By
Bob Cox
I
just finished writing what I thought was a very compelling and
thoughtful article and then I made the stupid decision to share it
with my wife Diana, who of course hated it. She said its spring and
we need a fun and light hearted article that makes people happy, not
something dark and depressing. You should write about joy, the new
happy song and the two positive insights you have shared from the
bucket movie. After careful consideration, I begrudgingly agreed that
I would go ahead and write about joy and all that other stuff, but I
was not happy about it!
So,
what exactly is the happy song, the bucket movie and the two positive
insights Diana is referring to? Pharrell Williams is the writer and
singer of the mega-hit song called “Happy”, which he performed at
the 2014 N.B.A. All Star Game. Happy was released just over two
months ago in the movie “Despicable Me 2” and has already
garnered nearly 6 million views on You Tube and topped the charts is
15 countries. Diana absolutely loves the song and she shared it with
one of her friend’s today and it brought her tears of, you guessed
it…joy!
Speaking
of joy, I found myself quoting a line to my son Bobby who was in an
unusually dark mood one day, from one of our favorite movies’, “The
Bucket List”, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The
movie’s story is about two terminally ill elderly men sharing a
hospital room. Against everyone’s advice, they decide to throw
caution to the wind and take a trip around the world together with a
list of things to do before they “kicked the bucket”. In one
scene, Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) shares a powerful insight
with his buddy Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), a supremely confident
self made man who built a billion dollar company from scratch, but is
desperately lacking a sense of peace and contentment. Chambers makes
Cole really ponder and reflect on his life after he makes the most
profound statement in the movie. Of course, when someone as regal
looking as Morgan Freeman, who also possesses a voice that makes
Barry White sound like a soprano speaks, everything he says sounds
like a commandment from God. “Thou shall not steal and oh yeah,
pass the butter”!
In a nutshell, here’s what
Chambers tells Cole: “You know, the ancient Egyptians had a
beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to
heaven, the guards asked two questions. Their answers determined
whether they were able to enter or not. “Have you found joy in your
life? Has your life brought joy to others?”
The
more I think about that simple and powerful statement, the more it
resonates with me. As I grow older, I have been experiencing joy more
and more, in spite of all the compelling reasons I should be more
stressed out. After all, my bucket shaped clock is ticking louder
than ever and I have been growing and losing hair in all the wrong
places while accumulating more pounds than a British bank! I’m
learning to laugh at the man in the mirror, which is getting easier
to do for all the aforementioned reasons and there’s a refreshing
freedom associated with taking myself and life a little less
seriously. I’m also experiencing more joy as I have discovered how
liberating it is to make choices without fear of diminishing my self
worth and confidence. I like to believe that the joy I’m
experiencing, even in the simplest of moments, is also enhancing the
joy of the people I love. If that is the case, the only thing I can
feel is, you guessed it…joy!
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