After posting a couple articles this month on happiness, I had a conversation with a friend on the topic. She came back to me with 4 thoughts to achieving happiness. I wanted to post it here so that it stays fresh and I can let it all sink in and not get lost. I'm not capable of being this insightful, so I really appreciate her words and thoughts (and for caring).

1. Divided Heart: Divided loyalties. As long as part of you has a loyalty elsewhere, the quality of your current relationship or anything else you do will never be 100% of what it could be. Will have to choose. The truth is, happiness (not pleasure,) is only achieved by undivided hearts.

2. Selfish Desires: - the root of all evils...The source of dissatisfaction, fights, pride, greed, lust, exploitation, and (even) war. A truly powerful human being is one who is able to check their own motives and regulate their desires: suppressing the taker, promoting the giver. Happiness is only achieved by not being a slave to one's own selfish desires.

3. (True) Love: unselfish existence. Depends on #1 and #2 and is entirely relational (i.e. not an emotion). To do and give for the benefit of others. Love is a definition of God (1 Jn 4:16). The more inward our existence, the more disillusioned with life and with others we become because we need to connect to others in order to care for and be appreciative of others. We are designed as relational beings. That is why people who feel isolated, misunderstood, and empty inside are more often depressed and suicidal. Happiness is achieved by the amount of love we give to others.

4. Peace: Knowing why you exist and being thankful for what you have. Depends on #1, #2, and #3 and is a state of mind. If one doesn't know who they really are / what the point of their existence is - there is no reason to be here, no real value in the things they do, and no one to thank for the things they have. With no purpose or with no one to thank for what you have, there is no valid reason why anyone else in the world should resolve #1, control #2, or do #3. Everything else is just opinion or hot air. We are then left with internal conflict (#1), dissatisfaction (#2), and left empty, disillusioned, or depressed (# 3). Happiness is achieved by finding the answers to these fundamental questions.

This year has been a bad year for the city of Toronto as the number of gun murders keeps climbing. Most gun murders in Toronto have been gang related, but just today there was a deadly shooting spree a few blocks from my house at a shopping mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The shooting spree happened just a few hours ago. Initial police reports would seem to indicate that the victims are random shoppers and not targeted or gang related. One girl has died and 6 others have been wounded from the shots. The girl was standing in the entrance of a foot locker store, another person was shot at the Delta Chelsea hotel, another at Pizza Pizza, and another person was shot at the Red Lobster restaurant. Two people have been arrested and one weapon has been seized by police.

Toronto is still a very safe city, but with the number of gun homicides increasing, could Toronto be headed in the direction of the gun problems we see in American cities? Or was this year just a fluke? In 1999, Toronto had a homicide rate of 1.3 people for every 100,000. This was extremely low compared to similar sized American cities, with Chicago at a rate of 23.3, and Washington DC ranking in 1st with a rate of 45.5 homicides for every 100,000 people.

But in 1999, out of Toronto's 49 murders, only 19 of them were shootings. In 2005, Toronto has had 78 murders so far, with 52 being gun related. In 1998, Toronto had 56 homicides with a mere 13 being gun related. As part of their election platform, the Liberals have promised to ban all handguns in Canada other than for Law Enforcement personnel. I don't know if this will help Toronto's gun problem much, because most of the guns that are used in crimes are illegal anyway, so it may be difficult to ban them if they aren't registered in the first place.

In January, I'm going to hold a contest to see who can sustain celibacy for the longest period of time. The same contest took place on the popular sitcom "Seinfeld". The contest requires honesty on everyone's part as there is no way to know 100% whether everyone is being truthful; so the honour system is crucial in the contest. It's also imperative that each contestant informs their boyfriend/girlfriend before the contest begins to obtain consent or else they are sure to fail.

I'm also toying with the idea of having an entry fee of $40 and the winner would take all. The only reason I might not go ahead with this is because it will tempt people to cheat.

Here are the details:

- Contest to begin on Monday, January 9th at 9AM.
- To enter the contest please RSVP me via email anytime before January 9th.

I also wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Spend some time with family and enjoy yourself, but don't let yourself get too stressed out.

I had often wondered why the US had a Naval Base in Cuba when political relations between the US and Cuba is nonexistent. At first it seemed rather contradictory, so I decided to find out the history of this Naval base and more recently, the terrorist prison.

There is a lot of history on Guantanamo Bay, so I'll stick to the main points and provide links to further information. Guantanamo Bay is the oldest US base outside of continental United States. It's located in the Oriente Province on the southeast corner of Cuba, and about 400 miles from Miami Florida.

The area of 116 square kilometers was first leased in 1903 by the United States from Tomás Estrada Palma, an American citizen who later became the first President of Cuba. In 1934 a treaty was ratified where the lease payment was modified from $2,000 in gold to the 1934 equivalent of $4,085US. On January 1st, 1959, Cuban territory outside of the military base were off limits to US Servicemen and diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States were cut-off by President Eisenhower in 1961. On Februrary 6th, 1964, Fidel Castro cut off the water supply to the base, so for over 40 years, the base has been self sufficient with its own water plants and electricity stations.

