Eight Clues to Happiness - By Khushwant Singh

One on the most convincing pieces on happiness. Khushwant Singh at his best. The rationale applied to each preference is absolutely top class..

EIGHT CLUES TO HAPPINESS
By- KHUSHWANT SINGH

Having lived a reasonably contented life, I was musing over what a person should strive for to achieve happiness. I drew up a list of a few essentials which I put forward for the readers' appraisal.

1. First and foremost is GOOD HEALTH. If you do not enjoy good health you can never be happy. Any ailment, however trivial, will deduct from your happiness.

2. Second, a HEALTHY BANK BALANCE. It need not run into crores but should be enough to provide for creature comforts and something to spare for recreation, like eating out, going to the pictures, travelling or going on holidays on the hills or by the sea. Shortage of money can be only demoralizing. Living on credit or borrowing is demeaning and lowers one in one's own eyes.

3. Third, a HOME OF YOUR OWN. Rented premises can never give you the snug feeling of a nest which is yours for keeps that a home provides: if it has a garden space, all the better. Plant your own trees and flowers, see them grow and blossom, cultivate a sense of kinship with them.

4. Fourth, an UNDERSTANDING COMPANION, be it your spouse or a friend. If there are too many misunderstandings, they will rob you of your peace of mind. It is better to be divorced than to bicker all the time.

5. Fifth, LACK OF ENVY towards those who have done better than you in life; risen higher, made more money, or earned more fame. Envy can be very corroding; avoid comparing yourself with others.

6. Sixth, DO NOT ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE to descend on you for gup-shup. By the time you get rid of them, you will feel exhausted and poisoned by their gossip-mongering.

7. Seventh, CULTIVATE SOME HOBBIES which can bring you a sense of fulfilment, such as gardening, reading, writing, painting, playing or listening to music. Going to clubs or parties to get free drinks or to meet celebrities is criminal waste of time.

8. Eighth, every morning and evening, devote 15 minutes to INTROSPECTION. In the morning, 10 minutes should be spent on stilling the mind and then five in listing things you have to do that day. In the evening, five minutes to still the mind again, and ten to go over what you had undertaken to do.

Heart of Gratitude!!!

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.







A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.



Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"







The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."



I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."



Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?







Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have.. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.



When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.



The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…



And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!



Enjoy your day with a heart of gratitude .

Direct Call to Heaven (Story)

An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the World. So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to China.

 

On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read "$10,000 per call".

 

The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what The telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God.

 

The American thanked the priest and went along his way. Next stop was in Japan. There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the Same golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in China and He asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.

 

She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.

 

"O.K., thank you," said the American. He then traveled to Pakistan , Srilanka , Russia , Germany and France. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same "$10,000 Per call" sign under it.

 

The American, upon leaving Vermont decided to travel to up to India to See if Indians had the same phone. He arrived in India , and again, in the first church he entered, there Was the same golden telephone, but this s time the sign under it read "One Rupee per call."

 

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign.

 

"Father, I´ve traveled all over World and I´ve seen this same golden Telephone in many churches. I´m told that it is a direct line to Heaven, But in rest of the world price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?"

 

The priest smiled and answered, "You´re in India now, it´s a Local Call". This is the only heaven on the Earth.

Old Man

There is an man that Reached his mid life crisis, and he decides to go out and buy a brand new mustang, he is at the dealership and asks to take the mustang on a test drive, he feels so young in the mustang, so he decides to speed up, and before he knows it he is going 90 MPH, and then a cop is behind him, he looks at the cop and thinks, "Wow i feel so young" and decides to speed up again, to 100 mph, then again to 120 mph, finally after 30 minutes into the chase, he decides to slow down and take what is coming to him.

Police: why on earth were you going so fast?
Old Man: I don't know I just had a bad day mid life crisis issues.

Police man: I tell you what, if you can tell me one excuse I have never heared
in all the years on the force I will let you go with nothing more then a warning.

Old Man: ~Thinks for a second, until he figures out what to say~

Old Man: Well my wife left me last night for a police officer, and I thought you were trying to return her.

Police: Have a nice day

Boy & Girl

There was a Little boy age 9 by the name of Ricky, and a little girl age 8 by the name of Jully

Now Ricky and Jully are in love, they want to get married, so Ricky one day decides to go to jully's father and ask him for her hand in marriage. so he goes up to him and this is how the story goes.

Ricky: July and I are in love, we are so in love we want to get married.
Father: ~Thinks to himself for a little bit, of how cute it is and decides to play along for now~
Father: That is very kind of you to come ask me, but what about a place to live? if you plan to get married you need a place to live.
Ricky: we can live in her room, it is 2x bigger then my room, and we can both fit in there nicely.
Father: What about money, you need money for food and everything else?
Ricky: she makes 10$ a week and I make 5$ a week, that is 15$ a week, more then enough money for all our candy needs.
Father: ~Thinks to himself, that Ricky has thought this threw very well, and he needs to find out something to throw off Ricky, then he thinks of the perfect thing~

Father: Ricky what if you 2 have little ones running around? what will you do then, they are a hand full.

Ricky: Well we have been safe so far.

The father doesn't think that little ~love~ is cute anymore.