Sister Mary Vodka and Pope Francis team up with their tips for happiness.
In last week’s blog post I shared the “gratitude jar” strategy with you in order to promote happiness. I found that this daily routine:
-builds positivity,
– sets up the unconscious mind for a “grateful” nights sleep, pushing worry aside, and
-acts as a visual reminder to stay positive.
Although Pope Francis did not list Sister Mary Vodka’s gratitude jar in his top ten, I bet he would agree. Thought you might enjoy what Pope Francis gave as his top 10 pieces of advice to happiness. As reported by “Viva” Argentine Weekly Press July 2014 (Translated by Catholic News Service)
Contrary to David Letterman’s top 10, I’m going to start with #1:
- The English equivalent of “live and let live”. Move forward and let others do the same.
- “Be giving of yourself to others.”
- “Proceed calmly” in life
- A healthy sense of leisure. Turn off TV to communicate with family members during meals
- Sundays should be holidays. “Sunday is for family”.
- Need to be creative in putting young people to work so they will not turn to drugs.
- Respect and care for the environment.
- Stop being negative.
- Don’t proselytize, respect others’ beliefs.
- Work for peace. Peace is not quiet, peace is always proactive and dynamic.
Pope Francis indeed provides a breath of fresh air to rethinking happiness for many of us. His open embracing of diversity will certainly reach out from behind the Church doors. Acceptance and love of yourself, family and others resonates with a sure road to happiness.
Perhaps some little known facts about Pope Francis:
-was once a high school literature teacher.
-first Jesuit Pope
– worked as a bouncer
-one of five children according to abc news
-travels by minvan bus rather than limo
-He has only has one lung! He had a lung removed due to infection when he was a teenager
-often times cooks his own meals
-in 2001, he washed the feet of 12 patients with AIDS at an Argentine hospice
-as a young man, he enjoyed dancing the tango with a girlfriend, before discovering his “religious vocation”
-once owned an expensive Hardley-Davidson motorcycle. He autographed it, auction it off making over $320,000 for a soup kitchen and homeless
-rises daily at 4:30 a.m. beginning his day with praying the breviary and Mass
-after being elected pope, he chose to remain on the same level with the other cardinals, rejecting his seat on the papal throne
Let’s put this new Church leadership in our “gratitude jars”…..
What builds your happiness? Please leave a comment below to share our successful strategies.
