I strive
with optimism
for the achievement
of my aspirations
to achieve joy and happiness.

Everything which I have
can be taken away
by Destiny.

Everything which I am
can be diminished
until the total ceasing of me
by Destiny.

Acceptance
of how Destiny is happening
brings peace of mind.

When I fear to say
to myself
what I fear to say
to others,
I insist on expressing
in the privacy
of my own mind
what I feel and think;
and I remind myself
that self-awareness
of my emotions and thoughts
enables me
to evaluate my level of happiness
and strive to improve
my level of happiness.

Is luck
Destiny bringing situations
which provide opportunities
for achieving
joy and happiness?

In my striving to achieve
joy and happiness,
I find it useful
to study carefully
all the hundreds of cultures
of the world
to discover
how each culture
achieves joy and happiness
in their own unique way.
For example:
What food do they eat
to achieve nutrition-joy and taste-joy?
What music do they listen to
to achieve music-joy?
How do they dance
to achieve dance-joy?
How do they govern themselves
to achieve a joyful and happy society?
How do they feel and think
to achieve joy and happiness?

Do I need privacy
when my emotions and thoughts
are flowing
and I need to express my self
to my self
to become self-aware?
Yes I do need privacy!

Does our Hello-Poetry website
enable poets
from all around the world
to read each other’s poetry
and develop cross-cultural understanding
thereby facilitating global peace?

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.

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?

Does compassion
involve feeling duty
to achieve the joy and happiness
of myself
and others?

Does compassion
involve being dutiful
in striving
to achieve the joy and happiness
of myself
and others?

I am defective
but I am striving
to improve my self
into my ideal self.

I am flawed
but I am striving
to correct my self
into my ideal self.

I am unhappy
but I am striving
to improve my self
into optimal
joy and happiness.

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?

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?

I write poetry
to express
my joyful and happy feelings,
and so I can feel joy and happiness
when I read my poem,
and so others can feel joy and happiness
when they read my poem.

When bitterness bites my heart
with anger, resentment, hurt
and a sense of unjust treatment,
what should I do?

Does it soothe my heart
to accept what has happened
as Destiny?

Does it soothe my heart
to strive to discover
what I can do
to improve my situation
to increase my joy and happiness?

Warm sunlight on my face,
warm sunlight on my arms and feet;
my body feels warm all over
but cooling in the summer breeze;
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

As I walk along the sand
with the bottom of my feet
I feel
the bumps in the sand
I feel
the fine coarse sand
on my skin
squishing in-between my toes,
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

As I wade across the water
I feel
the cool waves wash my feet,
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

Walking my favourite beach
I feel
the warm-but-cooling summer breeze through my hair,
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

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.

Is joyful and happy
love
never brutal
and always kind?

There comes a time at night
when I am too tired to pretend
to be what others want me to be
and can be only myself;
late night is a time
when it is easier to discover
who I am.

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 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?

Surrounded by a turbulent world,
by introspective-philosophy
I strive to achieve
peace of mind.

I want a cigarette
but I need to stop smoking
to improve my health
and optimise 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.

Is hate
the opposite of compassion?
Is hate
the motivation to malevolence
instead of caring
for the joy and happiness of others?
Is hate
the motivation to harm
instead of helping
others to be joyful and happy?

Does hating others
stress me,
traumatise me,
and make me unhappy?
Yes it does.
Therefore,
should I avoid
hating others
to increase my joy and happiness?
Yes I should.

Does hating another
make the target of hate
unhappy?
Yes it does.
Therefore,
is a society
in which some people hate
other people
an unhappy society?
Yes it is.

In a joy-and-happiness-society
should every person avoid
hating others
to increase joy and happiness
for themself
and everyone in society?

In a joy-and-happiness-society
should people who disagree
retain compassion for each other?

In a joyful and happy society
should every person
who works 5 days a week
be paid enough
to buy all the products and services they need
to live a joyful and happy life?

Is each of us unique?
And yet,
are we all the same
as deep down
we are all
striving for joy and happiness?

Therefore, can we
cooperate
to facilitate each others'
joy and happiness?

Enjoying the experience
of loving
and being loved
is one of the privileges
of being alive.

In solitude
I can focus
on doing introspective-philosophy
to calmly increase self-awareness
and patiently improve my emotions and thoughts
until I am joyful and happy
with the content of my mind
and the process of my mind.

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?

