I am
40 revolutions
around the Sun
today.

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.

Acceptance
of what I discover
my self to be
brings me peace of mind.

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.

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.

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 accept that my emotions are happening
because my emotions are happening
and I cannot escape my emotions;
if I try to deny my emotions
they will fester and boil
and make me mad;
so I accept that my emotions are happening,
and I accept the content of my emotions;
then I evaluate the content of my emotions
and by philosophy improve my emotions
until I have achieved wisdom and virtue,
joy and happiness.

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.

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.

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would high-quality healthcare
be made available to every person
free of cost
or at least affordably?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would high-quality housing
be made available to every person
affordably
or even free of cost?

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.

Does my joy and happiness
increase
when I appreciate
opportunities for joy and happiness
in my current situation?

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?

Should architecture
be stimulating
and pleasing
to the mind and heart?

I resist
the temptation
to become fond
of politicians
who entertain me
with clever lines
said with likeable energetic-charisma;

Instead,
I do my best
to evaluate
how a politician’s policy-proposals
will affect
the joy and happiness
of myself
and others in society.

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

Does it brings peace of mind
to accept
what is happening
within Destiny
in the present-moment?

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?

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.

Optimistically
striving to achieve
my joy and happiness
makes me cheerful.

Are we all
suffering?
Some of us suffering more?
Some of us suffering less?

Does being kind
to suffering
reduce the suffering
and increase happiness?
Yes it does.

Am I happier
when I am suffering less?
Yes.
Therefore,
to optimise my joy and happiness
should I be kind
to my suffering?
Yes I should.

Am I happier
when others around me
are suffering less
and are more happy?
Yes I am.
Therefore,
should I be kind
to other people's suffering
to make them happier?
Yes I should.

To optimise our joy and happiness
should we be kind
to each other’s
suffering?

In a joy-and-happiness-society
would every person
be kind
to every other person’s
suffering?

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.

I am
writing
poetry
on Hello-Poetry
and I am
Bell-Happy
when I get
a Bell.

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?

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?

I never blame myself:
I accept
what has happened
in the past
as Destiny,
over which I have no control.
I focus
on improving my self
in the present-moment
to achieve
the wisdom and virtue
to improve my situation
to increase my joy and happiness.

An uncompassionate crowd of 20,000
are tensely sitting in a stadium
bloodthirstily waiting for a cruel spectacle
they call a ‘bulllfight’
which is actually a ‘bull-harass-and-****’.
This brutal bloodsport
is celebrated as a national artform
in Spain
so the matadors (bullfighters) strut around proudly
in their suits of golden thread
to loud cheers and excited applause.

The bull, frightened suffering,
is harassed and killed in three stages:

The first stage is called ‘tercio de varas’
‘the lancing third’
when armoured-horse mounted lancers
use a long sharp lance
to spear the bull behind his shoulder muscles
to weaken the bull’s neck muscles
and begin the bull’s loss of blood;

The second stage is called ‘tercio de banderillas’
‘the third of banderillas’
when the matador attacks the bleeding-weakening bull
with banderillas (sharp barbed sticks)
stabbing the banderillas above the shoulder blades of the bull
to anger and agitate
the frightened bull fighting for his life.

The third stage is called ‘tercio de muerte’
‘the third of death’
when the matador baits the bull
with a red cape
then stabs the bull with a steel sword
aiming for his heart
but often missing
leaving the bull suffering multiple stab-wounds
bleeding, slowly miserably dying.

I wonder
when will this barbaric bull-harass-and-****
be banned in all nations?

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

When you need to sleep
but remain awake,
what do you do?

Acceptance
that experience is continuously changing
brings peace of mind.

Acceptance
that I must make continuous effort
to respond to continuously changing experience
brings peace of mind.

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

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?

Sharon posts a photo of her new baby
on social-media and
Nasty-Jim comments
“That’s an ugly baby!”
Sharon feels shocked, insulted, appalled.
She hugs her baby protectively,
feeling hurt.

Sharon posts a photo of her new baby
on social-media and
Civil-Sheryl comments
“Congratulations on your beautiful baby!”
Sharon feels joyful and happy.
She hugs her baby warmly
kisses him on the head
and says “I love you little one”.

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society,
would we all
have compassion
and empathy
for each other?

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.

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?

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.

Is living
more joyful and happy
when I am
doing what I can
from where I am
with what I have
to achieve joy and happiness?

I am eating
slices of delicious
Danish Havarti Cheese:
smooth
creamy
nutritious with calcium and protein;
my tongue is enjoying the taste
my stomach is enjoying the nutrition.

I am laying in bed
looking out my window
experiencing
the black sky
change
to lighter blue
and I hope
this new day
brings joys and happiness.

When I predict my death will happen
sooner or later,
I re-focus on enjoying the present-moment;
I re-focus on discovering opportunities
for joy and happiness
in my current situation;
I re-focus on discovering opportunities
to improve my current situation
to increase my joy and happiness
in the present-moment.

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.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
says we all should have equal dignity,
but is that the way we think
in everyday life?

I live in a big house in wealthy suburb
and you live in a small house in a poor suburb:
Should I have more dignity than you?
Or should we have the equal dignity of fellow human-beings?

I drive an expensive sports car
and you drive a second-hand sedan:
Should I have more dignity than you?
Or should we have the equal dignity of fellow human-beings?

I wear a bespoke suit
and you wear an off-the-rack:
Should I have more dignity than you?
Or should we have the equal dignity of fellow human-beings?

I like to enjoy washing dishes
so it doesn’t become a chore,
as living is for enjoying
and I seek to enjoy every moment
of being alive,
even washing dishes!

But how to enjoy washing dishes?
I focus
on enjoying the experience
of the present-moment,
like meditation.
I enjoy cleaning my dishes
to protect me from disease
and keep me healthy.
I enjoy the feeling
of warm water on my hands
as I rinse the dishes before washing.
I enjoy the rhythm and sound of squeaking
the sponge makes as it scrubs the dishes.
I enjoy feeling
the smooth texture
of the ceramic dishes.
I enjoy exploring the shape
of every dish with my hands as I wash.
I enjoy
seeing my reflection
in the stainless-steel spoons
as I wash
enjoying the experience.

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?

My hot steaming coffee
is wafting a beautiful flavour
into my nose
and I feel energised
as I breathe in.
Sipping my coffee
is a delectable experience:
Nutty, fruity, sweet with milk.

My coffee
tastes beautiful,
energises me
and is good milky nutrition.

When I am
thirsty
I drink
pure cool water
and I feel
"aaahhh!!!"
a relief of thirst;

I feel
Drinking-Water-Joy,
I feel
Drinking-Water-Joy-Happy.

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?