JEDDAH, 25 June — Members of a group of professionals were enlightened on happiness as a prescription for success and long life at a presentation held on Thursday night. “There are seven prime keys to happiness,” Michael Papworth told a meeting of the Society for Environment, Architecture and Technology (SEAT), at the Saudi German Hospital auditorium.
Papworth, an English language instructor at the training department of Saudi Arabian Airlines who delighted the group on the Dinosaur brain in one of its earlier meetings, quoting Abraham Lincoln said: “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” He listed love, respect, learning, time, health, wealth and integration as the all-important keys to happiness.
“Love is a verb and all of us have the capacity to doing things like being good, kind, gentle and polite to ourselves. Be nice to your spouse, children and people you work with, and you can be happy,” he said. Man can starve from a lack of self-respect as much as from a lack of bread, he said and stressed that showing respect to others was a means to happiness.
Learning is a continuous process and no one should ever think that one’s education is over the moment one graduated from school or university. The process involves learning about life by doing things in life and educating oneself from experience. “No people are so stupid as they cannot learn. Each has capacity to learn — about life, money, arts, science, technology, etc.,” Papworth said and urged his audience to seek happiness through lifelong learning.
Dwelling on the importance of time, Papworth quoted Johann Van Goethe who said: “Nothing is worth more than this day.” There is nothing like being busy and not fulfilling the day’s tasks. If one gives priority to what is urgent and then attends to things next in importance, one can end the day happily with family and friends.
A body was a terrible thing to waste, he said stressing on health as the means to happiness. “Health can be physical, mental and spiritual. Indulge in nonstop thinking and take new steps to improve your memory. Spiritual health is doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. Wealth is valuing things you have,” he added.
Speaking on integration as the final key, he quoted Banjamin Franklin: “God helps those who help themselves.” He went about explaining five factors that can help achieve goals — dream, vision, planning, action and persistence. “One has to have a dream which can be replaced by vision — what people of world stature like Nelson Mandella had. A time-bound plan is needed to turn a dream into a reality, and so action coupled with persistence must follow. The ultimate result is success and happiness.”SEAT President Dr. Ausaf Ahmad and General Secretary Zahyr Siddiqi welcomed the speaker, Sunita Sadhu conducted the proceedings, and K.G. Guna and Dr. M. Mohsin respectively made introductory and concluding remarks.