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

I am happier
interacting with
happy people;
I am unhappier
interacting with
unhappy people.

Therefore,
when I make others
unhappier,
I make myself unhappier
by giving myself
unhappy people to interact with;
when I make others
happier,
I make myself happier
by giving myself
happy people to interact with.

Every person
in the world
is deserving
of care:
care for their feelings
care for their health and well-being
care for their self-actualisation
care for what they need to function optimally
care for their joy and happiness.

Is ‘wisdom’
the principles
of how to live
in an optimally joyful and happy way?

I just read the first page
of James Joyce’s ‘novel’
Finnegan’s Wake;
Joyce makes up new words
and uses so many new words
that I could not comprehend
what Joyce had written.

Should authors make effort
to use words
which their audience
can understand?

When I accept
the unhappinesses
of the moment,
my mind can be at peace
and my mind can be ready
to enjoy
the happinesses
of the moment.

When the world feels
like one big maze
full of twists and turns
and mostly dead ends,
I take  time-out
to do philosophy
which clarifies
my emotions and thoughts
and progresses my mind
towards the wisdom
I need to improve my situation
to increase my joy and happiness.

When striving
for joy and happiness
becomes fatigue with stress,
do I need
rest and rejuvenation?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would we work
at an optimal
joy-and-happiness
pace?

When it feels
like my mind
is falling apart,
do I need
rest and rejuvenation
meditation and
philosophy
to consolidate
my emotions and thoughts
and achieve peace of mind
and clarity of thinking
so I can be more effective
at striving
for joy and happiness?

The so-called philosopher
Friedrich Nietzche writes:
"Wherever I found a living thing,
there found I Will to Power ...
to the stronger the weaker shall serve".

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would every person
be compassionate and cooperative
to every other person
instead of domineering and exploitative?
To achieve joy and happiness
in society
must we be
not domineering and exploitative
but compassionate and cooperative?

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?

Is living
striving to achieve
our ideals
of a joyful and happy life?

Is the purpose of living
to experience
joy and happiness
in the present-moment?
If so,
find an activity you enjoy
and enjoy it!
For example,
is eating tasty nutritious food enjoyable?
Enjoy it!
Is talking a walk in a park enjoyable?
Enjoy it!
Is romancing a person you love enjoyable?
Enjoy it!
Search for activities to enjoy
and enjoy it!

Is ‘justice’
the principles of a society
in which every person
is joyful and happy?

What does it mean
when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
says we should
‘act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood’?

Should we be peacefully cooperating
to achieve our mutual happiness?

Quiet solitude
is freedom
from others' demands,
is freedom
from the noises of the world.

In quiet solitude
I can focus introspectively
on my emotions and thoughts,
becoming more self-aware,
and discovering
how to improve my mind-functioning
towards optimal joy and happiness.

A mother is dragging her toddler
through a supermarket aisle
on a shopping trip
and toddler says “Mom, I’m tired”
and mother says
“Be quiet, you’re being abnormal!”

A worker says to his boss
“I’ve discovered a bright idea
for how to improve our workplace”
and the boss says “I’m the boss,
be quiet, you’re being abnormal!”

A politician says
to protesters against his policies
“Stop protesting, be quiet, you’re being abnormal!”

A hurting patient says to his doctor
“Doctor, I don’t like the treatment
you have chosen for me.”
And the doctor says
“This is the normal treatment for your condition,
be quiet, you are being abnormal!”

When authority makes the norms,
should we allow
freedom of abnormal speech?
To achieve
for subjects of authority
a society which listens,
a society which cares for needs,
a society which is kind,
a society which is progressive,
a society which is happier?

When I am in pain
I have discovered
calmly introspecting
gains me self-awareness of my pain,
and helps me achieve acceptance
of how the pain is happening;
and then calmly expressing my pain
in words
enables further self-awareness of my pain,
diminishes the psychological-energy of the pain,
and helps me endure the pain
calmly.
Is it the same way for you?

"Life has its ups and downs"
someone said, and I thought
up and down is a state of mind:
our minds make meanings
of an unknown Destiny
to decide
how happy or unhappy
we should be.
And happiness is complex:
we are happy
about various situations to different degrees,
while being unhappy
about various situations to different degrees.
And unhappiness doesn't necessarily mean 'down':
Is there an experience of joyful-unhappiness?:
when we decide to be unhappy about a situation
while joyfully striving to improve the situation
to increase our joy and happiness.