Fidel Castro considers the lease by the United States to be illegal, and he has only cashed in 1 rent cheque in his entire time in power. The other rent cheques have been piling up without being cashed. The fact that he cashed the first rent cheque has been used by the United States in the courts as evidence that the Cuban government ratified the lease.

The base has served many purposes for the US Army in the past, including being used as a camp for Haiti refugees, and it was also used briefly to intercept Chinese migrants being smuggled into the United States.

Most recently, the camp has been used as a terrorist prisoner camp. This is highly contested worldwide, as there are hundreds of prisoners being detained in unsanitary conditions, without access to legal advice. An article in the Wall Street Journal reported that as of November 7, 2005, 358 of the 505 detainees had had Administrative Review Board hearings. Of these, only 3 percent had been released, 20 percent were to be transfered in, 37 percent were to be further detained indefinitely, and there was no decision yet on 40 percent. Amnesty International considers Guantanamo Bay to be a human rights scandal with evidence of torture and widespread cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners claiming it violates international law.

In 1986, the first McDonalds restaurant on Cuban soil was opened in Guantanamo Bay. It is not accessible by Cubans.

References:
Wikipedia.org - Guantanamo Bay
USNB GTMO History
Amnesty International - Guantanamo Bay

In my apartment building a notice was posted on the wall. It was a warning that cars parked in the underground parking garage need to have a sticker. It also stated that cars that don't have stickers will be towed.

Since I park my car down there, I'm very familiar with the parking garage, and I'm also very familiar with the height limitation on the garage door. The maximum height a vehicle can be is 5 foot 4 inches.

I'd love to see them try to get a tow truck down there that's shorter than 5 foot 4. They're not towing cars out of there using a Mini Cooper. This warning made me chuckle.

It would appear the US is attempting to repair their image to the world. Admitting that your country has tortured prisoners without actually admitting it. This is clever politics. Tax dollars could be wasted on investigations into alleged torture on prisoners, or you could just ban torture completely without actually having to admit the tortures took place.

"We've sent a message to the world that the United States is not like the terrorists. We have no grief for them, but what we are is a nation that upholds values and standards of behavior and treatment of all people, no matter how evil or bad they are," McCain said. "I think that this will help us enormously in winning the war for the hearts and minds of people throughout the world in the war on terror."

It's going to take a lot more than this to win my heart and mind on the war of terror, but at least they have started to realize how bad the world's perception of the United States has become in recent years. Repairing their image should be a major priority and a long-term negative effect on the US economy is one of the outcomes of having a bad image.

This is an admission worthy of historic significance. This blog has vehemently insisted in the past 2 years that Bush admit that the intelligence used to build the case to invade Iraq was all wrong. Years went by with Bush defending, sidestepping, twisting, ignoring, and insisting that the intelligence was correct. It was vital for this President to avoid any "bad press" in order to attain his second term in office. Bush would have risked his re-election had he admitted earlier that the intelligence was wrong.

I battled for 2 and a half years with emotional, passionate and brainwashed patriotic Americans on this issue, and every single one of them was convinced that the evidence was conclusive and Saddam was an imminent threat to the United States.

I'd love to hear what they have to say now, after their god, their Commander in Chief, the cowboy himself has admitted that much of the intelligence that led the United States to war turned out to be wrong.

I'm not the type of person that would say "I told you so", because that wouldn't be respectful. Wait, I am the type of person that would say I told you so. I told you so. This is perfect timing for Bush to admit he was wrong after he's already won his second term in office and after the war has progressed beyond the point of no return.

I wanted to share with you my typical lunch routine at work. I usually snack throughout the afternoon as well on tasty foods such as fruits, sesame sticks, ju jubes, pretzels or peanuts.

My typical breakfast consists of an “everything” bagel toasted with butter and a raisin bran muffin from Tim Horton's. Usually once a week I'll get a bacon and egg sandwich.

Lunches:
Monday
- Wendy's - Classic single hamburger combo w/ sprite and chili as side order. < $5

Tuesday
- Druxy's - Roast beef sandwich ~7

Wednesday
- Italian restaurant - Bowl of pasta (penne) ~ $9

Thursday
- Edo Japan - Bowl of chicken and rice $5

Friday
- Various pubs - Chicken fingers/fish/steak ~ $15

With the forcoming elections in Canada, I figured I'd share some funny pictures that I stole from Rick Mercer's blog. If you're not familiar with him, Rick Mercer has a show the "Rick Mercer Report" which airs on CBC on Tuesdays at 8PM.

visit Rick's blog for many more of these parody photographs.

Angels for Mercer by Avery Strok	Duct tape
Election Night in Canada by Doug Webber	Bad Santa by Doug Webber

Earlier today I had a feeling of emptiness and lonliness. I couldn't understand why I had this feeling, being surrounded by thousands of people in a shopping mall, and living in a city of 4+ million people.

