The Importance of Living (7)

33 Moments of Happiness
Thoughts from Madison Nef
This chapter of the book was just these 33 moments of happiness… they were written by a man and his friend when they got stuck in a temple for 10 days due to bad weather. While they take up most of the paper, I included them all because I think they are a great example of, once again, the little things in life and how important and significant they are. I am going to include these 33 moments of happiness, but I am also going to write my own 33 and ALSO: I challenge my readers to make a list of 33 little things that make them happy and leave it in a comment below.
1) Jumping barefoot into rain puddles while it is thundering and lightning out.
2) Walking in the woods on a cold day in the fall, listening to the birds and other animals.
3) Finding a radio station in the car that plays non-stop techno music.
4) Long, deep talks with Dad when I get depressed or feel lonely.
5) Talking to my friends and feeling their support and knowing that they care about me.
6) Turning somersaults in the cold lake water with my sister during the summer.
7) Burning incense outside and sitting on my rock, thinking about everything.
8) Sitting quietly in the living room with my family, watching the wood stove fire burn out.
9) Staying up until 1:00 playing the name game with my family.
10) The feeling of relief after beating a hard boss in a game.
11) The clarity that comes from writing emotional poetry.
12) Walking along the beach with my dad and sister, collecting seashells.
13) Attempting to tackle my mom when I was little, and never succeeding.
14) Spinning in a circle for five minutes, then collapsing and watching the ceiling spin.
15) Feeling shivers crawl up my spine while reading a book.
16) Looking at my best friend and knowing that we are thinking the same thing.
17) The first sip of a cold drink on a hot day in summer.
18) The taunting smell of pizza as you struggle through a hard workout in karate.
19) Whirlpool baths in the Jacuzzi after a hard black belt test.
20) The feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes after a black belt test.
21) Finishing the icing on a cake and seeing that it is completely smooth, with no ridges.
22) Watching others smile and enjoy the food you made.
23) Talking to my dog, knowing that he doesn’t judge me and will never tell my secrets.
24) Hugs from my sister when I feel down.
25) Going to an empty park and being able to do whatever you want.
26) Picnics in the woods during the summer.
27) Listening to a song that describes my mood perfectly.
28) When I let my hair down after karate.
29) Watching my dog dive after a stick and going underwater.
30) Going through my memory box on nights when I can’t sleep.
31) The mini heart-attack you have right before a huge drop on a roller coaster.
32) Hugging my friends when they get down or upset.
33) When my sister flipped someone off at the mall and made me laugh…
Ah, is this not happiness?
Those are my 33 moments of happiness… when you write your 33, keep in mind that it can be little things OR big… but if you use a lot of big things, you are going to have a harder time deciphering the importance of the little things. Most of mine were little, but I threw in a couple of big things too. Just remember not to base your life and its worth off of “big” things because they so rarely happen… take time to look for the small joys in life and enjoy those instead. Then, when something big actually does come around it will make it that much more special, because instead of LOOKING for the big you waited, took your time, and enjoyed the little things.
Below are the original 33:
1. It is a hot day in June when the sun hangs still in the sky and there is not a whiff of wind in the air, nor a trace of clouds; the front and back yards are hot like an oven and not a single bird dares to fly about. Perspiration flows down my whole body in little rivulets. There is the noonday meal before me, but I cannot take it for the sheer heat. I ask for a mat to spread on the ground and lie down, but the mat is wet with moisture and flies swarm about to rest on my nose and refuse to be driven away. Just at this moment when I am completely helpless, suddenly there is a rumbling of thunder and big sheets of black clouds overcast the sky and come majestically on like a great army advancing to battle. Rain-water begins to pour down from the eaves like a cataract. The perspiration stops. The clamminess of the ground is gone. All flies disappear to hide themselves and I can eat my rice. Ah, is this not happiness?
2. A friend, one I have not seen for ten years, suddenly arrives at sunset. I open the door to receive him, and without asking whether he came by boat or by land, and without bidding him to sit on the bed or the couch, I go to the inner chamber and ask my wife: “Have you got a gallon of wine like Su Tungp’o's wife?” My wife gladly takes out her gold hairpin to sell it. I calculate it will last us three days. Ah, is this not happiness?
3. I am sitting alone in an empty room and I am just getting annoyed at a little mouse at the head of my bed, and wondering what that little rustling sound signifies – what article of mine he is biting or what volume of my books he is eating up. While I am in this state of mind and don’t know what to do, I suddenly see a ferocious-looking cat, wagging its tail and staring with its wide-open eyes, as if it were looking at something. I hold my breath and wait a moment, keeping perfectly still, and suddenly with a little sound the mouse disappears like a whiff of wind. Ah, is this not happiness?
4. I have pulled out the hait’ang and chiching (flowering trees) in front of my studio, and have just planted ten or twenty green banana trees there. Ah, is this not happiness?
