You Can Be Happy / 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person / School Calendar

Happiness 
is a state of
mind.
You can be Happy.
Be a Friend,
to yourself.
.
Only you
Truly
know yourself.

We
are capable of anything
our mind can think of.
If it is there,
it is possible.

You
are  the center
of your Universe.

“Reality is created by the mind.
We can change our reality
by changing our mind.”
–  Plato
Your brain
predicts
what any something
should be like,
then it generates a
vision,
based on the prediction.
It is this vision
that is experienced as the
real World.

.The mental reconstruction
of reality
is vivid, substantial and perceived
to be located in external objective space.
It becomes the brain’s
“model”
of the World.

Yes,
you are strong. 
You can do anything
you want.
.
Trust
in yourself.
And set your goal
to be Happy.
.
Do whatever it takes
to achieve Happiness.
Believe
in yourself,
and Love yourself.

 We 
can be Happy,
anywhere we are.
We do not need anyone’s
approval.

Let other people
be part of Life ‘s Journey,
but not the
destination.

Happiness
is always in your Hands.
It is
a state of mind.
Be a Friend,
a Best Friend,
to yourself.

 Let
no one
make you believe
otherwise.

We 
are capable of anything
our mind can think of.

You are
the possible.

So,
be Happy.
Become
your Dreams.
Believe
in Love,
and you will
Love,
Life.

Open the Door
to another Dimension. 
Life
is full of Light and Joy.
.
Brighten the darkness
all around.
With Smiles that
abound,
and many a cheerful
sound,
you will Light up
the Day.

Goodnight.

Choosing To Be Happy

Strategies for Happiness: 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person

Written by Tom Valeo

Medically Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD on March 04, 2010

click here to read more

A popular greeting card attributes this quote to Henry David Thoreau: “Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”

With all due respect to the author of Walden, that just isn’t so, according to a growing number of psychologists. You can choose to be happy, they say. You can chase down that elusive butterfly and get it to sit on your shoulder. How? In part, by simply making the effort to monitor the workings of your mind.

Research has shown that your talent for happiness is, to a large degree, determined by your genes. Psychology professor David T. Lykken, author of Happiness: Its Nature and Nurture, says that “trying to be happier is like trying to be taller.” We each have a “happiness set point,” he argues, and move away from it only slightly.

And yet, psychologists who study happiness — including Lykken — believe we can pursue happiness. We can do this by thwarting negative emotions such as pessimism, resentment, and anger. And we can foster positive emotions, such as empathy, serenity, and especially gratitude.

Happiness Strategy # 1: Don’t Worry, Choose Happy

The first step, however, is to make a conscious choice to boost your happiness. In his book, The Conquest of Happiness, published in 1930, the philosopher Bertrand Russell had this to say: “Happiness is not, except in very rare cases, something that drops into the mouth, like a ripe fruit. … Happiness must be, for most men and women, an achievement rather than a gift of the gods, and in this achievement, effort, both inward and outward, must play a great part.”

Today, psychologists who study happiness heartily agree. The intention to be happy is the first of The 9 Choices of Happy People listed by authors Rick Foster and Greg Hicks in their book of the same name.

“Intention is the active desire and commitment to be happy,” they write. “It’s the decision to consciously choose attitudes and behaviors that lead to happiness over unhappiness.”

Tom G. Stevens, PhD, titled his book with the bold assertion, You Can Choose to Be Happy. “Choose to make happiness a top goal,” Stevens tells WebMD. “Choose to take advantage of opportunities to learn how to be happy. For example, reprogram your beliefs and values. Learn good self-management skills, good interpersonal skills, and good career-related skills. Choose to be in environments and around people that increase your probability of happiness. The persons who become the happiest and grow the most are those who also make truth and their own personal growth primary values.”

In short, we may be born with a happiness “set point,” as Lykken calls it, but we are not stuck there. Happiness also depends on how we manage our emotions and our relationships with others.

Jon Haidt, author of The Happiness Hypothesis, teaches positive psychology. He actually assigns his students to make themselves happier during the semester.

“They have to say exactly what technique they will use,” says Haidt, a professor at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. “They may choose to be more forgiving or more grateful. They may learn to identify negative thoughts so they can challenge them. For example, when someone crosses you, in your mind you build a case against that person, but that’s very damaging to relationships. So they may learn to shut up their inner lawyer and stop building these cases against people.”

Once you’ve decided to be happier, you can choose strategies for achieving happiness. Psychologists who study happiness tend to agree on ones like these.

Happiness Strategy #2: Cultivate Gratitude

In his book, Authentic Happiness, University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman encourages readers to perform a daily “gratitude exercise.” It involves listing a few things that make them grateful. This shifts people away from bitterness and despair, he says, and promotes happiness.

