Antique history books discuss happiness and the state of joy that can be created on earth, and in the mind.
As one who meditates and as a follower of Transcendental Meditation this has been a week of reflection among those who meditate. Maharishi was not perfect, no man was, but to follow his way to meditation was modern and perfect for the times.
So when he visited my city in 1968, his fame through the Beatles had me at his feet and I have meditated since 1969.
And as all the electrode studies have shown it does lessen strain, place one in a more contemplative open way. This scientific finding is no surprise to those who meditate or were alert during Sunday School. It is worth contemplating.
Happiness is always elusive to feel in a consistent state, as depression can be so difficult to shake off. We know more quickly when we see happiness in others: a laughing couple, a tender holding of hands between an elderly couple, a child on a swing in the park with adoring family nearby with their arms out.
Within our own lives, it can be obvious as well: a meeting with a long unseen loved one, almost any time with a grand child, a sense of achievement at completing an overdue task, the praise of one we respect, the smile of a loved one, the tail wage of a dog or the purr of a cat.
How to maintain that state is unlikely over a lifetime given inevitable tragedies ahead no matter how carefully we and our loved ones live. But some research has been done by University of California psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others.
Their findings confirm wisdom back to Socrates, Aristotle, and up through the ages to a young man still 27 who began to publish Poor Richard’s Almanac which became an instant success and created fame for Franklin and notice of America as a brave free new land.
This research found that we would all be happy if we followed what we learned in Sunday school or kindergarten, or any of the antique history book genius found in there.
-Count Your Blessings
-Practice Acts of Kindness
-Savor the Joys of Life
-Thank a Mentor
-Learn to Forgive
-Invest Time and Energy in Friends and Family
-Take Care of Your Body
-Develop Strategies for Coping with Stress an Hardships
We will discuss each of these elements that science has found exists among those who live longest and report highest rates of personal inner happiness. We can find ourselves wiping our brow, sweating, with grand children at their school or getting them some urgent thing they need and you were there.
Receive because you have earned, as I have done, and make amends as you can. Savor your Best Grandpa Ever award and look at it and whistle while you work, and realize that science can predict some pretty predictable things that is so good to know.
For when the crabby lady makes a rude comment, you somehow can really sense she may not have practiced these eight great ways to be happy. And so we will gather around the fire here again shortly, and talk some more on this. The words stand so well, I thought they should be savored, in case my additional words on this may take it away.
When I was first rising (I was a mail boy at Head Office) I found I could remember all the eight names of the vice presidents. Their names followed when I stepped off the elevator and thought their initials, “mebssbsm”.
So, each day you prepare to step off your elevator and face the bosses, make them think you are clever by saying all names as your circle that floor. Here you recall “cpstlitd”. Or change the key letters to fit you.
So, for now, we can start with “cpst”, “litd”.
As easy as Later Alligator, In a While Crocodile.
While you do your good deed and smile.
By: Derek Dashwood
Archive for November, 2009
Antique History Books – Happiness Defined by Science
November 30th, 2009Why I Think Its not Essential to Dig Into Your Spouse’s History
November 30th, 2009It is a controversial issue subject to debate. Why hurt yourself by digging into your spouse’s past? But again staying in the dark about your spouse’s history is not very ideal. When something directly related to the past happens in future, your ignorance will not be justifiable. This is where the big question comes; is it of benefit to dig into your spouses past? Is your spouses past important now? What are the implications of this past history to your relationship? Will it withstand the shock or it will be shaken to its very foundations? Remember every person alive today has a history to tell you included. Do not pretend to be holier than thou because you are not better in either way.
What is the necessity of unraveling old wounds. The past history of a person has its ugly side and its beautiful side. Many people focus on the ugly side and magnify it to blow it out of proportion. When sniffing into your spouse’s history, consider that some incidents and occurrences are just a stage in life. As a person grows older his or her ideologies, vision, goals, aspirations and dreams change. Many people tend to rate a person with their past. It is suicidal to use your spouses past as a yardstick of his or her current status. No one is perfect and we have our own shortcomings. Everyone can do a mistake in a life and learn from it. A person can change from a bad person into a better person or vice versa. I am saying this because when a person’s past is dug up, we only pay attention to the dark side. We forget the person has a good side also.
Opening classified files from your spouse’s history is not healthy for the relationship. It might affect the way you feel about your partner. You had idolized your partner as a person of unquestionable integrity. You worshipped the very ground that your spouse strode on. Then your spouse’s history which you were craving for starts unfolding before your eyes. Imagine the disbelief, shock, denial and anger that will engulf you. You start seeing your spouse from a very different perspective, from a different angle. You start realizing that your spouse has many sides and faces. There is a face you know and another side you do not know. The trust and goodwill you had built for all this time is adversely affected. It goes to waste. You feel your spouse is a stranger to you. Why not be prudent enough and accept your spouse as at the current value!
Do you realize that your spouse’s history can destroy your marriage? It reveals what you didn’t know about your spouse. The history of your spouse might rear it’s ugly head and force you to run for the hills. It is a situation which can make you regret why you opened the can of worms in the first place. Some revelations are so clandestine. They will make you feel like you had been blindfolded for all this time. Why not remain in your blindfolds and grow grey waiting for the day you will meet your maker.
By: FRANCIS K GITHINJI
A History of Money and Banking Secrets That Banks Don’t Want Published
November 29th, 2009This is a history of money and the reason a Federal Reserve Note isn’t backed by gold or silver anymore. You will learn unforgettable information about money, debt and where banks get the money to fund your credit card or loan.
A History of Money and Trade
To start with a history of money and debt, we must go back many years ago when people used to trade their wares for the things they wanted and needed.
