FSS Spotlight:   Decide To Be Happy   
By Harvey Mackay

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get a better job, make more money, get married, have a baby, buy a bigger house and so on. Yet the accomplishment of any of those events may not make any difference at all.

There is no magic secret to happiness. It may, quite literally, be all in your head. It has been scientifically proven that our minds have great influence over our health. For example, excess stress can over-stimulate hormone production, making it more difficult for us to cope. Happiness and laughter do just the opposite. Laughter triggers nerves in the brain, which begin a chain reaction: the body secretes natural painkillers and tranquilizers, while other substances aid in digestion, and relaxed arteries improve blood flow. The end result is that your mind and body are better able to handle life's slings and arrows.

In other words, you can have a change of heart without the transplant surgery. Be your own cardiologist. Happiness is the American way. After all, the preamble to the Constitution says we are endowed "with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." So we have a right to be happy!

With rights come responsibilities. I would take the right to be happy and make it a responsibility. You are responsible for your own happiness. And how, you may ask, does this relate to my work life?

Most Americans spend roughly one third of the week working and commuting. If you aren't happy at work, you're wasting a tremendous amount of time and energy being unhappy. When people aren't happy doing what they do, they don't do it as well as when they're happy. 

A happy workforce is one that is able to use their skills and talents. Finding good people and paying them well is no guarantee of productivity or job satisfaction. As Josh Billings said, "Money will buy a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail."
Lessons: 1) If you are the boss, make sure your employees are doing what they do best; and 2) If you are the employee, find a job that will showcase your abilities.  It doesn't matter if it's a glamorous job with a fancy title. Maybe it's what you accomplish on that job that determines how happy you can be.

A man saw two workers breaking granite and stopped to chat. He asked one of the workers what he was doing. "I'm trying to break this granite," he replied through gritted teeth. He asked the other the same question. "I'm on a team of people working to build a cathedral," he said.

J. Paul Getty was one of the richest men in the world. A reporter once asked him, "Mr. Getty, what is it that money cannot buy?" Getty replied, "I don't think it can buy health, and I don't think it can buy a good time. Some of the best times I have ever had didn't cost any money."

Hugh Downs put it very well: "A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes."

Before the Civil War, Edmund McIlhenny operated a sugar plantation and a saltworks in Louisiana. He had to flee the area when Yankee troops invaded in 1863. Upon his return several years later, he found everything in ruins, except for some hot Mexican peppers that continued to grow in the kitchen garden. With little income and nothing to lose, he decided to experiment with them, trying to develop a sauce that would spice up his meager diet. You've heard that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade? Well, when life gave Edmund McIlhenny peppers, he developed Tabasco sauce! You probably have a bottle in your refrigerator now, which, incidentally, is still made by the McIlhenny family.

So what are you waiting for? The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now. Life will always be filled with challenges . . . and opportunities. Both are best faced with a positive attitude and sincere effort to turn the challenges into opportunities and the opportunities into successes. Then, my friends, you should be happy!