{"id":2342,"date":"2008-09-11T09:52:28","date_gmt":"2008-09-11T13:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifewithhappiness.com\/?p=119"},"modified":"2018-10-02T13:36:59","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T17:36:59","slug":"happiness-is-just-being-alive-and-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2008\/09\/happiness-is-just-being-alive-and-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Happiness is just being alive and well"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday I delivered two programs for employees at the Veterans Administration.\u00a0 This was the eve of the seventh anniversary of 9\/11, and signs up and down the hallways at the center reminded people of a memorial service to be held the next morning.<br \/>\nDuring lunch and after the program I got to mingle with a number of disabled veterans who were hanging around the recreation hall where we held the programs.\u00a0 Mostly it was older men in wheelchairs or using canes to get around, slowly.\u00a0 They just wanted to chat, and a fresh face like mine meant they could tell some of their stories to a new audience!\u00a0 I just listened&#8230;<br \/>\nAt the end of the day, after the staff departed and I was left to pack up my stuff, the old guys returned to reclaim their rec hall.\u00a0 I chatted with a couple of them as I shut down the sound system and stowed my laptop.\u00a0 I noticed a group of young kids jostling down the hall, and a couple of them spun off and into the hall.\u00a0 They started moving some chairs around, and I assumed they must be maintenance guys coming in to tear down and reset the room for the next event.<br \/>\nThen, I notice that one of them was missing an arm.<br \/>\nAnd another carried a significant limp &#8212; he was walking on a prosthesis.<br \/>\nI looked again.\u00a0 These guys were young.\u00a0 VERY young, by my standards.\u00a0 Younger than a couple of my own kids.\u00a0 They were also veterans, here to use the hall.\u00a0 They were just rearranging the chairs to clear some space near the pool tables.<br \/>\nIn that moment, I felt awash in a number of powerful, and wildly different, emotions:<br \/>\n<strong>Gratitude <\/strong>for their service (Iraq War veterans).<br \/>\n<strong>Sadness<\/strong> for their injuries.<br \/>\n<strong>Anger<\/strong> at a system of world government that uses young children to fight old men&#8217;s battles.<br \/>\n<strong>Hope<\/strong> for their future (they were just being goofy guys&#8230; no more, no less)<br \/>\n<strong>Happiness<\/strong> for my own health and for the well being and safety of my family.<br \/>\nDon&#8217;t just think about it.\u00a0 FEEL it.\u00a0 Today, take some Happiness from the fact that you are alive and well and have all your faculties about you, and you can feel safe in your own home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday I delivered two programs for employees at the Veterans Administration.\u00a0 This was the eve of the seventh anniversary of 9\/11, and signs up and down the hallways at the center reminded people of a memorial service to be held the next morning. During lunch and after the program I got to mingle with a &#8230; <a title=\"Happiness is just being alive and well\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2008\/09\/happiness-is-just-being-alive-and-well\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Happiness is just being alive and well\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[52],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Happiness is just being alive and well - The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2008\/09\/happiness-is-just-being-alive-and-well\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happiness is just being alive and well - The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wednesday I delivered two programs for employees at the Veterans Administration.\u00a0 This was the eve of the seventh anniversary of 9\/11, and signs up and down the hallways at the center reminded people of a memorial service to be held the next morning. 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