Happiness Strategy #3: Foster Forgiveness

Holding a grudge and nursing grievances can affect physical as well as mental health, according to a rapidly growing body of research. One way to curtail these kinds of feelings is to foster forgiveness. This reduces the power of bad events to create bitterness and resentment, say Michael McCullough and Robert Emmons, happiness researchers who edited The Psychology of Happiness.

In his book, Five Steps to Forgiveness, clinical psychologist Everett Worthington Jr. offers a 5-step process he calls REACH. First, recall the hurt. Then empathize and try to understand the act from the perpetrator’s point of view. Be altruistic by recalling a time in your life when you were forgiven. Commit to putting your forgiveness into words. You can do this either in a letter to the person you’re forgiving or in your journal. Finally, try to hold on to the forgiveness. Don’t dwell on your anger, hurt, and desire for vengeance.

The alternative to forgiveness is mulling over a transgression. This is a form of chronic stress, says Worthington.

“Rumination is the mental health bad boy,” Worthington tells WebMD. “It’s associated with almost everything bad in the mental health field — obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety — probably hives, too.”

Happiness Strategy #4: Counteract Negative Thoughts and Feelings

As Jon Haidt puts it, improve your mental hygiene. In The Happiness Hypothesis, Haidt compares the mind to a man riding an elephant. The elephant represents the powerful thoughts and feelings — mostly unconscious — that drive your behavior. The man, although much weaker, can exert control over the elephant, just as you can exert control over negative thoughts and feelings.

“The key is a commitment to doing the things necessary to retrain the elephant,” Haidt says. “And the evidence suggests there’s a lot you can do. It just takes work.”

For example, you can practice meditation, rhythmic breathing, yoga, or relaxation techniques to quell anxiety and promote serenity. You can learn to recognize and challenge thoughts you have about being inadequate and helpless.

“If you learn techniques for identifying negative thoughts, then it’s easier to challenge them,” Haidt said. “Sometimes just reading David Burns‘ book, Feeling Good, can have a positive effect.”

Happiness Strategy #5: Remember, Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Research shows that once income climbs above the poverty level, more money brings very little extra happiness. Yet, “we keep assuming that because things aren’t bringing us happiness, they’re the wrong things, rather than recognizing that the pursuit itself is futile,” writes Daniel Gilbert in his book, Stumbling on Happiness. “Regardless of what we achieve in the pursuit of stuff, it’s never going to bring about an enduring state of happiness.”

Happiness Strategy #6: Foster Friendship

There are few better antidotes to unhappiness than close friendships with people who care about you, says David G. Myers, author of The Pursuit of Happiness. One Australian study found that people over 70 who had the strongest network of friends lived much longer.

“Sadly, our increasingly individualistic society suffers from impoverished social connections, which some psychologists believe is a cause of today’s epidemic levels of depression,” Myers writes. “The social ties that bind also provide support in difficult times.”

Happiness Strategy #7: Engage in Meaningful Activities

People are seldom happier, says psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, than when they’re in the “flow.” This is a state in which your mind becomes thoroughly absorbed in a meaningful task that challenges your abilities. Yet, he has found that the most common leisure time activity — watching TV — produces some of the lowest levels of happiness.

To get more out of life, we need to put more into it, says Csikszentmihalyi. “Active leisure that helps a person grow does not come easily,” he writes in Finding Flow. “Each of the flow-producing activities requires an initial investment of attention before it begins to be enjoyable.”

So it turns out that happiness can be a matter of choice — not just luck. Some people are lucky enough to possess genes that foster happiness. However, certain thought patterns and interpersonal skills definitely help people become an “epicure of experience,” says David Lykken, whose name, in Norwegian, means “the happiness.”

“The foolish man
seeks happiness in the distance,
the wise grows it under his feet.”
– James Oppenheim

Knowledge is power
and LIFE.

School Calendar

2022-23
Please check back regularly
for any amendments that may occur.

First Semester
Sept. 6 – December 16   2022

Sept. 6 (TUESDAY)               First Day of First Semester
Oct. 10 (Monday)                   Columbus Day Holiday
Nov. 21 – 25                           Fall Break (and Thanksgiving)
Dec. 16                                   Last Day of Fall Semester

Second Semester

Jan. 3 (TUESDAY)                 Second Semester Begins
Jan. 16  (Monday)                  Dr. Martin L. King Holiday
Feb. 20  (Monday)                  Presidents’ Day Holiday
Mar. 13 – 17                           Spring Break Holiday
April 7 & 10                           Good Friday and Easter Monday Holidays
May 26                                    Last Day of Spring Semester

Lyrics/songs texts/paintings/articles

are property and copyright of their owners
and provided for educational purposes.

