A Joy to Make Others Happy
Excerpt from Attitudes and Habits, Alfred J. Parker
Your good, or higher, nature represents all the wonderful things that can be yours in the present and future because when you live it you train yourself to do all the good things that will inevitably create happiness for yourself and for others. Goodness is a plane of mind whose quality always reproduces goodness to all who live in that plane of mind. Your thoughts and actions create the love and beauty that will always fill your life, for mind is the creative power of your life. It is your life.
So start right now in your own home and among your friends to create kind and happy conditions: share your toys and belongings with others. Do not grab everything away from your playmate to keep it for yourself—this is greediness. Your real joy is in the fact that you have the things that others would like to have. What a fortunate person you are to have what would bring happiness to others by sharing these toys! See the joy in their eyes when they are privileged to share with you. What a joy it is to make others happy. Learn to master these greedy urges and desires; always think about them, what they could lead to and the unhappy conditions they will create. Do nothing to hurt yourself and others. Always be honest in your thinking. Know a thought or desire for what it actually is and do not try to get away with doing foolish things with the excuse that others need not know. Your own mind will surely find you out.
Take upon your shoulders some of the responsibilities in the home because you are a part of that home. Share some of the menial tasks that are a part of your homelife because you are one of the family. Lighten mother’s tasks without waiting to be asked. Be the joy to your parents that they have always expected and desired. Be a fulfilment to your parent’s desires, not a disillusionment.