Article by Allan R Baylis
At the end of the day life is about the pursuit of happiness. Happiness for many is hard to define. When you ask others to define happiness there are countless opinions. How would you define happiness?
Some believe happiness is good health. They believe if you have your health you have everything! I ask you do you know someone in perfect health who is unhappy. Some people believe money will buy happiness. There is a long history of many problems that the wealthiest have endured. I’ve found that generally speaking kids from poor countries are happier than those from more affluent countries.
In a poor town in Mexico you watch kids without shoes play with stones and they laugh. In North America many unhappy kids threaten suicide if they don’t get another video game like their friends just bought. There are those who believe happiness is power yet many in power suffer miserably. Happiness it seems is hard to define.
I can best describe my definition of happiness based on an experience I had many years ago. I was on the West Coast speaking at a convention to about 1,500 people. My presentation was 6 hours with an hour break for lunch along with the usual breaks in the morning and afternoon.
I’ve always enjoyed the buzz as an audience files into a room. One moment the room is empty and then almost instantly it is full. I love to meet and mingle up to the last moment before I am introduced. It can drive the organizers crazy. They are usually all wound up at these events. They get so wound up that you’d think they were doing the presentation. Just before the meeting started I noticed a middle aged man walk into the room. I could see that he was blind. I must tell you that I’ve seen many tough circumstances but for me losing sight was at the top of my list.
The presentation started and as I’m speaking I’m moving around the stage scanning people in the audience, making eye contact, one person at a time. Anyone who has attended one of my seminars will tell you that I love telling jokes. I have found that humour can relieve tension and drive home key points. This makes it easier for people to remember key points and more fun to attend. I believe that good, clean humour is essential to an effective presentation. Laughing and learning, like attitudes and skills work best when served together.
As I told some of these stories and jokes I could see that the blind fellow was having a great time. He laughed so hard I thought he’d surely fall out of his chair. Later I met with him briefly at the break. I was taken back by his enthusiasm and obvious sense of humour.
At our lunch break that day one of the organizers asked me if I wanted to join the group, the next day at a local waterslide park. I love waterslides and with a free day between travels I enthusiastically agreed to go.
The next day was a beautiful one at the Waterslide Park. I saw many of those from my session the day before. This waterslide had five slides of varying degrees of difficulty. There was one particular slide which was higher and more twisted than the rest. It shot up into the sky so high that in the bright sunshine it was hard to see the platform at the top. Needless to say, it looked like a long, frightful climb and an even more dangerous descent. I sat there, psyching myself up preparing myself to go down this slide.
Moments later as I stared at this monstrous slide, I noticed the blind man with that smile on his face. He was grabbing onto the rail about to climb the ride. My heart began to race and I didn’t know what to do. Should I help him or at least warn him I thought. I didn’t want to offend him. Before I knew it he began to climb, one step at a time. I watched painfully each and every step he took up the ladder. He climbed higher and higher eventually fading out of sight. When I could no longer see him I walked over to the slide. Once there I waited anxiously at the bottom hoping to see that he’d survived the ride down.
Moments that seemed like an eternity passed until finally he came crashing down, laughing aloud as he was thrown into the turbulent water. I was really impressed and wanted to tell him so. This guy was obviously a positive force. What courage I thought! I told him how much I admired his courage, to climb all those stairs and come down the toughest slide in the park.
He turned my way, smiled and said, “Son, come with me. I want to show you something.” We climbed back up the ladder to the top of the slide. As we waited in line he commented how the sun felt great on his face? “What a beautiful day.” he said. When we reached the slide he said, “For this ride, I want you to close your eyes all the way down.” I did so and what a rush I experienced. You should try it sometime. When we reached the bottom he laughed and said, “Its more fun with your eyes closed isn’t it?” He was right. Suddenly it hit me why he was so happy. He appreciated what he had and was not focused on what he didn’t have. In your pursuit of happiness remember to take some time each day to focus on what you have and appreciate it. I’ll see you in my next article.
About the Author
Allan Baylis is world class Speaker, author of The Magic Bullet and an international business consultant. Allan helps others focus on business and personal Growth. He has delivered over 5000 presentations in the US, Canada and Europe.http://www.allanbaylis.com
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