One Family’s Recipe for Happiness

• 1 cup of patience
• 5 cups of optimism
• 3 cups of unconditional love
• Sprinkled with a passion for your career

I spent the first two days of this week at the strangest funeral I’ve ever been to. 

Everyone was smiling, laughing, telling hilarious stories, eating great food, and embracing distant friends as if they were family.  I’m not even going to call it a funeral because it wasn’t.   It was a huge celebration of an amazing man’s life. 

This man is my boyfriend’s grandfather.  He lived until 92. He was married for 64 years to a woman he was madly in love with until the end.  He had 8 children, 34 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.  He was larger than life. He had a great (and sometimes crass) sense of humor and he LOVED his career in sales.  I mean it when I say that he positively influenced everyone who came into his life.

I came back to work on Wednesday after two full days of being with this huge and wonderful family.  I was more rejuvenated from these two days than I have ever been in my life. 

I want to continue the flow of positive energy by sharing a few of the reminders I got from attending this celebration.  These are very basic concepts but in the thick of life, it’s good to be reminded of them.

• Life is a lot simpler than we make it. Unconditional love and a positive attitude are the foundation of a good life.
• I know for a fact that living your life with a career you love is the best way to live it.  It sets the back drop for the rest of your life and brings happiness to you each day.  I loved hearing all the positive stories from people who had worked with “grandpops” over the years, sharing his zest for sales.
• If you love your career, it positively influences everything you do.  Hopefully you’ll also be good at it and so you can amply provide for your family. How else would this man be able to raise 8 kids and always have a smile on his face?!
• Family is a person’s greatest asset.  Family provides endless returns of personal “wealth.”  It means nothing if your family doesn’t love you.
• Accepting and embracing other people wholly without judgement is so much more fulfilling than not.  Care about the people you meet.  Get to know them.
• No hurdle is as big as you make it. 

The two days I experienced cannot be duplicated in a blog post.  You’d have to be there to believe and feel the amount of positive energy in every room. It was electric. Let’s keep it going.

• How do you want to be remembered?
• How has the loss of an important person changed your life?
• Do you think career happiness leads to happiness in other areas of your life?