Happiness and Doing

Hafto re-post this one, via an interview with Swiss Miss on The Happiness Project; It is a quote / motto she cited that inspires and instructs:

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”***

Here is another wonderful bit– inspiring! (from the interview)

I think I have always been a pretty happy person, an optimist at heart. But ever since I started my own company my happiness level has gone way up. And since I started saying no to clients (9 months ago) and am only working on my own products and services, my happiness level has even more increased. Being my own boss is definitely a happiness catalyst.

 

(Re-post from interview: *** Update: A reader asked me for the source for the Goethe quotation above. I’ve often read it attributed to Goethe, but when I looked for the actual original source, I discovered that it may actually have been written by Haim Ginott. I wasn’t able to find an authoritative source either way, but the fact that I wasn’t able to find it in Goethe suggests to me that perhaps it’s not his work. If anyone knows, please post.)