Happiness

Your reaction to the events around you determines how you feel and how you affect those you come into contact with. Consider the following example:

Jane, a bank executive, got caught in traffic on her way to an important presentation at a board of directors meeting. As a result, she was forty-five minutes late for her presentation. After the meeting Jane was in a really bad mood. Upon returning to her office she discovered that several expected reports were not there.

Jane called Kevin, her administrative assistant, into her office and reprimanded him for not ensuring the reports had arrived on time. Another department was preparing the reports. Kevin had no control over when they would be delivered. Jane was in a foul mood and she didn't want to hear any excuses.

Upset and stressed, Kevin called Donna, the secretary for the department preparing the reports. He started yelling at her that the reports that he had requested had not arrived. Although this was the first Donna had heard of the reports, Kevin didn't care. He was upset and took his anger out on Donna.

By the time she got off the phone with Kevin, Donna was seething. Who did Kevin think he was speaking to her like that? Just then, Ed from the mailroom called Donna to ask how she wanted a package shipped. Donna accused Ed of being an idiot for not knowing the package should be sent overnight because it was so important.

Ed tried to explain there was no way he could have known what she wanted. Donna just slammed the phone down in a huff. Ed was livid. Did Donna think he was a mind reader? Ed was still agitated as he went to the diner for lunch.

The diner was extremely busy. His waitress, Stacey, took longer than usual to take his order. Ed was annoyed with the slow service. He was rude to Stacey and left her a small tip. Stacy was running herself ragged and was offended by Ed's attitude and tip.

The rest of Stacey's shift seemed to drag. When she finally got off work, she was in no mood for any more hassles from anyone. As Stacey walked into her apartment, her five-year-old son, Jimmy, ran excitedly to greet her.

Stacey immediately noticed that Jimmy's pants were filthy. "I just washed those," she yelled. "Can't you keep anything clean?" Jimmy ran up to his room crying. His cat came over to him purring. Jimmy was so upset he kicked the cat.

Wouldn't it have saved a lot of people a lot of grief if Jane had gone directly to Stacey's house and kicked Jimmy's cat?

When you take out your frustrations on others you may be starting a cascading chain reaction. If someone takes out their frustrations on you, break the chain by not taking it out on someone else. When you react negatively to another's behavior you allow yourself to be drawn into their problems. You control your thoughts. If you feel annoyed, wait and think before speaking or acting.

Keep things in perspective. Let stress roll off you without grabbing hold of and internalizing it. Don't kick the cat.

copyright 2005 Bryan Golden

Bryan Golden is a self-development and motivational expert, author, and adjunct professor. He is the author of "Dare to Live Without Limits," and writes a nationally syndicated newspaper column. For more information please visit: http://www.daretolivewithoutlimits.com or http://www.bryangolden.com

Latest News


guardian.co.uk
Twitter hacker says admin password was 'happiness'
Los Angeles Times, CA - 6 hours ago
Happiness. The hack victim, a Twitter staffer who goes by the name Crystal on the social network, used that nine-letter word as the password for her account ...
Twitter Hacker Says Admin Password Was 'Happiness' Wired News
Simple, brute-force dictionary attack was used on Twitter Neoseeker
Password guessing attack exposed in Twitter pwn Register
WebProNews - The Tech Herald
all 22 news articles

Ten Ways To Be Happier Now
Forbes, NY - 7 hours ago
It might seem that happiness is in short supply these days. Still-slumping housing prices, bleak consumer spending, high unemployment and a recession are ...

The Sun
Ofsted rates children's happiness
The Press Association - 12 hours ago
The data gives each local authority a score on five different measures - the emotional health of children (happiness), bullying, participation in "positive" ...
Inner London teenagers least likely to take drugs guardian.co.uk
Half of all pupils are bully victims The Sun
Region's children happiest in country, data shows Fleetwood Today
guardian.co.uk
all 7 news articles

Get High on Happiness:
Jewishinstlouis.org, MO - 42 minutes ago
By Max Weiman According to the Book of Creation, (an ancient kabbalistic book written by the patriarch, Abraham) every month has a Hebrew letter associated ...

Metro
Twitter 'happiness' hack exposed Britney
Metro, UK - 18 hours ago
... but then discovered she was a staff member called Crystal with access to all profiles and passwords. Her simple password, Happiness, was easy to crack.

It's Never Too Late: Happiness Now!
Examiner.com - 19 hours ago
OK So sometime in December I was minding my own business and I get this email that I missed because I was very busy minding my own business but actually the ...

Bihar government jobs bringing happiness but with pain
Indian Muslims, CA - 15 hours ago
By Abdul Wahid Azad, During the last few years some positive changes took place in the Indian province of Bihar which was earlier dubbed as BIMARU state of ...

It's Nothing but Happiness For Kate and Len
PopSugar.com, CA - Jan 6, 2009
Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman traveled with Lily from London to LA over the weekend and then hit the streets for some grocery shopping yesterday. ...

Happiness in hockey
Morgan Hill Times, CA - Jan 5, 2009
At the Sharks Ice in San Jose, a hodgepodge group of men sporting full hockey pads, carrying sticks and wearing face masks emerges from the rink-side locker ...

Happiness is ...
Enid News & Eagle, OK - 23 hours ago
Ask each one their definition of happiness and you would likely get 6.7 billion different answers. Some people say being rich would make them happy, ...

Resources