SUNDAY SERMON

I am at a slight disadvantage doing these sermons because of the fact that I no longer drink adult beverages.Today I would like to talk about that elusive "happiness" people seem to be so caught up with.This is by no means a foolproof method or guide to anyone's happiness.
These are my views although I have tried to make them inarguable and I've included some third party validation.
There are for the careful reader pieces of the puzzle already in the posts and comments published prior to this post.If you would like to pause this and go back it will come together better if not you will miss some.

There are in life obvious times of happiness with one symptom being out and out laughing.Sometimes in cases of extreme happiness one actually cries they are laughing so hard.Smiling also is another expression if happiness.
Linking moments like these together is not the way to have a happy life.
Words are limited, we use them to relate to others, feelings or ideas or facts or whatever but they fall short,they're not complete and words cannot hope to encompass every emotion we feel or adequately express them.Some people,not I,do a much better job than others at this.I know that we all know these things but it will be helpful to me to complete this excercise.
There is also another motive as you will see(gotta keep Peg interested she loves suspense)
Overall happiness derives from experiences past and present with the perception of the future thrown in just to really make things complicated.

So there's the timeline for happiness for each of us,so far I think we can agree on that.No matter how long or short the timeline is the same.I am at this point thinking seriously of deleting this post because this is hard.I could look like an idiot here(something new and different I know)But that would be a serious violation of the poemster_oath so I'll suck it up and forge on.

Let's say I am halfway through life (I am forty-seven years old born on April 2,1957(one day after April Fool's Day)) .I am in a good position to examine my own life because I am "halfway"
through.I got half-past,present,and half-future.

I won't microanalyze my past because it would be boring but to give you an overall impression of a look back.I have had half a life's worth of mixed good and bad things happen,let's say I'm just an average guy.My perception of the past is the good times were good and the bad times or hard times served to make me a complete person.I can differentiate between the two because I have experienced both.The times when I met emotional or physical or both challenges I now wear proudly as a sort of "badge".That badge allows me to walk with my head held high and deem that I am relevant in this world.I used to have a little self esteem problem when I was young.I still have it but it is not in the same direction.Imagine, me thinking I'm relevant,hmphh!I need to be more humble and I know it.I combat this by trying to be funny.

So,in the past my happiness quotion has been derived from the good and bad experiences I have had.Subconsciously,I have elevated the good and morphed the bad into good.So far so good.

The present is not hard to deal with.I stay busy and challenged physically and mentally.I am told I think way too much. I'm sure we all stand on serious common ground here.No danger in falling off this plateau,right?The kicker here seems to be in the adage (religious tenants are the best part of religion in my view)"Thou shall not want".Sounds good but that is not human nature for the most part.I see it in my kids from a very early age,they want everything they see.OK so a conscious effort is required here to hold back the reigns of wanting.This is a serious balancing act this one.Being happy with what one has and striving for better things. You-are-on-your-own.

It starts to get complicated again with the perception of the future thing.An intangible that is made up of past and present experiences squared and divided by the suppressed desires and unfulfilled dreams that we can't escape plus the helplessness we all feel that is so much a part of this life.It is further complicated by the "a priori" or given knowledge I believe we all start out with at birth.Everyone's different.(read your Kant for more info) Positive thinking only accounts for so much in this life.If we do not embrace the sadness and the bittersweet and the failures we are choosing to ignore so much of this life we are given.We cannot experience the high highs without experiencing the low lows.I sometimes prefer unrealistically of course to remain melancholy at all times in order to stay off the emotional rollercoaster we ride on.But we were born to ride so I always get back on.

Nicman posted a comment on the life of a young man named Matthew Stepanic who died recently.At thirteen years old he has fallen out of the lead position of our gaggle.Go to his site,please.I just learned of Mattie from Nicman's post and I am saddened and inspired simultaniously.He was as pure as pure can be.
His views of a happy life I hope validate what I wanted to say.
May his energy continue on in all of us.
Thank you Mattie
Thank you Nicman.

Harry Chapin's grandfather said something I think fits well with my spiel too.It's also been posted.

That concludes this too.
Have a great Sunday and life.
Rob