When others behave negatively
towards me,
my compassion is steadfast
for myself and others
because I am aware
that only with a compassionate attitude
can I achieve
joy and happiness
for myself and others.

Is joyful and happy
love
never brutal
and always kind?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society,
would every person
live for the purpose
of achieving joy and happiness
for themself
and others in society?
Would every person
deal with the challenges
Destiny brings
in a joy-and-happiness-way
which optimises joy and happiness
for themself
and for others in society?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society:
would people
not use guns
to **** each other?
Would malevolent people
not be allowed to have guns?
Would mentally-ill people
not be allowed to have guns?
Would children
not be allowed to have guns?
Would law-enforcement
use guns as a last-resort?

When people accuse me
of being abnormal
because I think for myself,
I steadfastly continue to think for myself
as I am aware
that thinking for myself
is the only way
that a unique me
in my unique situation
can achieve
my own unique joy and happiness.

When I was a youth
I complained
“Why won’t the world
make me happy?
The world makes me unhappy!”

Now that I’m wiser
I take full responsibility
for achieving
my own joy and happiness
and the world’s joy and happiness.

When we ask questions
about how to be
optimally joyful and happy,
we have a chance
of discovering
some answers.

I search for happy people
and when I recognise
a joyful and happy person
I take clues
from how they are feeling, thinking and acting
to discover
how I can feel, think and act
to be optimally joyful and happy.

I aspire
to be calm
and reasonable
in every situation
to be most effective
at optimising my joy and happiness.

To act with humility
is to be aware
that I am unomniscient and uncertain
so I need
to be on guard
against the unforseen
bad consequences
of my action.

Is there joy
in noticing the details of experience?
For example:
When I encounter a flowering tree
I enjoy noticing
all the colours, shapes, sizes and textures
of every flower,
every leaf,
every fruit,
every branch,
and the bark of the trunk too;
Then I have enjoyed
experiencing the flowering tree!

When I make choices to act
in everyday life
should I ask myself
“how does my choice
affect the joy and happiness
of every person in society?”?

When I feel sick,
I don’t understand
all the complex details
of medical-science,
so I have to trust a doctor
to cure me;
but I trust with trepidation
because doctors are human
and so unomniscient and fallible;

I do my best
to apprise myself
of the medical-science
about my health-condition
so I do not have to blindly-rely
on the doctor,
and so I can make wise choices
about my healthcare
to optimise my health, joy and happiness.

Whilever I live
that is the time
Destiny
has allotted for me to live;

When I die
that is the time
Destiny
has allotted for me to die.

I strive to experience
all the ways
my body
feels joy.

Is there joy when eating?
I strive to experience eating-joy!

Is there joy when having ***
with somebody I romantically-love?
I strive to experience romantic-***-joy!

Is there joy in exercising my muscles?
I strive to experience muscles-joy!

Is there joy in exercising my brain?
I strive to experience thinking-joy!

Is there joy in exercising my emotions?
I strive to experience feeling-joy!

I wonder
what are all the ways
I can experience
joy
using my body?

Is Justice
the principles
of how a society should function
to facilitate the joy and happiness
of every citizen?
In contrast,
has modern law
become the powerful and wealthy
imposing their
demands and expectations
on the rest of us?
Is law
not
the principles of Justice?
Is law
not
principles which guide the behaviour of every citizen
to facilitate the joy and happiness
of every citizen?

When I was a youth
I thought people were better than me
because they were
richer than me,
had more status than me,
and were more handsome than me;
but now that I’m wiser
I ask: Are they joyful and happy?

A rich man
may be driving a splendid red Ferrari
but is he joyful and happy
or is he on anti-depressant drugs?

A government official
may have status and authority
but is he joyful and happy
or is he on anti-depressant drugs?

A movie actor
may be famous and handsome
but is he joyful and happy
or is he on anti-depressant drugs?

God
I appreciate
everything
you have given me.

I accept
the past has happened
and cannot be changed,
but the future
has not yet happened,
so I strive
in the present-moment
to achieve a better future.

I need
to continuously practice
responding to situations
according to my best principles of wisdom
because continuous practice
improves my skill
at striving for joy and happiness
in a wise way.

I need
to frequently revise
my principles
for living
a joyful and happy life
so that when challenges come
I’m ready to respond
in a wise way.

