"Wisdom is the breath of the power of God, and in all ages entering into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and prophets"
- Ralph Waldo Trine, In Tune with The Infinite

HAPPINESS
Etched forever in my mind is the picture of the late Princess Diana being interviewed by Barbara Walters some years ago. Her body language was that of a little girl from deep rural Jamaica entering a television studio for the first time, shy and feeling intimidated and completely out of place, but it was her obvious unhappiness that remains with me.

Now here was someone who had it all - beauty (assuming you accept the Eurocentric standard of beauty and even if you don't); fame and wealth, and a Princess to boot, having married one of, if not the world's most eligible bachelor, but somehow, that was not enough.

The story of the wife of the present Japanese Emperor does not sound like a happy one either, pressured, by the Royal household, because she has been unable, to date, to produce a male heir to the throne.

Sir Francis of Assisi, son of the richest cloth merchant in his city, at age twenty-five gave up his life of wealth and the pursuit of pleasure in partying for a life of poverty. He was punished severely by his Father for making such a choice.

He emerged from days of prayer in solitude, during which he bewailed his past sins and asked God to show him the way, in peace for God had delivered him from uncertainty and had enlightened him.

He was so brimming with joy, we are told, that no one could help noticing it. As he could neither explain his joy nor contain it, he would put people off by talking about the peerless princess whom he hoped to wed. This princess was Lady Poverty!

Og Mandino, in his book, The Choice says that there is a better way to live!

"I choose a better way to live!
Henceforth, my pursuit of happiness had ended.
How blind I have been! Now I know that happiness hides not in that new house, that new career, that new friend. And it is never for sale. When I cannot find contentment in myself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. Whenever I depend on things outside myself to supply me with joy I am doomed to disappointment.

Happiness, I see now, has nothing to do with getting. It consists of being satisfied with what I've got and what I haven't got. Few things are necessary to make the wise man happy while no amount of material wealth would satisfy a fool... So long as I have something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for, I shall be happy. Now I know that the only source of happiness is within me, and I will begin to share it. Like a perfume, I know that I cannot pour it on others without getting a few drops on myself!"

A Quiet Heart
Meditation for Your Quiet Time. Those Quiet Moments in Your Special Silent Place
"Discontent is the want of self-reliance: it is infirmity of will...
Men have looked away from themselves and at things so long that they have come to esteem the religious, learned, and civil institutions as guards of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they feel them to be assaults on property.

They measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is... Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self-Reliance

Marjorie Stair is an agriculture and rural development specialist. She hosts the programme 'Country Road' on Power 106 Fridays at 6:30 am. Send questions or comments by e-mail to loyal@cwjamaica.com, fax to 968-2025, or call 511-2502 to leave a 30-second voicemail message.

Executive Class

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