Lots of people talk to animals... Not very many listen, though... That's the problem.
Benjamin HoffRead
Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you've got.
Interpretation
Happiness begins with self-appreciation and gratitude for what you have.
This quote emphasizes that true happiness is not found in external circumstances but in one's attitude towards oneself and one's current situation. By fostering appreciation for your own qualities and circumstances, you can cultivate a deeper sense of contentment and joy in life.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth.
Lots of people talk to animals... Not very many listen, though... That's the problem.
The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.
How can you get very far, If you don't know who you are? How can you do what you ought, If you don't know what you've got? And if you don't know which to do Of all the things in front of you, Then what you'll have when you are through Is just a mess without a clue Of all the best that can come true If you know What and Which and Who.
The honey doesn't taste so good once it is being eaten; the goal doesn't mean so much once it is reached; the reward is no so rewarding once it has been given. If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won't have very much. But if we add up the spaces *between* the rewards, we'll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards *and* the spaces, then we'll have everything - every minute of the time that we spent.
We don't need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified Spiritual Superman, or sit around and wait for Fate to come knocking at the door. We simply need to believe in the power that's within us, and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others and competing against them, things begin to work for us.
And when you try too hard, it doesn't work. Try grabbing something quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try it again. Try doing something with a tense mind. The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard-one that thinks too much.
I'm having the time of my life and the fact that I'm still working - how lucky can you get? I'm 90 years old and still able to work as much as I do. That's a privilege.
The universe is already programmed to give each of us a year of happiness. Our challenge lies in programming ourselves to receive it.
I really do live for the future, because when I'm eating a box of candy, I can't wait to taste the last piece.
I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; and he to whom that is given need ask no more.
The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.
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