Copyright Disclaimer
– Section 107 – Copyright Act 1976,
allowance is made for “fair use”
for purposes such as criticism, comment,
news reporting, teaching, scholarship,and research.
Fair use is permitted by copyright statute.

Non-profit, educational or personal use
tips the balance in favor of “fair use”.

© Copyright 1995-2023
The Anderson Private School.

“He who opens a school door,
closes a prison.“
– Victor Hugo

I wish you all
 Peace.

Hang on
to your Faith.
You will get there.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

We Are Made Of Love / How the Greatest Mathematical Mind of the 20th Century Proved the Existence of God / School Calendar

Dedicated
to the courageous people
fighting the terrible pandemic
that is raging across our
Beautiful World.
No one
can repay your bravery,
but we Praise you
all.

Continue
with persistence for Life and Love 
and Happiness.
The fulfillment
of our Hopes and Dreams and Prayers
is within Seeing Distance.
 Pray
for what is happening 
on our Sacred Journey.
Do your best
and God
will do the rest.
.
Our World
may never return
to what it used to be.
But our Hearts
are solidly together.
Let us now
Live together in Peace
and
remember the Power
of Love.
.
“For God hath not given us
a Spirit of fear;
but of power, and of Love,
and of a sound mind.”
– 2 Timothy 1:7

These are magnificent 
Times,
that reach into the depths of the Heart
and inspire great Joy
for the Beauty
of our Love.

You are
the one who caresses 
the Beauty of this Earth,
with your eyes.
God
is the One
who Illuminates Life
with Rays of Light
and Love.

On the darkest
of nights,
there is a place
where there is
Light.
It is a place
in the
Heart.
.
“Attitude is a choice.
Happiness is a choice.
Optimism is a choice.
Kindness is a choice.
Giving is a choice.
Respect is a choice.
Whatever choice you
make makes you.
Choose Wisely.”
– Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

You
are more
than you think.
Remember who you were
as a Child.
Remember being that Child
everyday,
and you will find the way
to be Happy.
.
 We are made
of Love.
We were Created
by God
to give Love,
to learn Love
and to teach
Love.

With thoughts
so pure and innocent, 
we forget suffering and pain.
.
The spinning World
will stop,
and your fragile mind
will float into the 
Sacred past.
The troubles
of Life
get washed away
in the sound
of a Child’s laughter.
.
The Child
you were,
is the Child
your are.
.
Just
let it be.
.Let you be
free.
Freedom
is what you feel,
and see.
And you are
who you have always
been.
.
You are
what you can
be.
.
You are
a Child of
God.
A little piece of us
dies with the passing
of those who have shaped who we are
and what we will
be.

Our past
 will always be a Treasure
of our precious memories.
.
Thank God,
my Friend,
for what Life has done
for all of us.

I Thank God
for you.
.
You have made Lives
sing.
You will never be forgotten.
.
You
will always be
Loved.

Goodnight.

How the Greatest Mathematical Mind of the 20th Century Proved the Existence of God

May 1, 2022 | by Dr. Joshua M. Moritz

click here to read more.

 

That time a math genius proved God and you never heard about it.

Albert Einstein would often remark that he went to his office at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study “just to have the privilege of walking home with Kurt Gödel.” A good friend of Einstein, Gödel was the most brilliant and influential mathematician and logician of the 20th century. A master of proofs who ran non-Euclidean circles around the most brilliant minds of his day, Gödel devastated philosophical paradigms with the theorems he developed, and he laid bare long-held assumptions and cherished axioms as fundamentally unprovable. Gödel also mathematically demonstrated something that many thought was beyond the purview of proof—namely, the existence of God.

Does 1+1= 2?

Once upon a time, two of the 20th century’s most influential mathematical minds, Bertrand Russell and Alfred N. Whitehead, attempted to prove that 1+1=2. Their Principia Mathematica, the 20th century’s most ambitious work of mathematics, endeavored to describe a set of axioms and inference rules in symbolic logic from which all mathematical truths could, in principle, be proven. After 378 pages, they were able to talk about how one could prove that 1+1=2, but they couldn’t actually do it because they hadn’t managed to define “addition” in a logically consistent way.

Around the same time, mathematician David Hilbert wanted to develop a logical system that included all correct mathematical reasoning for any particular mathematical area and to prove that it contained no contradictions. In response, Gödel published a series of papers showing why Russell, Whitehead, and Hilbert’s quests for mathematical completeness were doomed to fail. Gödel proved definitively that neither the Principia Mathematica (nor any other attempt) could ever prove 1+1=2 in an internally consistent, logical way. In his incompleteness theorems, Gödel showed that mathematics alone could not establish the logical consistency of mathematics through mathematical proofs. Because one always has to make unprovable assumptions about one’s fundamental axioms, all mathematical systems are incomplete, and every mathematical system will have some statements that can never be proven.

