had altruism, or showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others. It is the motivation in a person to help others by doing good things without expecting any kind of reward.

I’m sure we can also emulate what Amelie did. Simple acts of kindness to someone is very easy to do and takes away little or no resources. By helping others, we can appreciate what we have and realize that we are more fortunate than others. Mother Theresa, a Nobel laureate and a humanitarian has a say on this:

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ” -Mother Theresa.

After all, helping others is not about the amount or volume, it is the compassion we share with others. Happiness cannot be extracted from the act of kindness if we give more than we desire to.

There is a story in the Bible about a poor woman who gave her last money as an offering to God. She gave it with all her heart yet she felt happier and blessed than others who give more but with an intention of being seen as socially wealthy. If we apply it in our daily lives, a small act of kindness like helping a elder cross the street (just like what Amelie did) makes both the giver and taker happy. The elder has difficulty crossing the road, one wrong move can send him to his death, no matter how small it is, someone helping him makes difference between life an death. It may not be big for the helper but for the one helped, it is some kind of a gift from above.

On the other hand, there are several studies attesting having a helping attitude prolongs life. Scientists, psychologist and philosophers have been debating on this topic for several years but the bottom line is having a generous helping hand is beneficial to one’s and others happiness.

“A good exercise for the heart is bending down and helping someone to get up.” -Proverbs

Dalai Lama, the world-revered spiritual leader of Tibetan buddhism recently went to Toronto - the place with the largest concentration of Tiberans outside India and Nepal - to share to 16,000 people the “Art of Happiness.”

For him, happiness is available to human beings both as individuals and as communities and science proves that happiness is the optimal and normal state of human existence.

During his talk, he frequently cites medical references and research which he links to a healthy immune system and a greater peace of mind. He then told the audience that his philosophical approach is based on “secular ethics.” He then explained that secularism is not a form of rejection of religion. He cited Mahatma Ghandi to further accentuate his point: “Secularism - respect for all religions. All religions equally respected.” He said that once religious people accept secularism and participate fully, they are making contributions to the secular ethics for society on the basis of our common existence.

As for the Art of Happiness, he said that based on the law of causality - the relation between causes and effects - everyone has the right to live happily, without suffering. “we need to think seriously about the causes of happiness. Good result, happy result, entirely depends on good action, constructive action.”

He also stated that compassion - humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it - begins when a baby receives nourishment from his mother’s milk. “When warm-heartedness takes seed, it can transform to unlimited, unbiased compassion, not based on other’s attitudes. That feeling can even extend toward one’s enemy.” He continued “Loving kindness is the strongest antidote to anger.”

To sum it up, he had a practical advice to everyone: get enough sleep. At 73-years old, he has still a good physical health which he credits to his peace of mind and the way to achieve it is by having adequate sleep. “Peace of mind brings nice sleep,” he said.