The Foundation of Happiness Is To Help Others

            Asked the feel of this blog, instead of direct answer, this person asked “Who are your audience?” This is a good question and I didn’t have a ready answer when asked. Further, “It’s more like a person’s diary meaning personal.” Further comment followed. As usual, questions allow and help a person to think and reflect.

            As day went by, those comments and questions followed me, at the same time, personal emotions generated by an encounter with a dear friend today at the parking lot intertwined and demanded my attention as if my mind and heart are arguing with each other like siblings. Oh dear, too personal I guess.

            I like personal for everything goes deeper, not just navel-gazing or under the skin. Take the example of customer service, if you don’t spend and take your time to ask questions and get to know what’s really needed or what kind of services would really benefit or create values for your customers how would you satisfy yourself being a service provider if you, yourself, don’t feel the deal is “sealed,” and the sensation of achievement. Good or even great things happen when you go personal or deeper.

            Recently, great things happened at my branch that allows me to aspire to become a good librarian, a good customer provider, and a good person. There are many people come and go in our life. Some are drifters; we might just see them this one time. Some are acquaintances; we spend more time with them but don’t know them too well. Some are friends; they might be coworkers, neighbors, classmates, or regular customers. Some are our mentors; because of them we learn, grow, feel secure, and don’t feel alone or lonely. How do you define who is which group? You feel.

            Working in the library for more than 5 years now, once in a while, I like to spend time at the 158’s area, the self-help section. I feel happy as my eyes browse the shelves and titles. And it’s exactly where I went on the day I got humiliated by a comment from a phone call. At there I met a caring soul whose voice ironed my sabotaged ego and her words soothed my broken heart. We didn’t meet each other before; that’s our first encounter at the library. And I got to know her name that same day. She didn’t know what happened to me yet her presence that day was important to me; it cleaned an open wound. She likes to help people and her profession fits her caring personality quite well; I was not surprised to acquire her career later.

            “The Foundation of Happiness Is to Help Others” is the tenth principle of the Youth Principle every student had to remember and be able to recite at my school years. When young, I just recalled the twelve principles and didn’t ponder upon the depth of their meanings. Serving at the public sector and the love of the workplace bring back the memory of the twelve principles. At night, embraced in the darkness, my mind is lighted by the tenth principle allowing and guiding me to read people, events, and interactions happened in my life. More thoughts provoked more reflections and more reflections invite more thinking. I know I like to see happy faces made up by smiles, genuine smiles.

            At the self help area, two themes are the major topics and subjects: happiness and success. Sometimes those two things would confuse a person that the two are the same or related. For me, I have a question: how does one person define happiness or success? To me the definition is simple and clear: success is when a person is able to create values for other people and to touch people’s lives. When a person is able to do so, happiness follows.

Working in the public library allows me to meet people from different backgrounds. People came to the public library, came to me for many reasons. They don’t know me and I don’t know them either. But we have something in common: the public library. To me, the best I could do for them is to find out what brings them in to my library. So I go personal: I ask questions, I talk, and ask more questions. It’s important to me for if I am not satisfied with the results how could the other person be content with what I got for him/her.

I like the term “to seal the deal,” or the term “closure.” When I have the feeling of sealing a deal after serving a patron I smile to myself: I find peace and own a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

Foundation of Happiness Is to Help People. The concept deserves some time to ponder and reflect. At least, it works for me.