Thang Nguyen 555

Gretchen Rubin of Yale Law took a year off for her project. Turns out, she named her book, a bestseller, ” The Happiness Project”.

Habit of Happiness seems untimely, given what we have put up with so far this year (10 straight months). According to some studies, a new habit can be acquired in 66 straight days, uninterrupted. Bruce Lee was known for his quote “I am not afraid of some opponents who hit hard out of the ball park. I am worried about those who kick the same way a thousand times.”

Happiness curve shapes like a hyperbole: steadily inch up, peak, then decline. That explains why we need to jump the curve, to get new toys for Christmas and rinse/repeat.

If Bruce Lee and Gretchen Rubin were both correct, we can “kick the sh*t” out of happiness. Wifully and relentlessly. When something “unhappy” get in the mix, just tune it out. When something resembles happiness, walks like one, quacks like one, let it in. Build no wall around ourselves. Nothing hindered. Nothing to hide. Be transparent with yourself and happiness will find you. Happiness and habit. Two horsemen. Both inside us.

Build for ourselves that habit not just one year, not just during the pandemic year. But year round and repeat it next Year. No resolution. Just rinse and repeat.

66 days straight. Just start living with happines; start small. A Good Morning smile to yourself (after shave, for me). Check in with yourself: How am I doing?

Step on the scale, watch your weight and diet. Drink moderately and surround yourself with happiness coaches. The kindness conspiracy.

Just like a gang who plot bad things, we can gang up for good things.

That’s how benevolent society came into being. People found happiness in investing in others’. Part of the Golden Rule.

Happiness can be willed into being. After all, it’s not the absence of sorrow or sadness. It stands on its own and grows to overshadow sorrow. Happiness is a curve, but you can jump to the next curve near peak. One can get a black belt in Happiness just as in Hapkido.

Just have to practice and make it an ingrained habit. Born into sorrow, but die in happiness. Our choice. And it doesn’t require a Yale Law degree to “get” this.

My grandma used to look forward to her monthly pension. More than often, she asked me to accompany her. An old dame and her grandson, boarding a bus in busy and bustling Saigon streets. We held each other’s hand and secured each of our step – Bus Central across from Central Market – while watching the driver watching us.

When her money belt was full with cash and change, we went home. That was after a stop at street vendor foods. Happiness and that monthly routine. We did not have much money, but my memory was flushed with happy times. With connection to previous generation, and how they viewed material things. My grandma sent me across the street often. For her pint of rice wine. Then she laughed afterwards when the alcohol kicked in.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Next month, out of habit, she asked “would you go with me to the Pension Office”? Habit of happiness.