What Makes People Happy

Back in high school I attended a retreat called "Days with the Lord". I still vividly remember key points in one of the talks which was passionately delivered by one of the great teachers of the Ateneo High School, Mr. Onofre Pagsanghan on happiness. He said there are three things in life you need will make you happy; somebody to love, something to do, and something to look forward to. These are very simple and very easy to remember. I can easily recall them almost 40 years later after I heard his talk. It is also the passion and power in the way he shared this talk with is is something I will never forget. He consistently delivered this talk about 9 or 10 times a year for several years. I know because for most of us kids at that time, it was probably one of the most memorable and inspirational talks we've ever heard at that moment of our life. We will also never forget it because it's true. Somebody to love, something to do, and something to look forward to are pillars that will power you through the mundane moments in life. If one of the three is missing, you will miss it...

At it's core I think those are the basics but video below breaks it down into the following if you want to know if the citizens of a country is happy or not:

- GDP per capita (how rich the people are)
- Healthy life expectancy (do people live well)
- Freedom to make life choices (can they do what they want)
- Social support (are they connected to friends and family)
- Generosity (can they interact and grow)
- Absence of corruption (do they trust leadership)

Many articles state that money really doesn't bring happiness. You really just need enough to give you freedom to make life choices and any more will not add to happiness and may actually lead to unhappiness. Having the ability to experience most in life is what is key which is also why having good healthy life is on of the keys. Sharing is caring whether through philanthropy or simply sharing experiences or being connected with friends and family is life's energy.

The absence of corruption actually came as a surprise to me but it does really make a lot of sense coming from a very corrupt country. Knowing that you can trust your leaders to look after everyone's need instead of their own will not make you hesitate paying you taxes and following rules. A trustworthy government is empowering since because you know everyone is on the same page of looking after each other.

Considering all of these the Philippines ranks 20th out of 140 in the Happy Planet Index website. Looking at all those factors stated, the only strength our country has is it's strong social support system. Maybe that's the most important thing. The Filipino has strong ties among families and friends. Our overseas workers do what they do because of family. They sacrifice to bring their families out of poverty. I just take that as an example of how strong families here are to help each other but even foreigners are amazed on how strong familial bonds are here. Christmas is one of the longest and most celebrated seasons in the country because it's a chance to see family and friends. And these are the people you love most and that is what matters....

I'm not crying....you're crying...

Yes, I used millennial terminology. This was an ad which came out a few months back where the brand added a spin to Dwayne Wade's last season in the NBA where he swapped jerseys with a player from a team he played against. In tagalog, it's a'kurot sa puso' ad. It's best just to watch the video.

When Things Come Together

I came across this video where a person found an old VHS tape on a player he purchased at a goodwill store. Obviously the item didn't amount to anything valuable but he found it may be more precious to the former owner. With the technology today it's easy to move your recorded life moments in digital form and transfer them from one memory drive to another. In the previous decades though you'd had to stack them through tapes or CDs and you'd have to view them through huge boxes like VHS players or CD players.

The value of the content on the tape is intangible. Maybe important but not really important, it's a baby's first steps parents would probably have this in their memory but having recorded it at that moment helps people relive precious memories and details they have missed in the moment. The detail that big brother was rejoicing at baby's momentous first steps showed childhood support of sibling at that early age.

What's great about the story though is how the universe converged to bring this recorded life event back to it's former owners. It's how the little circumstances seemed to have been orchestrated that this old VHS tape is brought back to the people who needs to see this piece of life achievement of baby's first steps into a more concrete recorded memory.

The universe makes things happen. We have to believe that!

See the video below.

2020 New Year Mantras

A video was suggested in YouTube this morning entitled "These Simple Words Will Help You Through Life's Difficult Situations" via the Daily Stoic. Being the new year and a somewhat tough 2019, I decided to watch the video. If you believe in divine inspiration or that the world somehow finds ways of telling you how to live your life, for me this seems to be one of those moments. It's one of the few time I actually wrote the videos key main points immediately after watching it. There are essentially three separate videos edited to one long video and here are it's main points.

AMOR FATI - not merely bear what is necessary but love it. It simply says love the situation you are in - whatever it may be, whether it's good or bad. The literal translation from Latin is "Love your fate". This is where your are destined to be. Love where you are. Embrace your suffering and go through it. These are situations where life makes you stronger. Embrace your happiness. That is when you realize what life is all about. Embrace it with love for love is the power of life.

YOU CONTROL HOW YOU PLAY. Whatever circumstance you find yourself in you control how you play. You control how you feel. You control what you think. You control how you act. You control where you will go. You are responsible. Whatever the world throws at you have the power to handle it. Take that power, take that responsibility and move forward.

MEMENTO MORI - you could leave life right now. The literal Latin translation is "remember you must die". Memento mori essentially places an endgame for everything. Life will end and there is nothing you can do about it. For your everyday problems, and also the bigger hurdles we can go through life....this too shall pass. However long it takes, this too shall pass. We will all have the same ending whether we are rich or poor - we die. Tomorrow is never promised. We don't know when our endgame is, so live each moment as it flows and "sip the marrow out of life" - CARPE DIEM from my favorite movie "Dead Poet's Society".

Amor Fati, Control How You Play, Memento Mori.....I'll add Carpe Diem. It would have been nice if they were all in Latin but cie la vie....Happy New Year!!

Watch the full video below.