5. I am drinking with some romantic friends on a spring night and am just half intoxicated, finding it difficult to stop drinking and equally difficult to go on. An understanding boy servant at the side suddenly brings in a package of big fire-crackers, about a dozen in number, and I rise from the table and go and fire them off. The smell of sulphur assails my nostrils and enters my brain and I feel comfortable all over my body. Ah, is this not happiness?
6. I am walking in the street and see two poor rascals engaged in a hot argument of words with their faces flushed and their eyes staring with anger as if they were mortal enemies, and yet they still pretend to be ceremonious to each other, raising their arms and bending their waists in salute, and still using the most polished language of thou and thee and wherefore and is it not so? The flow of words is interminable. Suddenly there appears a big husky fellow swinging his arms and coming up to them, and with a shout tells them to disperse. Ah, is this not happiness?
7. To hear our children recite the classics so fluently, like the sound of water pouring from a vase. Ah, is this not happiness?
8. Having nothing to do after a meal I go to the shops and take a fancy to a little thing. After bargaining for some time, we still haggle about a small difference, but the shop-boy still refuses to sell it. Then I take out a little thing from my sleeve, which is worth about the same thing as the difference and throw it at the boy. The boy suddenly smiles and bows courteously saying, “Oh, you are too generous!” Ah, is this not happiness?
9. I have nothing to do after a meal and try to go through the things in some old trunks. I see there are dozens of IOUs from people who owe my family money. Some of them are dead and some still living, but in any case there is no hope of their returning the money. Behind people’s backs I put them together in a pile and make a bonfire of them, and I look up to the sky and see the last trace of smoke disappear. Ah, is this not happiness?
10. It is a summer's day. I go bareheaded and barefooted, holding a parasol, to watch young people singing Soochow fol-songs while treading the water-wheel. The water comes up over the wheel in a gushing torrent like molten silver or melting snow. Ah, is this not happiness?
11. I wake up in the morning and seem to hear someone in the house sighing and saying that last night someone died. I immediately ask to find out who it is, and learn that it is the sharpest, most calculating fellow in town. Ah, is this not happiness?
12. I get up early on a summer morning and see people sawing a large bamboo pole under a mat-shed, to be used as a water-pipe. Ah, is this not happiness?
13. It has been raining for a whole month and I lie in bed in the morning like one drunk or ill, refusing to get up. Suddenly I hear a chorus of birds announcing a clear day. Quickly I pull aside the curtain, push open a window and see the beautiful sun shining and glistening and the forest looks like it's having a bath. Ah, is this not happiness?
14. At night I seem to hear someone thinking of me in the distance. The next day I go to call on him. I enter his door and look about his room and see that this person is sitting at his desk, facing south, reading a document. He sees me, nods quietly and pulls me by the sleeve to make me sit down, saying, “Since you are here, come and look at this.” And we laugh and enjoy ourselves until the shadows on the walls have disappeared. He is feeling hungry himself and slowly asks me, “Are you hungry, too?" Ah, is this not happiness?
15. Without any serious intention of building a house of my own, I happened, nevertheless, to start building one because a little sum had unexpectedly come my way. From that day on, every morning and every night, I was told that I needed to buy timber and stone and tiles and bricks and mortar and nails. And I explored and exhausted every avenue of getting some money, all on account of this house, until I got sort of resigned to this state of things. One day, finally, the house is completed, the walls have been whitewashed and the floors swept clean; the paper windows have been pasted and scrolls and paintings are hung up on the walls. All the workmen have left, and my friends have arrived, sitting on different couches in order. Ah, is this not happiness?
16. I am drinking on a winter’s night, and suddenly note that the night has turned extremely cold. I push open the window and see that snowflakes come down the size of a palm and there are already three or four inches of snow on the ground. Ah, is this not happiness?
17. To cut with a sharp knife a bright green water-melon on a big scarlet plate of a summer afternoon. Ah, is this not happiness?
18. I have long wanted to become a monk, but was worried because I would not be permitted to eat meat. If, then, I could be permitted to eat meat publicly, why, then I could heat a basin of hot water, and with the help of a sharper razor, shave my head clean in a summer month! Ah, is this not happiness?
19. To keep three or four spots of eczema in a private part of my body and now and then to scald or bathe it with hot water behind closed doors. Ah, is this not happiness?
20. To find accidentally a handwritten letter of some old friend in a trunk. Ah, is this not happiness?
21. A poor scholar comes to borrow money from me, but is shy about mentioning the topic, and so he allows the conversation to drift along on other topics. I see his uncomfortable situation, pull him aside to a place where we are alone and ask him how much he needs. Then I go inside and give him the sum and after having done this, I ask him: “Must you go immediately to settle this matter or can you stay awhile and have a drink with me?” Ah, is this not happiness?
