I had the privilege to live in Zamboanga City in the southern part of the Philippines. Many people associate this city with strife and violence, but I do not. I came to love the place with its exotic, vibrant character.
One very early morning, my companions and I biked our way to the seashore at Recodo district, buying breakfast buns along the way. We sat down by a fishing boat in semi-darkness as we enjoyed the strong coastal breeze.
Slowly, the sun broke its radiant face over the gray horizon, bursting in a riot of yellow and orange. The gentle lapping of the waves along with the strong aroma of the cool breeze resonated with a mouezzin's rhythmic call to early morning prayer in the nearby Tausug mosque. We watched fishermen struggling to bring in the abundant dawn catch, observing them in animated silence as we enjoyed our very simple breakfast.
I have no permanent snapshot of the moment, but in my mind's eye the picture is still as clear as the rising sun. Why? Because that moment made me realize, how simple, how cost-free, how free our path to happiness can be. We may not have all the money in the world, but we can enjoy the simple things in life immensely. It's all a matter of seeing things in a different light.
"Learning to love yourself," sings Whitney Houston in her remake of familiar classic, "is the greatest love of all." Why is loving ourselves the greatest love of all? The wisdom behind this is that if we do not first love ourselves, all of our other loves - love of spouse, love of family, love of friends, love of profession - will not work at all.
The same applies to our quest for happiness. It's easy, very easy, to attribute to other people or circumstances your lot in life, but at the end of the day, it still boils down to you. Think about it: how can you expect to receive something from others when you are unwilling to give that same thing to yourself? You can be happy because you have the power to be happy within you. Being happy is an "in" thing!