How do You Define Happy

I guess this need a jumping off point and because it is my blog, I need to be the first Frog in this contest.  So, here goes.

First I think the fulfillment of needs and wants should be on the list.  I refer back to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and say that I am well past the "need" for shelter, safety, and food.   I also mix in a little of the Leadership training I taught to Officer Candidates a few years back.  It is the area of motivators that a lot of lives fall short.  Recognition even if it is self provided is a basic given.  If you remember to praise in public and punish in private you have a good start.  Where do you start and end that journey? 

Once upon a time, (for you Military types adjust this to hey, this ain't no shit.)  I was given an Artillery Battalion that for many reasons had not passed an Army Readiness and Training test (ARTEP) a couple of times in a row.  To me, it was a simple thing to make sure that everyone knew what their job was and to make sure they could do it.  It was a great big elephant but no tough task for 400 guys to eat one bite at a time.  Instead of trying to do everything, I tried to make sure that the leaders knew what they needed to do.  That worked and we passed the ARTEP.  At the end of the big formation on the parade field at the end of camp, I shook the hand of each man in the battalion.  My hand hurt but they all knew that "we" did it.  I went home happy that day and it still gives me a warm spot in my memory.

Now that I am retired, I think about the things I need to do to be a social animal and talk to others.  I sang with a Barbershop chorus but it felt like I was asked to do more and more and the only feedback was negative.  I have stopped going to meetings and I am not sure if there is room for me to bring that back into my life.

With the last election in the bag, I have a lot of friends that think the majority (or at lest the Electoral College) and me, got it wrong.  I won't go into the reasons why I did not vote for Hillary but only to say that our system needed change and I didn't see Hillary as much other than more of the same.

MUD