Julian Roseus was diagnosed 2 years ago with renal cell carcinoma, a rare type of cancer of the kidney that affects only three percent of the population. He was given a short time to live yet he was on “overtime,” a term coined by his friends as he is now part of the elite five percent who outlived the life expectancy of five years with this kind of cancer. “For me, it’s a miracle that he is still alive. It’s also a miracle how we are surviving,” his wife said.Friends describe him as funny, always laughing and has an infectious smile. “No one would think he has cancer,” his doctor, Efren Capistrano, also a grade school and high-school classmate said. “He has the uncanny ability to crack jokes about his condition.” He even joked about his death: “A wake is fun because it’s like a reunion. But the departed cannot attend. So I said, we should celebrate now so I can participate,” he said in Filipino.

“His condition, however, is serious. His right kidney removed, Roseus is currently taking a drug which has so far reduced the size of tumors that have metastasized in his lungs. But the medication produces a side effect which requires him to undergo minor surgery on a delicate part of his body once or twice a week.”

Despite this, he maintains a normal and productive life He works as a consultant for overseas Filipino workers, goes out with friends, does household chores and even goes on a weekend excursions to Cavite.

He drew his strength by his faith.

“Sometimes, help is short and transient. So faith is the only way to go. Once we are properly disposed [toward faith], it becomes a source of grace.”

He believes God gave him the disease as a gift to find lasting happiness which is in heaven. “Recognizing my mortality made it easier for me to accept my fate,” he said.

Currently, he is undergoing treatment and so far, his body is cooperating with it. He looks forward to his 50th wedding even though they just celebrated their silver wedding last January.

Source: www.inquirer.net

We may look for happiness in wealth, power, love or success or in friendship. But finding happiness may mean going no further than our own self. Yes, happiness is within us.Here is a story which can further elicit us not to look for happiness elsewhere. A story that reinforces happiness is always with us and that our interaction with others play a large role. From www.indiatimes.com

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Look within for more happiness

Martin Buber, the great Austrian-Jewish philosopher, used to tell the story of Rabbi Eizik, son of Rabbi Yekel of Cracow. The Rabbi, who never lost his faith in God despite suffering many years of grinding penury, once had a dream about a treasure concealed beneath a bridge in Prague near the royal palace.

When the dream repeated itself three times, the Rabbi set out for Prague. There he found the bridge being guarded day and night. Not daring to start digging, he nevertheless went to the bridge every morning and walked around it till evening. Finally, the captain of the guard, who had been watching the saintly visitor, asked in a kindly way whether he was missing something or looking for someone.

The guileless Rabbi told the captain of the dream that had brought him to the capital from a far-off city. At this, the captain had a hearty laugh: “So you wore out your shoes for that dream? I too had one which told me to go to Cracow and dig for treasure under the stove in the room of a Jew - Eizik, son of Yekel,” he said merrily. “Can you imagine what a task it would be like? I would have to try every house in the city where one half of the Jews are named Eizik and the other Yekel!” And he chuckled again. Rabbi Eizik bowed, and went home to dig up the treasure from right under his own stove. Then he built a house of prayer which was called “Reb Eizik Reb Yekel’s Shul”.

The moral of the story, also found in other cultures and versions, is that there’s something precious that one may not find anywhere in the world, not even in the richest bazaar. There is, however, one place where one may find it - that is in the core of one’s being. That’s where the greatest of jewels, you may call it fulfilment of existence, hides. The great axioms (Maha-Vakya) of the Indian tradition echo a similar sentiment: Bliss (satchitananda) is wherever you are. For you are truly that (Tat tvam asi).

In recent years positive psychologists have veered around to a similar insight - a lot of people who want happiness simply look in the wrong places. Some psychotherapists refer to the syndrome as the ‘tyranny of when’ because many believe that they’ll be happy when they have more money, have more things, when they are more successful and so on. Of course, there’s nothing wrong in pursuing material success. But don’t stake your happiness on it. The things that lead to more happiness are within yourself and in your interactions with others.

Young people, enjoy the happy lifestyle now as happiness has a trend of declining as one gets older; it slowly fades away. This is according to the study conducted by the researchers from the Dartmouth College and University of Warwick who collected data from two million people from 80 nations in the span of 35 years.

“Their study, reported last month in the journal Social Science & Medicine, showed that happiness is, in fact, U-shaped: it’s highest at the beginning and end of our lives and lowest in the middle. That translates to deepening levels of depression at around age 40 for women and 50 for men.”

It happens to everyone because people tend to focus on wrong things in life. The good thing is happiness recur after mid-life “By the time you’re 70, if you’re still physically fit, then, on average, you’re as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year-old,” said one of the authors of the study, Andrew Oswald.

Many people tend to look for happiness in career recognition or status where gaining success is always the priority. According to John Izzo, an author and leadership consultant based in Vancouver, “life isn’t a contest,” he said.

“They discover that these things don’t give the happiness they’re promised in them,”

Meanwhile, some people from ages 58 to 70 who seldom gained success in their work is successful in their lives.

“But they never had to go through the stage of being disillusioned with their lives because they had already recognized that happiness is not found in status and money, Mr. Izzo said.”

During his numerous interviews for his book, The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die, Mr. Izzo learned that happy people focused “on the things they love rather than on outside definition of success.”

It is not inevitable for a person to fall in a mid-life depression. All one needs is self-awareness. “If you think about it, being true to yourself is a call to happiness,” he said.

“If you know who you are, you stand a much better chance of living the life that suits you.”

(Read Canada.com, image courtesy of meyshandworld.)