“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” ~ Jim Rohn
Every weekday all across the United States, school children stand to pledge allegiance to the flag and the country it stands for, as an indivisible nation watched over by God, that promises liberty and justice for all.
And while we don’t always live up to the ideal we pledge allegiance to, it is still the ideal—the standard to which we aim our national attention.
Likewise, humanity has an emotional ideal. It’s called happiness. We all want it. We often fall short of it. And yet we keep moving toward it (or toward what we think will provide it). And quite frankly, our happiness matters. We are, in fact, kinder, more patient and giving parents, neighbors and people the happier we are.
It is in that spirit, then, that I offer this Happiness Pledge. Print it out. Modify it as desired. Then recite it every morning, or as needed, perhaps with a hand over your heart. But commit to it at a deep level. Make it the expression of an inner yearning, the rhythm of your beating heart and a roadmap to a happier life.
The Happiness Pledge
I pledge to live my life with passion and purpose,
To live with integrity to principle-centered values,
To forgive quickly and love unconditionally,
To live courageously and learn voraciously,
To work for the possible and believe in the miraculous,
To treat myself compassionately as a glorious work-in-progress.
I pledge to fill my thoughts with gratitude and kindness,
To persevere and overcome with dignity and elegance,
To live in the moment, learn from the past and plan for the future,
To broaden my mind, strengthen my character and deepen my spirituality,
To see the best in others and in myself,
To laugh and play and bless and serve.
I pledge to find beauty in life’s rainy days,
To notice its roses amidst the thorns,
To prefer what lifts and inspires and ennobles,
To never take life for granted or myself too seriously,
To leave the world better than when I found it,
To stay true to the spark of the divine inside me,
To be patient with my progress as I stumble forward on the campus of life.
I pledge, therefore, to live a life of growing joy and deepening happiness as the natural byproduct of the choices I make, the habits I form, the thoughts I harbor and the actions I take within the context of what I believe about myself, life and others. And so I pledge to be a daily project of love, learning and growing one step at a time.
YOUR TURN!
- Please share The Happiness Pledge on Facebook and Twitter … and everywhere! 🙂
- And let me know what you think about the Pledge.
- What did you like?
- What would you have added?
- Or what stands out most for you?
Check it out!
I’m building a library of happiness quotes for the M2bH Community to find inspiration from and would love to have you add a quote (or more). Just click here to add.
If you liked this, check out The Character Pledge.
I think that it is great Ken. I’ve saved to my evernote account so that I can review it every morning as well. I have a morning ritual with my own questions and practices. This will make a nice addition.
Dan @ ZenPresence
Dan Garner recently posted … Please don’t read this on Christmas
Sitting at the computer Christmas morning waiting for my family to wake up, thought I would reply to some comments. And what a nice start to a beautiful Christmas morning to read your response to the pledge, Dan.
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts, Dan. May 2013 bring you an added level or two of happiness as we all wend our way through life!
Ken:
Excellent! It’s hard to add to this. You’ve said it all. Everything I think of has been covered somewhere in there. My words (but which are covered by yours) are: Help others and help make the world a better place and you will help your own happiness more than anything else you can do.
Happy holidays!
Best regards,
David
David J. Singer recently posted … Laughing More for Happiness and Health
Merry Christmas, my friend! Just thought I would say thanks for the comment while I sit here waiting for my family to wake up so we can get on with the Christmas traditions! 🙂
And thank you for your kind words. You speak the truth, brother! There is no better way of injecting life with happiness than filling it with service. Lending others a hand makes our own paths so much sweeter.
And may 2013 provide you with many opportunities for a sweeter life of blessing and lifting others in all the many ways you do that, David.
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and happiness throughout the season and well into the New Year!
Thank you so much. Enjoy the wonderful day! 🙂
David J. Singer recently posted … Health Benefits of Conflict Resolution
Plan on it! So far so good! Phase one complete. Extended family, here we come! 😉
It’s very interesting and comprehensive, Ken. But do you think it’s likely that someone will actually change their actions and behaviours because they’ve taken the pledge?(e.g. I pledge to live my life with passion and purpose…To live with integrity to principle-centered values…) The values and beliefs you’ve talked about – aren’t they a bit too fundamental to be changed through something like a pledge? E.g. someone who’s not living their life with integrity, has most probably consciously chosen not to.
