“What is more important than being happy?” Andrew Matthews asked the audience in a seminar I attended 6 weeks back. He then started to draw funny little cartoons and continued “I learnt to draw in school during mathematics!”
Everyone bursted into laughter.
In case you don’t know who Andrew Matthews is, let me give you a little introduction. He is an international speaker on “attitude“, “being happy“, “success” and “prosperity” and the best-selling author of motivation and personal development classics like “Being Happy!” and “Follow your heart“.
Andrew is an extraordinary man and I would like to share with you what I learnt about happiness from him. Are you ready to know the 10 secrets to happiness? Listen up!
1) Be happy where you are now
Right now! Be thankful for what you have, instead of moaning about what you lack. Be satisfied with what you have when you are in pursuit of what you want.
2) Happiness, more than anything, is a choice we make every day
Happiness is a conscious decision. You choose to be happy today or you choose to be miserable. Your action/reaction is determined by how you choose to perceive a situation. Andrew gave an amusing illustration of a couple surrounded by a pack of crocodiles. The man thought “OMG Crocodiles!” while his wife thought “OMG Handbags!”
3) Happiness is understanding the things we can’t change yet and working on those we can
Some things are hard to change overnight. It’s unusual to change from a pauper into a millionaire in a day. Happiness is knowing that some things take more time. We can start by working on what we can change immediately.
4) Put a smile on your face. It changes how you think.
I was teaching a friend to ice-skate last Friday evening and there was this beautiful girl I met while getting a drink. She smiled as we both walked towards the vending machine. I smiled back and allowed her to buy her drink first.
While on the ice-skating rink, we passed each other a couple of times. I was trying to keep my friend on his feet while she was falling happily on the ice with hers. Our eyes met again. She smiled and I smiled back.
Then as she was making her way out of the rink, I smiled and waved goodbye. She smiled back. I could hear her friends asking “Is that your friend?” I didn’t catch her reply but I remembered her turning towards me with another smile. I returned the smile with a wave to her bewildered friends.
We didn’t exchange a single word. We didn’t need to. The smiles were enough to brighten up both our days.
5) Whatever you get, accept it and deal with it
All too often, when something bad happens, we are too quick to point fingers and start placing blame on everyone else. Happiness is about accepting responsibility and dealing with what comes your way. Blaming the whole world is not going to solve anything.
6) Problems = Catalyst to take Action
Andrew advises to see problems as a catalyst for us to take action. Problems are good teachers, so learn to love them. Next time, when you face a problem at work/in business, remember to run up to your boss/partner and say, “We have a huge opportunity!”
7) Learn from the elephants!
How do you eat an elephant?
Answer: One bite at a time.
What did the elephant say to the naked man?
Answer: How do you breathe through that thing?
8
) Put everything you have into whatever you are doing now
Do your best (100%) and life will support you!
9) It’s not what you get. It’s what you become that matters
Know what to expect – Expect a better you.
10) No one else is going to make you happier. Work on yourself.
A lot of people get things mixed up. A wife thinks about all the bad things her husband does while a widow remembers all the good stuff. That is the ultimate recipe for misery! Isn’t it better to switch the lists around?
Work on your mindset. See things from a positive light.
Conclusion
Happiness is in the way you think. No one can make you happy except yourself. To conclude this article on happiness, I would like to share with you a video of an extraordinary dog (Faith, the two legged dog). I hope Faith will teach you something about happiness that goes beyond words.
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33 Responses to '10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews'
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Yee Shun Jian believes adamantly that there is but little correlation between academic achievements and personal/financial success. Shun Jian should know...
- Thomas Boomer: Although this is listed as a quote, it is not. It is a paraphrase. The actual work is much more...
- Shyluer: Great job on Personal Development.
- Yee Shun Jian: Hey Katie, I can tell you about the video… basically this dog faith learned to overcome her...
- Yee Shun Jian: for which search term?
- Katie Brandt: The video has been removed by user
Was looking forwards to seeing it
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Love that video about Faith. It really changes your perception about things.
SJ, my motto has always been that happiness is a choice. Choose happiness today. Right now. Don’t wait to be happy! I keep a happiness journal (I’ll be describing this in a blog post soon.)
Just as money attracts more money, happiness attracts more happiness.
Love the cartoons and the summary.
~Millionaire Mommy Next Door
[...] meals and even started an exercise routine. Temptation kicked in on the 4th day, which was also the day I met the beautiful girl at the ice-skating rink. I met up with Jimmy for dinner and found out the food court we were at did not serve vegetarian [...]
When I attend National Congress In KL Andrew is very awsome and inspired me.. Be happy always.. It’s nice article..
Good post. It is true that happiness lies in our hand. We can choose whether to live happily or sadly. The choice is ours. I had a feel happy advice at http://www.openyourmindtoprosperity.com/prosperity/feel-happy-advice/. Please visit and comment. Thank you.
Regards
Honman
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This is a great article, very inspiring. Thanks.
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[...] Yee presents 10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews posted at Personal Development for the Book [...]
[...] Yee presents 10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews posted at Personal Development for the Book Smart, saying, “Always look on the bright side of [...]
Abundance Thinking Blog Carnival 3…
Thank you to all the contributors to the 3rd edition of Abundance Thinking Blog Carnival.
I am pleased to see that there are some new faces in this issue. This carnival is focused primarily on Abundance Thinking and secondly the Law of Attraction.
