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BBHQ Boomer Essays: |
| Our Boomer-In-Charge here at BBHQ, Hershel Chicowitz, writes frequently about current events... from a boomer perspective. He is sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes a little of each. We hope you get a kick out of our Boomer Essays. |
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I have always had the greatest admiration for Abraham Lincoln. He
is one of the all-time greats in my mind. I read everything I could
about Abraham Lincoln... read everything he wrote... clung to every word
he spoke... until one day I read that, when asked about happiness,
President Lincoln had said, "I reckon a man is about as happy as he sets
himself out to be." This totally confounded me. How can you choose to be happy? Can you choose to be sad? Can you choose to be elated? Can you choose to be depressed? I was always convinced that you cannot. You felt happy... or sad... or whatever. You can control what you do in response to how you feel, but you cannot control how you feel. I was convinced of it. You feel however you feel. Period. This dilemma between the words of a man I placed on such a high pedestal and my deep conviction plagued me for decades -- not every day, mind you. I did have a life, of sorts. But it bugged me, in the back of my mind. I could not shake it.
 The Seven Decisions Recently I was listening to a motivational speaker on a PBS pledge drive special program. Oh, I had heard most all of them: Og Mandino, Norman Vincent Peale, Leo Buscaglia, Anthony Roberts, Zig Ziglar... their spiel was all pretty much the same: interesting, true, but not especially inspiring... not to me. There was nothing new in what they said.
(No, wait... that last one is Geritol's; skip that one.) No, Andy admitted that people cannot simply snap their fingers and choose to be happy. "It's a little more complicated than that," he acknowledged. But then he zeroed in on the target: "I do believe that somebody can choose to be grateful, and that happiness is a product of gratefulness." Andy went on to list a whole bunch of things for which we, as Americans in the 21st century, can be grateful... things for which we MUST be grateful. Well, gees; that is easy and obvious to me. Then Andy explained how essential being grateful is to being happy. And this is the line that got me: "The seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart." "Happiness is a product of gratefulness." Wow! I admit; there are been times in my life that I have had fewer things about which to be grateful that I would have liked. But the point is still valid. It is worth repeating: "The seeds of depression cannot take root in a grateful heart." "Happiness is a product of gratefulness." (Why, heck... among the lesser things I'll bet you're grateful for is that you were not camped out in a pup-tent Wednesday night in front of the local Best Buy, waiting in line to buy a Playstation3.)
Success Breeds Success Andy went on to explain the connection between success (financial, physical, emotional) and the steps one takes to be happy. Success breeds success; it is contagious. People who exude happiness are fun to be with. Successful people want to be with them. Whiners are not fun to be with.
Successful people take no pleasure in being with the whiners. So, by their focus and their actions, unhappy people limit their opportunities for success. Indeed, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
OK, this is not a sales pitch; I'm not fronting for Andy Andrews. But you can buy the DVD of his PBS show ("The 7 Decisions") or the book ("The Traveler's Gift") that inspired the PBS show. Click either graphic to order straight from Amazon.com. (Each is less than $15):
They really are great gifts... for anyone on your list.
And, in Closing
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Exploring My Roots: A Chicowitz History
Membership details here.
Terrific boomer memorabilia!!
Remember this?
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If you like what we're doing here at BBHQ, please help us by buying stuff through our link to Amazon.com:
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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