The Happiness Formula - The Happy Hungarian Watchmaker - Part 8

Spreading happiness throughout the world ^TM

The Happy Hungarian Watchmaker – Part 8

“Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda”

(247 words)

One day I walked into the master's workshop rather upset. I’d made a mistake that took a lot of time and effort to fix. If only I'd been more careful. I kept wishing I'd done things differently.

The master asked if I knew what a "critical point" was, to which I confessed ignorance.

"A critical point,” he said, “is a moment where whatever you do next has a huge impact on your future.”

Getting an education, choosing a career, having children, and using a knife, are examples of critical points. Choose the wrong path and your life will be more painful.

Critical points have certain tell-tale signs.

Some critical points are implied simply by their category, like working with sharp or heavy objects, concentrations of things (e.g. gasoline, poisons, electricity), and major life decisions (e.g. career, marriage, children, college, buying a house).

However, more subtle critical points often hurt us, like: touching a door knob and rubbing your eye (getting you the flu), failing to wash your windshield and missing a traffic sign, or continuing to eat food that smells a little off.

You're more susceptible to missing critical points when you’re tired, sick, stressed, or in any state of diminished awareness or mental fatigue. This includes being fully engrossed, and getting distracted by discomforts.

Keep yourself well with proper diet, exercise, and sleep. Keep your environment clutter-free and peaceful. Periodically expand your awareness to include the larger environment. And, regularly ask yourself what could go wrong.

Biographical Information

Julian Kalmar is part of a small think tank dedicated to spreading happiness throughout the world. More happiness teachings are available in his 4-CD audio collection, “Happiness: The Highest Gift.” This collection won the June 2005 “Audio-of-the-month” award, an award also won by Nelson Mandela, Wayne Dyer, and Marc Allen in 2005. (See www.thehappinessformula.com )

September 30^th, 2005

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