When I excuse
my faults
I lose the opportunity
to improve myself.

When I accept
my faults
and evaluate my self
I can then
improve my self
towards the wisdom and virtue
I need
to achieve optimal joy and happiness.

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would every person in society
including women
fulfil their potential
to experience optimal joy and happiness?
Would women be given
the freedom and encouragement
to express their unique authentic self
in an optimally joyful and happy way?
Would women be given
the freedom, encouragement, support and resources
to develop and exercise to the full
their talents
to experience optimal joy and happiness?

I realise and appreciate that my joy and happiness
depends not on my work alone
but also depends on the work of thousands of people
in a well-functioning society surrounding me.
For example:
When I’m using the internet
I appreciate that thousands of workers at the internet company
are working to bring me internet.
When I’m using water
I appreciate that thousands of workers at the water company
are working to bring me water.
When I’m using electricity
I appreciate that thousands of workers at the electricity company
are working to bring me electricity.
When I’m shopping at the supermarket
I appreciate that thousands of workers at the supermarket-company
are working to bring me groceries.
When I need my garbage collected
I appreciate that thousands of workers in the government
are working to collect my garbage.

I wonder
what are all the social-processes working
to support and facilitate my joy and happiness?

If I am rich,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness rich;
If I am poor,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness poor.
If I am popular,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness popular;
If I am outcast,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness outcast.
If  I am famous,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness famous;
If I am unknown,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness unknown.

I was an outcast
in school
nobody liked me
I had no friends
noone to talk to
noone to share my experiences with
noone to understand me
noone to learn from
noone to help me
I was alone
and lonely
and sad.

Now, reflecting on my memories
of my outcast loneliness
I am relieved from my trauma
by expressing to myself my lonely sadness
as I’m doing in this poem,
and reminding myself that my school-days are in the past
and re-focusing on being in the present-moment
and striving for my joy and happiness.

When I was a youth
I was busy, busy, busy,
rushing from one activity to another
ambitious for success,
but I was unhappy
because I was too busy
to care for my mind,
my mind was suffering and confused
with many bottled-up emotions and thoughts;

Now that I’m wiser
I realise
what I need
is to take time-out
to care for my mind:
to introspect into my emotions and thoughts
to express to myself my emotions and thoughts
to become aware of my emotions and thoughts
to evaluate my emotions and thoughts
to improve my emotions and thoughts
until I have achieved wisdom
about what I can do
to achieve my joy and happiness.

Do we need to forbear (abstain)
from doing particular activities
to optimise our joy and happiness?
For example:
Do we need to forbear
from overeating
to prevent obesity and diabetes
and optimise our health, joy and happiness?
Do we need to forbear
from overindulging in alcohol
to prevent brain-damage and liver-damage
and optimise our health, joy and happiness?

What other activities
should we forbear from
to optimise our joy and happiness?

When people are saying cruel words to me
it helps me when I say “They are being cruel to me”
as I name and blame their behaviour
then what they say loses moral-credibility
then I don’t have to listen to them anymore
then I don’t have to be affected;
When people are saying cruel words to me
I do my best to ignore them,
and I re-focus my mind on striving for my joy and happiness.

When I was a youth
I expected the world to be good to me,
I expected people to treat me fairly, kindly and justly,
and I was disappointed, hurt and angry
when I was treated unfairly, unkindly and unjustly.

Now that I am wiser
I realise
that people are broken and suffering
and struggling to cope with life,
and they care more about their own survival and pleasure
than they care about being kind, fair and just to me,
so I no longer expect the world to be good to me
and I no longer feel disappointed, hurt and angry;
Now I feel compassion for people
And I take responsibility
to treat people fairly, kindly and justly,
and I make my best attempt
to lead people to treat me fairly, kindly and justly.

When I was at university
the standard used to judge
my essay
was “is it knowledgeable and sophisticated
in its use of concepts”,
and so I did my best
writing essays
to display my knowledge
of what authorities said
in a sophisticated way
like a DJ samples famous songs;

Now that I’m wiser
I realise
knowledgeable-sophistication
is not the wisdom
I need to achieve my joy and happiness,
and reading authoritative texts
and writing knowledgably-sophisticated essays
is a waste of my time,
and my time would be better spent
doing philosophy on my own experiences
to achieve the wisdom
I need to achieve my joy and happiness.