What do you think?
Sulagna recently posted … “Sex Has Got Nothing to Do with Love or Marriage”, Tamal Pal
What a great challenge, Sulagna!
I love these kinds of challenges because they make me do one (or both!) of two things: 1) Clarify my point that can sometimes get sort of muddled, or 2) reexamine my premise or some detail in support of it. Either way, I improve what I write because of it. And that’s a good thing. So thank you ahead of time.
So, do people really make any substantive changes because they say a pledge.
In a word (two, actually), yes and no.
NO, if they are simply saying the words without heart or commitment. Or if they truly want to change but want some secret potion that will magically transport them into the change rather than actually doing the work of changing. If that’s the case, no amount of recitation will do much lasting good.
But YES, if they are actually pledging. After all, what IS a pledge? The dictionary says that as a noun, it’s a “solemn promise or undertaking” and as a verb, it’s to “to commit by solemn promise.”
So if I recite a pledge as a commitment to a solemn promise, as way to refocus my mind and set the stage of my day as a deep commitment to the content of the pledge, reconnecting with what I’m going to aim at throughout the day, then I do believe a pledge can go far in helping us stay on task, develop some traits that might ordinarily fall to the wayside, forgotten traits never fully developed.
Besides, have you ever wanted to do something, I mean really wanted to do it, then life just gurgled up around your ears and, well, you just plain forgot to do it? I know I have. I think our character and other traits conducive to happiness sometimes fall into that category. We get bogged down in the details of living and fall into our daily ruts, that the goal or desire fades into the background. A daily pledge helps bring it more prominently into the foreground, sort of like writing it down on a stickynote. It’s there as a reminder. Only instead of being written on an easily misplaced stickynote, we’re daily etching it deeper and deeper into the lining of our hearts.
I also believe most people WANT to be better. We want to be moral people of high character. We don’t want to be judgmental and critical and impatient and angry and negative and dishonest. But we fall short. We “forget” to be better. It’s not in the forefront of our minds so when pressures mount or conditions arise where habitual patterns of thought and attitude and behavior go into autopilot, we act out our lower selves by rote. But when we remind ourselves, slowly reprogramming our memories and attitudes to look at life through a different lens, then we equip ourselves to go about living with a character-based and happiness-based mindset instead.
It’s not any sort of panacea, no magic pill, for sure. But I do think it’s a helpful arrow in the quiver of life to help us fend off our lower impulses that keep us estranged from happiness in unfortunate ways.
Thanks so much for the thought-provoking probe, Sulagna. Loved it!
Please let me know what you think of my reply! (Hope its length doesn’t discourage you! ;))
Sulagna,
Great question. Most of the time we realize that when we are writing inspirational pieces, or words of encouragement, etc…. that we are not going to change the hardcore. An arms merchant is probably not going to change because they read this article. For one who is merely lost, but has good intentions, this pledge can turn their world upside down. To help those that have the desire, but need encouragement and tools is a wonderful thing. We change the world one step and one person at a time. And miracles do happen, maybe that arms merchant will come around after all.
25 years ago racial prejudice was socially acceptable and the norm in much of the United States. The socially progressive did not change the minds of hateful , angry people; they did change the minds of the middle ground. They taught that it was not okay. The same for gay rights. Step by step.
Dan @ ZenPresence .com
Dan recently posted … Please don’t read this on Christmas
Thanks, Dan. Very well said. There certainly would be people for whom a pledge of any kind would have little-to-no effect. And then there’s those looking for something, a little nudge in the right direction, some insight that shines a light in the darkness. Or even those who are not so lost, but benefit from the reminder, the commitment and daily inspiration to keep at it.
I also love that you put it into historic context. Again, well said, Dan.
