A Story With A Moral…Being Happy.

On a certain occasion, during an elegant welcoming reception for the new Director of a company, some of the wives of the other directors, who wanted to get acquainted with the new spouse, asked her with some hesitation: “Does your husband make you happy?”

The husband, who at the moment was not at her side, but was sufficiently near to hear the question, paid attention to the conversation, sitting up slightly, feeling secure, even filling his chest lightly in pride, knowing that his spouse would answer affirmatively, since she had always been there for him during their marriage. Nevertheless, to both his and the others’ surprise, she replied simply:

“No, no he doesn’t make me happy…”

The room became uncomfortably silent, as if everyone were listening to the spouse’s response. The husband was petrified. He couldn’t believe what his wife was saying, especially at such an important occasion for him. To the amazement of her husband and of everyone, she simply placed enigmatically on her head an elegant black silk scarf and continued:

“No, he doesn’t make me happy… I AM HAPPY. The fact that I am happy or not doesn’t depend on him, but on me. I am the only person upon which my happiness depends. I make the choice to be happy in each situation and in each moment of my life. If my happiness were to depend on other people, on other things or circumstances on the face of this earth, I would be in serious trouble! Over my life I have learned a couple of things: I decide to be happy and the rest is a matter of ‘experiences or circumstances;’ like helping, and understanding, accepting, listening, consoling; and with my spouse, I have lived and practiced this many times.”

Moral: Happiness will always be found in forgiveness and in loving yourself and others. To truly love is difficult, it is to forgive unconditionally, to live, to take the “experiences or circumstances” as they are, facing them together and being happy with conviction. There are those who say:

• I cannot be happy because I am sick.
• Because I have no money.
• Because it’s too cold.
• because they insulted me.
• Because someone stopped loving me.
• Because someone didn’t appreciate me.

But what you don’t know is that you can be happy even though you are sick, whether it is too hot, whether you have money or not, Whether someone has insulted you, Or someone didn’t love you, or hasn’t valued you.

Being Happy is an attitude about life and each one of us must decide!

Being Happy, depends on you!

Do Not Ever Let Go

Hafiz Sa’di Shirazi (RA) writes regarding his childhood, “The days of childhood were so wonderful.  I still remember this incident from my childhood, when I was with my father and he took me to the ‘Eid fair.  My father had told me to hold on to him and never let go of him.  There were people in large numbers gathered and it was extremely crowded.  It was difficult to see anything due to the crowd.  Suddenly  I realized that I became separated from my father and as a result I began to cry loudly and profusely.  My father was also worried and eventually found me.  He held me by my ear and and scolded me, “O insolent child! Did I not tell you to hold on to me and never let go of me?! You did not care and that is why you got lost.”

This incident of my childhood became a beacon of guidance for me throughout my entire life and taught me a very valuable lesson:

Those who let go of their elders becomes lost forever in the carnival of this world.”