"Happiness doesn't mean you have more to be grateful for: it means you spend more time being grateful for what you already have." - Todd Tresidder, Financial Mentor
A good friend of mine texted me yesterday
When I inquired more as to what he meant, he said this...
I was on my daily walk and begin to ask myself - Why am I so freaking happy? I pondered this and decided that there were 5 F's as to why I am so freaking happy :) Maybe these will inspire you or you may have your own, I'd love to hear them.
The Five F's
Faith. I grew up in a southern baptist church. I attended 7 days a week from about the age of 7 to 19. I still attended church after 19 but that's a story for another day. I believe that there is something bigger outside the physical realm that influences my direction in life. I call it God and you might call it something different. A divine providence that helps guide my decision making. As a result, I believe that this force brings me a certain level of joy every day.
Family. I am the baby of eight! Yes, 5 brothers, 1 sister, and 1 sister who passed before I was even thought of. I've been blessed to have them lead the way and provide an example for me. Their lives have allowed me to choose wisely the activities I do in life. My relationship with each of them is great and I wouldn't trade them for the world.
Friends. It can be challenging to make and keep friends. I've been fortunate to have a herd of them spanning from high school, my early career, from the navy, my time at running a business, mentoring, etc. Many of these "friends" are basically family. I'd believe at any time, I was in need, I could call any of them, regardless of time, and I'd be met with .. "Paul what do you need? I am on my way."
Finance. As Ralph Tresvant says, Money can't buy you love, but life with it is better than life without it. I grew up with modest means and money was not plentiful. I had the fortunate opportunity to serve along side a very smart guy, who encouraged me in how to save and invest. That was the foundation that I built on and have been key to getting me where I am today.
Food. McDonalds. They love to see me smile. Enough said. No seriously, if anyone knows me, my relationships with food is a rocky one BUT I will say for the most part I've tried to ensure I eat foods that will promote good health. Without proper health you really don't have much. Again I am fortunate to not have any illnesses and as a result I remain pretty happy. I get a physical annually to ensure I know what's going on in the inside.
All this said, don't mistake my being "freaking happy" for not having a bad day or being upset or experiencing complications in life. We all go through things but I choose how I respond to them. I was encouraged by a leader at an agency I worked at while serving in the Navy. He said, we all look out of a window, that have four panes, at life and three of the panes are the same (with an E in them) and one is different. The E's are Exposure, Education, and Experience (I'll dig deeper into those in a later post) and the fourth pane is an A or H. Happy and successful people have an H in their pane, it stands for humility. Angry and unsuccessful people have an A in theirs which stands for arrogance.
Lastly I will say, my temperament is also a result of the hard work I've done on myself in the area of personal development. I've feed my mind with material that inspires and excites me. If you are interested in that reading list let me know.
Happy Saturday!!!!