Hey Ken,
Thanks for your very detailed explanations, which really opened my eyes up to what a pledge is, and it isn’t. True, it’s important to remember that only those who genuinely want to change but need a “reminder” or a “stickynote” to keep them on track are the ones who can truly benefit from something like a pledge. Those who don’t have any desire to change are not a part of our “target group”, so to speak. 🙂
Thanks for your inputs, Dan. Like Ken said, you’ve added a new dimension to the discussion by putting it in a larger context. Thanks again! 🙂
Sulagna recently posted … Why Marriages and Relationships are like Apples and Oranges (Part 2)
My pleasure, Sulagna,
I sometimes question or even challenge others in their comments as well and am usually pleased with the opening of my mind by their replies. So your question/challenge was deeply appreciated. As a professional teacher (high school economics and government), I have the belief that for every question asked in my classroom, there are 4-5 other people with the same question too timid to ask it. So the clarification you coaxed out of me was a needed clarification for many more (my online “classroom” is a whole lot bigger than at school) who had the same concerns.
So keep the questions/challenges and even downright disagreements coming! Love it all!
And while I didn’t think about it in terms of a “target group,” you’re absolutely right to put it that way.
Thanks for being here, keeping me on my toes, Sulagna. I truly appreciate it.
AMEN! I am signing that pledge hands-down. I love the creativity of this post, Ken. Generally I write out these thoughts and call them positive affirmations but I love the pledge. Smart and effective. Hope your holidays were fabulous and that an exciting year awaits you… filled with heaps of happiness :)!
Farnoosh recently posted … Can You Ever Truly Heal?
Thanks so much, Farnoosh! So good to see you stop by my humble home here. Consider the door always open! 🙂
I had a fun time writing the pledge, editing it, rewriting it, fixing the language and removing some of the redundancy. It started out shorter, then grew too long, bogged down with too much detail, then was scaled back to its current size. It is a work of love. So I’m thrilled you liked it.
As for my holidays, they were wonderful, thank you. Hope yours were at least equally as fabulous and happy! Look forward to seeing what new and wonderful things you’ll do in 2013!
[…] Wert never fails to thrill me with his writing. I just read “The Happiness Pledge” and highly recommend that you print it and put it up where you can see it often. Some of us […]
Count me in! And I especially appreciated the added insights from Dan’s and Sulanga’s comments and your responses. I absolutely believe that happiness is a choice, based in our habitual thoughts, words, and actions. A pledge such as yours can support the development of these habits by bringing our moment to moment choices into our consciousness. A great way to start the new year.
Galen Pearl recently posted … On the Razor’s Edge
Hi Galen! I love that Sulagna questioned the pledge and got that small discussion going. I agree that Dan added wonderfully to the dialogue as well. Yep, happiness is indeed a choice. It seems to me that even among those who accept that truism (and too many don’t, pinning their happiness on something out there in the distance), there are many who don’t quite know how to go about choosing it. Often, the choice isn’t a direct choice of happiness (which is frequently the effect of choosing other things), and more the result of the choice to think or believe or act a certain ways (the cause).
I love your list of 10 steps to find happiness. Those are the things we more often choose to live a happy life. So keep spreading the word, Galen! We’ll get the world happier yet! 🙂
[…] If your answer is yes, stay on your path and set the intention to make each day totally amazing. […]
Hey Ken, I liked your Happiness Pledge so much that I wrote about it and linked to it this morning in ‘In Place of Resolutions’.
Dan
Dan Garner recently posted … In place of resolutions
I’m honored and touched, Dan. Thank you so much.
PS: Just left a comment at your place. You have a great thing going on!
Spending a bit of time at your website, reading your pledge, reading the comments from your readers has been delightful, Ken. I applaud the task (a labor of love) you gave yourself in writing The Happiness Pledge.
Two thoughts come to mind. One is, that just as a single stone, thrown into a pond, causes ripples that spread out quite a distance, so is it with an endeavour such as your pledge (and your post). Who knows whose life may be touched?
The other thought is: If we are already happy, it takes very little to make us “more happy”. Almost anything or any moment will do. Just as conversely, if we aren’t already happy — oh it can be quite a labor trying to rake out a bit of happiness from the world. But the good news is, the truth is, we are already happy, in the sense that our true character is already happy.
Good to touch in with you Ken. Thank you for your work and I wish you the best of everything.
Christopher Foster recently posted … Be still
So glad you found The Pledge and the comments worth the read, Chris. Thanks so much for your kind words. They mean a lot.
I do have a question though. I’ve heard that sentiment quite a bit here and there online and have to admit that I’m not quite sure what it means.