In place of money or Federal Reserve Notes, you could trade a well made pistol for a cow, which you could eat or trade a remainder of for other items like clothing.
It didn’t take long for people to realize there needed to be a more efficient means of trade. If you were a farmer, it was too difficult to carry baskets of fresh corn around to trade for a new horse. And, the person selling the horse might not want any corn at all.
A History of Money and Gold
So, people used gold for cash money, which always had a stable value, to trade for the items they wanted and needed. This way the horse dealer could always trade the gold received from the farmer for the clothing he really wanted instead of having to take the corn.
In a history of money and gold, this only posed one problem. Gold was very heavy to carry and hard to conceal. In the beginning of our banking history what people would do is leave their gold with a goldsmith.
The goldsmith would then give them a note, or paper money, that stated how much gold they had on deposit with the goldsmith (bank).
The farmer could then take this paper money note, say worth $50 to the horse dealer and buy a horse with it. The horse dealer could then spend this $50 paper note or go back to the goldsmith to pick up the $50 of gold that he had just acquired by selling the horse to the farmer.
Well, why would the horse dealer want to trade in the cash money note for the heavy gold, when he just wanted to trade it for clothing and food anyway. So, the note would continue to trade hands and very few people would ever go redeem it for the gold it was backed by.
It didn’t take long for the goldsmith to understand this reality. So, here he is storing all of this gold for other people. Let’s give it a value to make this next principle clear.
Let’s say the gold he is storing is valued at $1,000 and there are $1,000 in real cash money notes backed by this real gold being circulated.
A History of Money and Loans
When many people wanted a loan for say a total of $1,000, he decided no one would notice and it would be real easy to lend them someone else’s gold, well actually a funny money note which was a promise to pay gold upon redemption of the note. And, he’d only charge 10% interest.
In a history of money and loans, this caused another problem. If everyone came in to redeem their notes, there would not be enough gold to pay back everyone because there was only $1,000 in real cash money notes backed by REAL gold.
hat didn’t matter to him, why not lend out to anyone who looks like they can repay? And, that year he lent out a total of $10,000 worth of newly created or you could say counterfeit, funny money notes. Oh well, who cares says the goldsmith, no one is coming in to get their gold anyway.
So, now there is $1,000 in real cash money notes backed by REAL gold, and $10,000 in funny money loans, thus $11,000 in total notes circulating. The goldsmith is charging his 10% or $1,000 per year of interest and don’t forget every penny of the original counterfeited principal is his to keep. For simplicity, lets say he now stops lending!
A History of Money and Inflation
Lets look at what this causes. There is now ten times as much currency/notes floating around then there is real gold to back it. This causes the value of the original $1,000 to loose 90% of its value. Therefore to buy a horse now, it would cost $500. Thus, a history of money and INFLATION.
Everyone now has way more money then they did the year before, they feel rich. There are still the same amounts of products and services being sold, just a lot more dollars to bid for them, thus most prices go way up. This is called a boom.
Now the next thing this causes is for the $1,000 of interest and any portion paid to the principal of these loans to go directly into the goldsmith’s pocket. Let’s say over the course of the first year, the borrowers paid back $1,000 worth of principal and $1,000 in interest.
This means there is still $1,000 of real cash money notes backed by REAL gold. $9,000 in funny money loans outstanding, $9,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed $2,000.
So, the goldsmith is now up $2,000 out of thin air, and there is now $9,000 in notes circulating which needs to pay back $9,000 owing. And the cost of everything has gone up ten fold. Now lets move forward another year.
Let’s say over the course of the second year, the borrowers paid back $1,100 worth of principal and $900 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in notes backed by REAL gold. $7,900 in loans outstanding, $7,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $4,000 thus far.
Let’s say over the course of the third year, the borrowers paid back $1,200 worth of principal and $800 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in notes backed by REAL gold. $6,700 in loans outstanding, $5,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $6,000 thus far.
A History of Money and Recession
People tighten up their spending for no apparent reason, but it is soley because there are less notes in circulation. So, prices start to fall. Businesses can’t survive with the lower incomes, so they lay people off, thus giving even fewer people money to spend. And, now we have the beginning of a history of money and RECESSION.
Year four, the borrowers paid back $1,300 worth of principal and $700 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in notes backed by REAL gold. $5,400 in loans outstanding, $3,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $8,000 thus far.
Year five, the borrowers paid back $1,400 worth of principal and $600 in interest. There is still only $1,000 in gold. $4,000 in loans outstanding, $1,000 in total notes circulating and the goldsmith has pocketed another $2,000, totaling $10,000 thus far, but $4,000 is still owed.
With only $1,000 in total notes circulating, people obviously cannot continue to pay, so there is one thing left and that is the confiscation of their assets, and the remaining $1,000 in total notes circulating. Can you say BANKRUPTCY. (which is now almost impossible)
A History of Money and the FED
Oh, I know says the goldsmith, I’ll just have to keep lending this counterfeit money backed by nothing so they can work hard for me for free, and I will own every asset on this planet for free. So the goldsmith starts to lend out money again and lends out $10,000 the first year which again causes the BOOM. And, on and on it goes.
The only difference today is that there is no limit to the lending, so there’s continual money being created which forces us to fight each other to get our hands on it, to pay back our own share of debt, while the price of everything skyrockets endlessly.
And, the goldsmith’s are now called the Federal Reserve System and the funny money counterfeit notes are called Federal Reserve Notes. In the 1930’s there was roughly $16 Billion in gold at Fort Knox, and now we owe $8,339,711,774,335.
By: Mark Cella