Is it better to have a wise mind
and be dressed in shabby clothes,
rather than have a shabby mind
dressed in finery?
But is it best
to have both
a wise mind and be well-dressed?

When I was a youth
I was ambitious
to be recognised
as a know-it-all,
and so I often spoke
beyond my experience,
speculating when I did not have experiential-evidence;

Now that I’m wiser,
I never speak beyond the evidence
of my experience.

When I was a youth
I thought I was right
and everyone else was wrong;
Now that I’m wiser
I give respect to each person’s
unique perspective
and allow them the freedom
to be who they are;
the question for me is
how do I cooperate
with a unique other
to facilitate each other’s
joy and happiness?

I am humble
when I’m aware
that I don’t know anything for certain;
that all I am aware of
are philosophical-questions
with uncertain changing answers.

Are bad-habits
actions we do on impulse
without carefully thinking
whether we should do these actions?
Do bad-habits
lead us away from joy and happiness?
Towards unjoy and unhappiness?
Like overeating makes us fat and diabetic?
Liking smoking cigarettes gives us lung cancer?
Like alcoholism wrecks our life?

Should we introspect
to become self-aware of our bad-habits?
Evaluate our bad-habits?
And reform our mind
to expunge bad-habits from our mind?

Is one type of friendship
people cooperating
to facilitate each other’s
joy and happiness?
Like friends
who play tennis together:
Tennis-Friends?
Like friends
who help each other study:
Study-friends?

A challenge of living
is to channel my energy
into activities
which bring me joy and happiness.

When I seek to be normal
I feel ashamed
of what I am actually being;
But when I seek my joy and happiness
and allow myself to be my unique authentic self
I feel joyful and happy
just being me
even if I am different than the norm.

Patient-Endurance is the virtue I need
when striving to improve the situations
which Destiny has brought me,
for while the situations
are not yet improved
I need to patiently endure.

Is a ‘reaction’
an initial impulse to act
after an experience?
Do reactions
get us into trouble
when we act out the impulse
without first self-introspecting,
becoming aware of emotions and thoughts,
self-evaluating emotions and thoughts,
and self-correcting emotions and thoughts?
For example:

A toddler cries
then her mother slaps her hard
then regrets the slap
when her toddler cries more miserably.

A youth insults a man at a bar
then the man punches the youth hard
knocking him to the floor unconscious
struggling to breathe,
then the man regrets the punch
and regrets getting arrested even more.

Is there a basic joy
in experiencing
every experience
which I experience?
Is there joy in sights:
colour, shape, size, patterns?
Is there joy in sounds:
loud, soft, tone, pitch?
Is there joy in touch:
hard, soft, rough, smooth?
Is there joy in smell and taste:
salty, sweet, pungent, tangy?

When I accept
the good in the situations
Destiny has brought me,
I feel happy
with peace of mind.

When I accept
the bad in the situations
Destiny has brought me,
I feel unhappy
with peace of mind.

Should I ‘respect’ a person
because they have the power
to harm me?
Or,
Should I respect a person
because they are able and willing
to help me
achieve my joy and happiness?

Attempting to harm
my enemies
did not bring me joy and happiness,
did not bring me peace of mind;
I made the enmity worse,
I got myself into trouble;
I was traumatised
by the whole experience.

Now I defend myself
against enemies,
but I don’t try to harm them;
I focus on achieving my own joy and happiness.

Living is like playing an instrument
and the instrument is me:
Soul, mind and body.
My soul wields my mind-body
to play notes (do activities)
which harmonise (are adaptive)
with the melodies (opportunities for joy and happiness)
I discover within Destiny.

I take responsibility
for leading
my relationships
towards joy and happiness
for me and the other person.

I have been a fool
all my life,
lacking the wisdom
to achieve joy and happiness
in my environment.
But Destiny
by confronting me
with dangers and difficulties,
hurts, harms and losses,
is beating me into shape,
impelling me towards wisdom.

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would government
strive to achieve
the joy and happiness
of every citizen?
Would leaders
feel compassion
for the joy and happiness
of every citizen?
Would every citizen
feel compassion
for the joy and happiness
of every other citizen?

Is civility
a good-willed politeness
to other people?

Is the benefit of being civil
to a person I disagree with
that I maintain
my joy and happiness
and the other person’s joy and happiness?