Later on in the evening I spent time with some friends I haven't seen in a while. I enjoyed a few beers, and we ate lots of food. We caught up on lost time and enjoyed the food from the pot luck dinner.

On my 3KM walk home, I was overcome with a feeling of spiritual bliss. It was a feeling I haven't had in a long time. The type of feeling that you cannot achieve from any amount of money, illegal drugs, alcohol or orgasms. It's the type of feeling you can only get when you make amends with a former enemy, or when you truly love someone. The type of feeling you get when you have complete control over your actions, or when you hug somebody you care about that you haven't seen in a long time. The kind of feeling you get when you save somebody's life, or make somebody's day.

I miss the days when this feeling was more common. Why can't you be there for me?

The United States decided not to attend UN climate talks held in Montreal Canada where 10,000 UN delegates are meeting to discuss solutions to climate change. The United States, which ranks #1 in the world for CO2 emissions accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse gases said in a statement "The United States is opposed to any such discussions."

President Bush and the United States, along with Australia pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 saying it would cost jobs and wrongly excluded developing nations from the first set of targets. My question is; what good is it to have jobs if you don't have an earth? Greedy corporations whose profits may slip if Kyoto gets ratified in the United States should not decide the future of our earth.

The neo-con's political priorities appease the corporations and are leading the US down an irreversible and destructive path. Corporate control over the media leaves the average American uneducated about the degrading environment and the only thing that's going to help reduce car emissions is extremely high gas prices.

It's funny how a deadly hurricane in New Orleans, possibly a result of climate change can drive up gas prices and force millions of people to carpool and reduce emissions to effectively help the environment. The earth is sending us a message. How many disastrous natural acts will it take to open up the eyes of the world?

I was driving my car this evening and when I pulled out onto the road I ended up driving behind an SUV that was driving very slowly. He eventually pulled over to the right, so I started to pass him on the left. Just as I started to pass him he pulled a U-Turn right in front of me. I slammed my brakes and the anti-lock system kicked in. I beeped at him, and then waited for him to finish what turned into a 3-point turn. After his turn he rolled down his window and said "Don't tailgate you f#ck!ng ass#ole" and he drove away. He was already gone before I could say anything, so I kept driving. When I looked in my rear view mirror I saw him attempting and struggling to parallel park his truck. So I turned around and as I approached him, he was stuck. He was inches from the car behind him, and his truck was on a 45-degree angle. His girlfriend was getting out of the truck to help guide him; he couldn't get out of this one. So I drove by slowly, put my hands up in the air and clapped my hands to applause his weak attempt to parallel park. I finally drove away and saw him continue to struggle in my rear view mirror. I figured I had the final word in the situation; it must have been humiliating for him to tell me off and then struggle to execute a parallel park. But me being the spiteful person that I am, I figured I'd have a little more fun with the situation. So after I returned from my errands I wrote him a little note and taped it to his window.

See image below for my letter to the driver:

The age-old question of what defines success and happiness has been constantly in my mind over the last little while. The whole subject originally came up when I re-watched American Beauty a few weeks ago. This brilliant movie was an extreme eye-opener for me. It's one of the few "real" movies ever made where people can actually relate and learn life lessons from. First I want to explain the difference between happiness and pleasure by quoting Karolyn's friend Cartesian_Theatre I think he makes a really good point in his statement:

"I think there is a distinction between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is a sensation--contrasted with pain. It generally has as beginning and an end. Happiness is more an overall pro-judgment on your life. You can be happy without having a specific occurent pleasure, and you can have a pleasure without being happy. It's far easier to know what will bring you pleasure than what will bring you happiness.

In my opinion, happiness often comes from success. But success does not necessarily breed happiness. I also think success in life is different than financial success, and the two are often not one in the same.

My definition of success may differ from others. I don't think any monetary worth or income defines success. To me to be successful is to be doing something with your life that you are passionate about, that brings your pleasure, and gives you a sense of self worth. If you make a lot of money but you hate your job or you feel moral inadequacy about what you do, you may have a lot of money but in my mind you are not successful and happiness will be a lot more difficult to achieve. If you have achieved financial success by slaving yourself and neglecting your family and friends in the process, I don't consider that to be success. If you are doing something you feel good about, and you still make time for your family and friends, that is success to me and you are one step closer to achieving happiness. You may be making a million dollars a year, or you may be making $10 an hour; either way I would consider you to be successful if you have achieved what I stated above.

I think that a lot of the time, monetary rewards come when you are doing something you are passionate about and feel good about. If you are doing something solely for money, you will not be successful by my standards, and you won't achieve happiness. The exception to this is the people that take the money they have made and do good things with the money to help others.

If you care more about your material things than people or the world, you will never be satisfied, you may have temporary pleasures, but you will never achieve happiness.