You say we’re all already happy, that our true character is happy now. Did I get that right? I’m asking only because I truly don’t understand it and would like to. I’m always looking to see things from a new perspective to expand my own as I discover legitimate ways of seeing something I’ve long looked at from a single point of view.
So here’s my point of confusion: If there was a man who used people for his own gain, was chronically angry and impatient, beat his children and bullied his wife, was filled with negativity and pessimism, what’s it mean that he’s already happy or that his true character is happy when he’s wallowing in the misery of his own hatred and lack of self-control, poor habits and immoral behavior and sloppy thinking, anxiety and self-doubt?
Like I said, I’ve seen that idea referenced many times and have never quite gotten it. But I would love to learn! If it’s one of those deep metaphysical answers that would take all day to explain, a link to a good explanation would be great too.
Much appreciated, Chris. Keep up the great work you do over at your place and thanks for making me think here! 🙂
I can only speak from my own experience Ken. I was very much “unhappy” most of my life (and I’m 80). Feelings shut down and so on. I was in a major depression just a few years ago and was thinking how nice it would be just to leave. But I encountered a moment of stillness and surrender that changed my life as they say. I realized my past failures or achievements simply didn’t matter because the truth of myself — or anyone — doesn’t change and is always here and is — well, happy, to use that word. But we can’t become aware of this, as far as I can see, unless we take that frightening step into stillness…and surrender..willing to lose it all if that is what it takes. But I’m sure how it works out is different and unique for each of us…Love to you Ken and have a wonderful New Year.
Christopher Foster recently posted … Be still
Thanks so much, Chris. Eloquently stated. And I’m thrilled you were able to have that epiphany where you released so much of the baggage that weighs us down. I like the imagery of stillness, of surrender and acceptance. That sudden realization that we are not our pasts, whether our successes or failures, that we are more than what we do or have done. I respect the personal nature of your encounter with that moment and thank you for sharing it, Chris. And thank you for sharing so much more with those who are blessed to find your site and read your words and feel of your spirit.
Love back at you, my friend, and may the New Year bring more love and more meaning and more joy than ever before.
hi Ken – came across your site from Vidya’s recent post mentioning you. Glad to be here, read this post and see so many friends here as well. Looking forward to keeping up with your blog! Agree with every item on the happiness pledge and it would be a great way to start each day. Enjoyed reading the exchange above which helped clarify your point!
Welcome to my home-away-from-home, Vishnu! So good to have aboard!
Some of the best writing and thinking here at M2bH takes place in the comments by others. One of these days I’ll put together a best-of-the-comments type post just to showcase the thoughtfulness of those who stop by here from time to time to share their thoughts. I really am proud of the dialogue.
And so glad to welcome you here as well, Vishnu.
> humanity has an emotional ideal. It’s called happiness.
Great definition.
I’m always amazed how so many roads all lead back to the town of happiness. Of course, the key is enjoying the journey there.
Happiness is such a fractal and fragile thing, unless we choose to grow it strong, right under our feet, wherever we go.
Happiness really is an inside job and a choice.
J.D. Meier recently posted … Re-Imagining Your Business
Thanks J.D.,
I like to think of happiness as something like a recipe. Every ingredient makes the mixture that much more tasty. But every ingredient is up to us to add.
So yes, it is an inside job.
Good to see you here, J.D.
Inspiring pledge, Ken!
These are my favorites;
“I pledge to fill my thoughts with gratitude and kindness,
To see the best in others and in myself,
To laugh and play and bless and serve.”
They will fit nicely with my 2013 intentions.
Hope your Christmas was wonderful and wishing you a very happy new year. All the very best in 2013!
Marianne recently posted … The Future is Now
So glad you found a few lines that will fit so nicely, Marianne.
Gratitude can be a difficult character trait to develop under difficult circumstances, but to be able to be truly grateful to have life even when there is pain changes the nature of that life.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
As for Christmas, it was wonderful. We’ll be counting down tomorrow night to 2013! Hope your Christmas was merry and your New Year proves another step closer to health and opportunity and happiness!
Through Dan Garner you have a new follower. The Happiness Pledge is just what I need right now in my life. Thank you.
Awesome! Welcome aboard, Diane! I’m thrilled you found The Pledge helpful. I’ll try to be worthy of you reading here.
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