Thi…
[...] Yee presents 10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews posted at Personal Development for the Book [...]
[...] Yee presents 10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews posted at Personal Development for the Book Smart. Finally, the secrets of happiness are [...]
This is a great article. Thanks!
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I have all of Andrew Matthew’s books except the fax one and I absolutely love the collection and humourous cartoons by him.
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Thank you so much for the wonderful message on Happiness. Even the cartoons were amazing. I love reading your stuff. However I was Very disappointed to know that the video on (faith the two legged dog was not available). Being an animal lover more a dog lover I was all eager to see the video. May be someday I shall see it. Thanks all the same. Your articles make my day. God Bless.
[...] Yee presents 10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews posted at Personal Development for the Book [...]
Excellent article.Everywhere in this universe, in one respect man’s condition is the same. No matter how vastly different he may be in the outer appearance of his life, different countries, different races, different cultures, different languages, different ways of living, eating, dressing, etc., he may be completely different in all of these aspects, but there is one thing that is the same to all human individuals. And it is this factor that binds them into a global unity. If analyzed, it will be discovered that all humanity is engaged ceaselessly, day after day, from the cradle to the grave, only in trying to avoid painful experiences and in trying to attain that which gives them happiness.
Yet, beloved seeker, let me ask you this one very important question. Since the time of creation, is there one single individual who has been born onto this earth who can stand up boldly and declare, “In my life I have never experienced any sorrow or pain or suffering whatsoever. My whole life has been a life full of joy, full of happiness, full of bliss”. You will find that there is not even one single individual on earth who has not had at some time or another some type of pain or suffering or grief or sorrow.
This is a world of pain and sorrow. With a few minutes thoughtful reflection you will see that this is so. Many painful experiences are brought about by natural forces beyond our control—floods, earthquakes, tidal waves, cyclones, fires, famines. Then there is suffering brought about by other forms of life—germs, microbes, bacteria, viruses, insects, reptiles, animals. But by far the greatest source of suffering is caused by man himself. It is suffering that is self-created, that arises within our own psychological self due to desire and attachment for worldly objects—love and hate, anger and passion, fear, worry, tension, anxiety, jealousy, envy, greed, frustration, disappointment, disillusionment, the sorrow of separation, bereavement, and all other varieties of restlessness of mind due to our multitude of desires.
Everyone thinks happiness is to be found in objects and experiences. Everyone thinks, “If I could only attain certain objects, if I could only possess them, if I could experience them, I will get happiness.” In spite of countless disappointments and disillusionments, man never learns.
There is not an iota of happiness in earthly objects. No object is perfect. They do not have in them the power or ability to give you lasting happiness or joy because they are finite and they are imperfect. Otherwise, they must be able to give a homogeneous state of happiness to all beings at all times under all conditions. But what do you actually see?
If you like milk and you take a glass full of sweetened milk flavoured with spices, the first glass may give you satisfaction. And if you are pressed upon to take another glass, the second glass may give satisfaction, but it is not the same degree of happiness or pleasure as was the first glass. And if your stomach is already full with two glasses of milk, if you try to take a third glass of milk, it becomes unpleasant & undesirable. And if a fourth glass of milk is fordfed on you, it produces nausea and you will have to throw it up. Where then is real happiness? If milk had in it the power of giving happiness, it must be able to grant you this happiness at all times, under all conditions. It cannot change its nature. Such examples show that all experiences derived from the contact of senses with their respective sense-objects ultimately are experiences that end in disappointment.
Does happiness really rest in the World tour that seems impossible? Or can you find happiness in a little walk down the lane, hand in hand with the love of your life? Yes, just as unbelievable it sounds, it is true that most people in this world WAIT for happiness like they wait to catch the next train. We wait for big things to happen in life and forget the small little packages of joy that come our way. We seem to forget all those wonderful things that we possess and continually crib about what is beyond reach.
It is appropriate to look at the advice of the Great Teacher Lord Krishna when he said: “O Arjuna, all these experiences, brought about by the contact of one or other of the five senses with their respective sense objects, are ultimately the source of sorrow. There is no real happiness in these sense contacts and sense experiences. They are but mere momentary sensations producing pain.”
Conclusion:
Even the most mundane things in life can become the most beautiful experiences if viewed in a different perspective, if tackled differently. In simple words, it is the ATTITUDE that brings you happiness in most cases than the actual object of joy. Making best of life’s situations, being content with what you have are sure ways to everlasting happiness. One does not need to chase happiness then, it will come and perch itself in your life like a beautiful butterfly.
[...] 10 Secrets to Happiness I Learnt from Andrew Matthews | Shun Jian [...]
[...] to be honest, those are not the best-looking drawings/cartoons in the world (Face it… Andrew Matthews draws better cartoons!) but they do help convey a story that I’m sure everyone can relate to (Setting resolutions, [...]
excelnt really pondering upon thoughts
if one really thnk over them
he can be extremly happy
am very hapy.
I’m so very happy that you have a tips like this because it can help us what we will do!!!!!!!!!!!So once again thank you very much.:-)
[...] Smile often. It will improve both your mood and your appearance. [...]
The video has been removed by user
Was looking forwards to seeing it
Hey Katie, I can tell you about the video… basically this dog faith learned to overcome her disability by walking on 2 legs like a human being!