Don't Worry Be Happy

We seem to be obsessed with being happy. Most of the self help books have been about making tons of money, losing weight or finding romance. These all promised to make us happy. Now a new book on "Happiness" itself seems appear almost daily.

So we're looking for happiness with things like shopping, having sex, eating the new 984 calorie breakfast sandwich from Hardee's, dieting, drugs, alcohol, marriage, divorce, extreme sports and chocolate.

When I was young I worried about everything. I was constantly on guard and afraid much of the time.

Reading great books, including the Bible, helped me see how to have a much more balanced life.

Have you ever read something that just jumped off the page at you? I have many times. Forty years ago I read Vicktor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning."

He wrote this: Happiness is a byproduct of helping others.

I could be surrounded by millions of people who love me and adore me, but unless I can become a source of giving, I'll never be happy.

A few years ago some friends and I decided to help a family that was living in absolute squalor. I remember one Saturday afternoon we were literally shoveling out garbage and scrubbing floors with a metal spatula.

A man dropped by to deliver some documents. He saw me on my hands and knees and said to me (in total disgust,) "There is no amount of money that would get me to do what you're doing."

I answered "Me either!"

The thing is that I remember being so HAPPY every day that my friends and I worked on that house.