In case you don’t see the video here, click this link to see it on Youtube.

If you don’t see the video, you can click here for the Youtube video.

If you can’t see it here, click this link for the original on Youtube.

Second, this one from sometime in 1974, taken at the Parque Hundido, the park near where we lived in Mexico City. This is me with Laura and Saby.

You can get the source video on YouTube.

And just in case you don’t see it here, it’s Youtube address is http://youtu.be/WibmcsEGLKo

If for any reason you don’t see it here, click this link for the original on the TED site.

1. Choose Happiness

‘Most people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.’ – Abraham Lincoln

Misery and happiness aren’t about external circumstances; they are a conscious choice. ‘You choose each day what you focus on and how you interpret your reality,’ Edberg writes. So instead of seeing the world and yourself ‘through a lens smudged by negativity’, you consciously choose to look outwards and inwards ‘through a lens brightened by positivity’. This could involve being grateful for what you have, spending time in an environment of happiness with people who lift you up, and choosing positive information such as personal development reading over negative information like endless news reports.

2. Get Your Physical Fundamentals in Shape

‘Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness.’ – Edward Stanley

‘How we manage our body has a huge, huge impact on our thoughts, emotions and everything that happens in our personal world,’ Edberg explains. This is why we need to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep.

3. Create an Action Habit

‘Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.’ – Benjamin Disraeli

It’s been said that the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. We need to stop waiting for other people to solve our problems and take action in order to see results. Use a morning ritual, do things even if you don’t feel like it, and take responsibility for the process, not the potential results.

4. Be Here Now

‘The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.’ – Buddha

Guess what? The past and future don’t exist. They are simply thoughts arising in the present moment. By focusing on the present, we can improve our social skills (no more thinking of what to say when you should be listening to what’s being said), improve our creativity (no more worrying about what others will think of our work), and release stress. And by focusing on what’s in front of us (through practices like guided meditation and breathing techniques), we also learn to appreciate our world more.

5. Help and Make Other People Happy

‘If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.’ – Chinese Proverb

‘When you do the right thing and make people happy you feel good about yourself,’ Edberg points out. ‘When you make someone else happy you can sense, see, feel and hear it. And that happy feeling flows back to you.’ Give value by bringing a positive attitude to your interactions, giving useful advice, or offering a listening ear to someone who needs it. And let’s not forget about smiles and hugs! Even though people may not always appreciate what you do or feel compelled to reciprocate, you should still persist and feel good for doing so.

6. Do What You Love to Do

‘Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.’ – Albert Schweitzer

The fact that you’re working at a full-time job doesn’t mean you can’t (or shouldn’t) pursue your passions on the side. ‘There is always time,’ Edberg explains. Things won’t always be great but the work won’t feel as hard nor will you have to force yourself to perform. Spend some time exploring and asking questions to bring clarity. Most importantly, remember to add value to the world and not simply to yourself. ‘By using your talents and skills and at the same time helping people and giving them value in some way you can find the opportunities to both do what you love and to earn money to support yourself from it.’

7. Let Go

‘When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.’ – Lao Tzu

So much of our suffering is caused by our clinging. We hold on to who we are and what we believe to the point where we must always be right. We hold on to things that are impermanent and things we think will make us happy even though they never really do. Sometimes we simply need to accept things as they are and then let them go. We need to stop trying to control everything and stop fussing over things that don’t even matter. And while it may be hard at first, it gets easier as time passes. Our happiness depends on it.

Again, this is all quoting from the review on lifehack.

We’ve been married for all of our lives. 41 years. Yesterday morning I wanted to go with her for a follow-up to something they’d found in a routine mammogram; but she said no, I’d just be waiting outside anyhow, and they’d said it was not something we should worry about. So I didn’t. Her appointment at the imaging center was at 11:30.

At about 1 pm yesterday I had just ordered a sandwich at a lunch place when my cell phone rang, the tune to “Still Crazy After All These Years,” which is my personalized ringtone for calls from Vange.

“Tim, come now,” she said. “They want you to hear what the doctor has to say.” 

Imagine what was going through my mind as I drove across town. Imagine what was going through her mind as she waited for me to get there.

When I got there, she reached out for my hand. When the nurse left us alone, she started with: “If it’s bad news, I don’t want chemotherapy.” In the background, my mom died of breast cancer at 65, and her mom died of lymphoma at 70. She and I are both 63.  We waited alone in one of those examination rooms.

Finally a doctor came in with the news: “You have absolutely nothing to worry about.” Total relief. Total happiness. Not even a faster-than-normal follow-up, he said, they’d done the higher-resolution mammogram and ultra sound, and it was a false alarm. There was nothing there.

So yes, it’s awkwardly personal for a blog post, but like I said, sharing expresses gratitude. And it was a huge reminder for both of us, life is short, make it count, what a blessing to be healthy.