22. I am sitting in a small boat. There is a beautiful wind in our favour, but our boat has no sails. Suddenly there appears a big lorcha (tropical fish), coming along as fast as the wind. I try to hook on to the lorcha in the hope of catching on to it, and unexpectedly the hook does catch. Then I throw over a rope and we are towed along and I begin to sing the lines of Tu Fu: “The green makes me feel tender towards the peaks, and the red tells me there are oranges.” And we break out in joyous laughter. Ah, is this not happiness?
23. I have long been looking for a house to share with a friend but have not been able to find a suitable one. Suddenly, someone brings news that there is a house somewhere, not too big, but with only about a dozen rooms, and that it faces a big river with beautiful green trees around. I ask this man to stay for supper, and after the supper we go over together to have a look, having no idea what the house is like. Entering the gate, I see that there is a large vacant lot, and I say to myself, “I shall not have to worry about the supply of vegetables and melons henceforth.” Ah, is this not happiness?
24. A traveller returns home after a long journey, and he sees the old city gate and hears the women and children on both banks of the river talking in his own dialect. Ah, is this not happiness?
25. When a good piece of old porcelain is broken, you know there is no hope of repairing it. The more you turn it about and look at it, the more you are exasperated. I then hand it to the cook, and give orders that he shall never let that broken porcelain bowl come within my sight again. Ah, is this not happiness?
26. I am not a saint, and am therefore not without sin. In the night I did something wrong and I get up in the morning and feel extremely ill at ease about it. Suddenly I remember what is taught by Buddhism, that not to cover one’s sins is the same as repentance. So then I begin to tell my sin to the entire company around, whether they are strangers or my old friends. Ah, is this not happiness?
27. To watch someone writing big characters a foot high. Ah, is this not happiness?
28. To open the window and let a wasp out from the room. Ah, is this not happiness?
29. A magistrate orders the beating of the drum and calls it a day. Ah, is this not happiness?
30. To see someone’s kite-line broken. Ah, is this not happiness?
31. To see a wild prairie fire. Ah, is this not happiness?
32. To have just finished repaying all one’s debts. Ah, is this not happiness?
33. To read the Story of Curly-Beard (who gave up his house to a pair of eloping lovers then disappeared). Ah, is this not happiness?

The Importance of Living (6)

The Importance of… Laughing
Thoughts from Madison Nef
You may have noticed the title change of the paper- it’s only for this one chapter. In this chapter, Yutang talks about the importance of laughter and how it is used in life. He made a good point in the first paragraph about how so many dignitaries and leaders of countries always come off as serious- in pictures, they are never seen smiling or laughing but instead frowning or staring blankly at the camera/painter with no emotion at all. He makes it a point to say that almost all dignitaries do this- except for American presidents. Yutang says that he feels that maybe American citizens like to see their president smile, so therefore he smiles- but surely other countries want to see their leader happy as well!
I think the reason that more presidents smile is because our citizens have a higher amount of trust in the government than in other places. Since the president feels we already look up to and respect him, he feels no need to put on an intimidation act for us and is free to be himself, smiling and happy. Who wouldn’t be happy to be the president? Maybe in other countries, people don’t look up to their rulers in the same way and so the rulers feel that to get any respect, they must intimidate. This would account for all the sour faces and stiff, frowning and emotionless portraits.
Laughing is a very large part of life, from the day we are born until the day we die.  Laughing is a response often to joy or humor, but it is also a coping mechanism when one feels down or upset. Another theory states that laughter is a nervous reaction- for example, when a joke is told in a room of people it creates an inconsistency. Automatically the human brain will try to figure out what the inconsistency is, and upon realizing that it is harmless it will cause a person to laugh in relief. As Mack Sennet (actor and “King of Comedy” of his time) said, “when the audience is confused, it doesn’t laugh”.
In the end, I think it all comes down to acting and how much you want people to fear and respect you. Yutang says in the chapter that the best thing he had ever read about Hitler was that while he looked stern and strict in pictures and when delivering speeches, he was quite himself otherwise and was actually humorous. To keep fear in people, I think Hitler acted serious and grumpy- who wants to listen to or be afraid of someone who is always smiling and happy? That would be like fearing Santa Claus!
Yutang goes on to say that if the world’s greatest rulers were humorists, the world would be extremely peaceful- because with humor comes good sense and a reasonable spirit. Therefore, countries would be ruled by the calmest and logical people, and wars would not happen. To demonstrate his point, Yutang says to imagine a humorist representing the leaders of each country and putting them in a room together. No matter HOW HARD THEY TRIED, they would not be able to come up with a plan of war- they would be too light-hearted, happy, and calm.
I quite agree- if there was more humor in the world, it WOULD be a better place. Too often people are afraid to laugh and let their real spirits show for the fear of criticism, or loss of respect. In the end… who cares what other people think of you? Even if you are a dignitary… you shouldn’t have to put on an act. If people voted you in on account of your acting, then maybe you aren’t fit to be a dignitary at all. If you are going to try for something, try as yourself- not as the image that everyone wants to see.
Leave me a comment telling me your opinions on this… I’m done speaking mine.
Maddie