{"id":754,"date":"2011-10-07T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thequeenofmyself\/?p=754"},"modified":"2011-10-01T18:05:54","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T22:05:54","slug":"happiness-%e2%80%94-a-work-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2011\/10\/happiness-%e2%80%94-a-work-in-progress.html","title":{"rendered":"Happiness \u2014 A Work in Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

I see “Begin Again” as an ideal theme for this season. We have the supreme opportunity now in the autumn of our midlife to begin again. How shall we reinvent our Selves? What new programs, projects and passions are on the horizon for us? Please send me your stories of change, transition, and transformation. Our shared experiences serve to inspire and empower us all.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks. <\/em><\/p>\n

xxQueen Mama Donna<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Happiness \u2014 A Work in Progress<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Sister Joan Chittister<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Happiness, I have learned, is a work in progress.<\/p>\n

We become happy by learning to appreciate what we have as well as to achieve what we want.<\/p>\n

We become happy by cultivating the highest levels of human response in ourselves\u2014in the arts, culture, creativity, understanding, productivity, and purpose.<\/p>\n

We become happy by concentrating on the gifts of life rather than obsessing over its possible pitfalls.<\/p>\n

We become happy by refusing to allow externals to be the measure of the acme of our souls. “Those who have cattle,” the Kenyans teach us, “have care.”<\/p>\n

We become happy by refusing to be beguiled by accumulation or power or pure utilitarianism, by power or excess or withdrawal fron the great encounters with life.<\/p>\n

We become happy by defining a purpose in life and pursuing it with all the heart that is in us, with all the energy we have.<\/p>\n

Finally, we must learn to keep our eye on happiness rather than simply on pleasure. It is the confusion of the two that endangers the goal.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Donna Henes is the author of The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife<\/em><\/a>. She is the Midlife Midwife\u2122 offering counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity.<\/p>\n

Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE\u2122: http:\/\/www.donnahenes.net\/queen\/consult.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to thequeenofmyself@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I see “Begin Again” as an ideal theme for this season. We have the supreme opportunity now in the autumn of our midlife to begin again. How shall we reinvent our Selves? What new programs, projects and passions are on the horizon for us? 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