Happiness is......

Great and pleasing moments in time...watching my daughters get married to their love struck grooms, my younger daughter playing the Grinch in her 6th grade play, my son graduating from boot-camp, my wife (and 3 daughters) sitting around the kitchen table with 2 of her sisters after at least a 4 year waiting period..drinking, eating, constant laughter and warm hearted fun..I could go on but to me this is just the tip of the iceberg on a life charmed with happiness.
 
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AquaAthena said:
Top five regrets of the dying ( of which I can say, as of today, none will apply to me. )



The top five regrets of the dying

A palliative nurse has recorded the top five regrets of the dying.

There was no mention of more sex or bungee jumps. A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. And among the top, from men in particular, is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'.

Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."

Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Read the common themes in detail, here:

Top five regrets of the dying | Life and style | guardian.co.uk
Click to expand...

Back when I was 19 I had to have a breast tumor removed. It wasn't long after that the surgeon who did the surgery died. He died of cancer and knew he was going to die. One of the nurses said his wife told her that the last 6 months of their marriage was better than the other 35 years combined. At 19 I thought that quite a strange thing to say.

Then at 38 my own husband died of cancer. He was sick 4 months before he passed. I came to know what the doctor's wife meant. We had worked so hard, and put off many things we wanted to do until we could 'afford' them, one of those things being children. During that 4 months we communicated more, forgave one another for all our previous sins, and made plans for my life which was to follow. He gave me permission to be somebody, to remarry if I wanted, to have the things I wanted, to raise the children to be citizens of the world. I gave him permission to die in peace and not worry about how the children and I would survive.

A short time later, I found myself working on a cancer unit, and I learned that most people don't resolve their lives at the end in such a positive manner. Most people die angry and afraid. The ones who die angry and bitter are the ones who never really had what they wanted, and the ones who did not respond to treatment were the ones who, themselves, didn't want treatment but only were doing it for their families.

In the ensuing years, we moved, we traveled, we studied, we did what we wanted, the children and I -all of us. To this day, we do. Now, I find myself with a terminal illness, I cannot look back and say I have any regrets or did not get the things I wanted out of life. The only thing I would change would be the age I was when I had children. I would have had them when I was younger so they would have known their dad longer, and I might have a shot at seeing the grandbaby grown. As it is, I won't. And he will know me just long enough to have real hurt in his heart when I die, like it was with my children and their father.

Believe it or not, there are some positives to knowing you won't live very much longer, one of them being that you don't have to wait for the things you want to go on sale! (But you do have to be careful not to buy any green bananas!)
 
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A fleeting emotional state that normal people have occassionally.

Show me someone who is happy all the time, and I will show you someone who is mentally challenged.
 
I honestly have to say I am happy 99% of the time. I learned at an early age to not sweat the small stuff and turn the big stuff over to God before I even try to do anything about it. Most things don't bother me as I am very laid-back. I hope the people here who are sick get better.
 
I think of the story of the prodigal son often and read it several times a year. I picture "happiness" and "regret" from the views of the Father, the Eldest Son, and the Prodigal. What is happiness morphs and transforms us through the years and our experience and our choices.

Ah, choices. Choices have such unintended consequences. Impulse is so often the enemy of happiness.
 
editec said:
A fleeting emotional state that normal people have occassionally.

Show me someone who is happy all the time, and I will show you someone who is mentally challenged.
Click to expand...

Studies have shown that wealthy people are happier, due to their ease of living. I think that is likely true. I can tell a difference in my own stress levels now that I am not working and don't have to please so many people. I had a patient who was always stressed to the point of near psychosis. Before I retired, he inherited a lot of money from his father who died. After that, he can' in carrying himself like 'lord of the manor.' No more stress for him. Discharged from my care.

Could I be happier if I won the lottery? Not likely, but if it were enough, I could undoubtedly secure the future for my children.
 
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dilloduck said:
cats suck
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pics_cat_slap_a_bitch_slap_the_bitch-s340x255-82431-580.jpg
 
15th post
Happiness is, sitting on the shore of a serene lake, in the Appalachians with the feeling in your gut that "this is where I belong." Happiness is being able to carry the weight of the ones you love on your shoulders. Happiness is does not dwell in material things, it rests with faith in things bigger than yourself controlling the universe....
 
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