Cancer and Calamities: Move Over, Rover

Cancer and calamities: move over, Rover, because the big (happy) dog’s moving in.

Psychology and “self-help” can both be a bit hit or miss.  But when psychology/philosophy/self-help does hit, it packs quite a wallop.  Case in point – I recently came upon this quote from Sir Thomas Brown, 17th century author and creative thinker:

“I am the happiest man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty into riches, adversity into prosperity, and I am more invulnerable than Achilles; fortune hath not one place to hit me.”

I don’t want to give the impression that I’m intellectually diciplined enough to sit down with finely-aged philosophy over spot o’ tea; I got the above quote from an internet video lecture at Ted.com (I’m not sure if the internet has made us any smarter, but it certainly has made it easy to come across interesting and inspiring tidbits of information.).  Nonetheless, this quote says brilliantly what the modern lecturer in the Ted video says in 20 minutes: happiness is not achieved through wealth, health, good fortune or hard work.

This isn’t just some rah-rah guru psychobabble; it’s peer-reviewed research-proven, hard-wired-into-the-human-condition fact.

You don’t have to have extraordinary wealth – or any wealth at all – to have happiness: across populations around the world, those with average income and those with less-than average wages are statistically equal in happiness to the wealthiest people on the planet.

Likewise, you don’t have to have perfect health to have happiness.  Our beloved April is a grand example of this: she inspires me every day with her can-do approach to living happily and with optimism for the future, regardless of how cancer would have the rest of us think she should be feeling.  I know for a fact that she is not alone in her happiness during health travails; among just the relative few people who read and write on this blog, there are multiple people who have health problems, and have great happiness.

There’s no need for good fortune to shine down on and protect you night and day, 365 days a year for the rest of your life.  Statistically speaking, those who suffer great calamity are – three months later – no less happy than are you and I at this very moment – safe in our homes and offices.

Sir Thomas Brown’s passage is a bit like a prayer – a 17th-century affirmation, if you will:

“I am the happiest (wo)man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty into riches, adversity into prosperity, and I am more invulnerable than Achilles; fortune hath not one place to hit me.”

Say these time-honored words of wisdom with feeling and understanding 10 times in a row when you’re down in the dumps.  I can’t do it without a smile on my face, and in my heart.

And so, our beloved friends and family, whether you call it prayer, worship and Divine Grace or simply the natural order of things, let yourself rest easy.  New money, returning health and unexpected good luck are but fleeting, shining moments that you can’t count on.  Excessive debt, disease and Murphy’s Law are also fleeting, and will not be your end, nor the end of your happiness.

When you think about it, you come to understand there really is nothing to fear.  Happiness will always return.

Know that you are loved, appreciated, and deserving of the happiness you’ll have this week, and thank you, as always, for your generous love and support.

Mac & April