Using mathematics that revolutionized the world of logic and science, Gödel showed that there is more to truth than can be captured by proof.

Gödel’s incompleteness theorems show that if a formal system is 1. finitely specified, 2. large enough to include arithmetic, and 3. consistent, then it is incomplete. His groundbreaking logical demonstration—that all mathematical systems have limits—was a lesson in humility to the “Logical Positivists” of Gödel’s day, who asserted that scientific and mathematical investigations of the universe could discover all truths and have no limits. Gödel showed that if science is based on mathematics, and mathematics cannot discover all truths, then science, in principle, cannot discover all truths. Using mathematics that revolutionized the world of logic and science, Gödel showed that there is more to truth than can be captured by proof.

Is there any proof that God exists?

Having demonstrated the incompleteness of all mathematical systems, Gödel also sought to show that the universe would be incomplete and inconsistent without an afterlife and a creator God. Gödel reasoned:

For it is by no means chaotic or random, but, as science shows, everything is permeated by remarkable regularity and order. Order is a form of rationality.

If the world is rationally constructed and has meaning, then there must be such a thing as an afterlife. For what sense would there be in creating a being (man), which has such a vast realm of possibilities for its own development and for relationships with others, and then not allowing it to realize even a thousandth of those possibilities? That would be almost like someone laying, with the greatest effort and expense, the foundations for a house and then letting it all go to seed again.

phys.org

But does one have reason to suppose that the world is rationally constructed? I believe so. For it is by no means chaotic or random, but, as science shows, everything is permeated by remarkable regularity and order. Order is a form of rationality.

How would one envision a second or another life? About that, there are naturally only guesses. However, it is interesting that it is precisely modern science that provides support for such a thing. For it shows that this world of ours, with all the stars and planets in it, had a beginning and most probably will also have an end (that is, it will literally come to “nothing”). But why, then, should there exist only this one world – for just as we one day found ourselves in this world, without knowing why and where from, so can the same thing be repeated in the same way in another world.

Within the context of seeking truth beyond proof, Gödel developed a mathematical argument to demonstrate the logical consistency and necessity of God’s existence. Gödel’s proof elaborated upon the ontological proof of Gottfried Leibniz, the founder of computer science who invented both calculus and binary code in the late 1600s. Gödel sought to fix the fundamental weaknesses of and remove inconsistencies from Leibniz’s proof as well as address all of the classic philosophical criticisms of previous ontological proofs, including Immanuel Kant‘s well-known objection that existence should not be treated as a predicate.

The ontological proof of Gödel harnesses higher-order mathematical logic to show that the existence of God is a necessary truth. “God” in Gödel’s proof is defined as a “God-like object.” In order for an object to be “God-like,” it must have every good or positive property. Also, a God-like object has no negative properties. In the context of Gödel’s proof, an object (x) has “the God-like property” if and only if for every property (φ), if φ is a positive property, then x has property φ. Because being “God-like” is a positive property, it is possible that that property exists in an object (x). After mathematically defining essential properties, Gödel then shows that it is necessary that there is an object x that has the God-like property. If a God-like object (i.e., God) has every good property, and necessary existence is a good property, then a God-like object (i.e., God) must exist.

While Gödel privately believed in God and read the Bible every Sunday, fear of ridicule from his academic peers made him reluctant to present his ontological proof publicly. Gödel thus never published his proof for the existence of God and only passed it on to a colleague and friend to publish because he believed he was going to die.

Putting Gödel to the Test with AI

For many years Gödel’s work was inaccessible and difficult to assess because very few could reach the levels of mathematical, philosophical, and logical sophistication required even to understand it—let alone to evaluate it for logical and mathematical consistency. Recently, with the help of Artificial Intelligence specially designed to evaluate higher-order logic and advanced theoretical mathematics, researchers decided to put Gödel’s ontological proof for the existence of God to the test.

Demonstrating the consistency of Gödel’s ontological proof, AI researchers concluded that “from Gödel’s premises, the computer proved: necessarily, there exists God” and also that “this God-like entity is unique, i.e., monotheism is a consequence of Gödel’s theory.” The AI also showed that “prominent objections to his proof…are currently not on a par with Gödel’s work…with respect to technical precision and persuasive power.” From this research, it is clear that Gödel’s ontological argument succeeds in that “it shows that Belief in a (God-like) supreme being is not trivially irrational. There are consistent axiomatizations that non-trivially entail the necessary existence of a God-like being.”

Yet the results of such AI calculations about metaphysics still rely on fundamental assumptions regarding the mathematical axioms that one chooses in the first place. As the AI researchers reflect, “as for any axiomatization…it remains a ‘matter of faith to believe in the truth of the proposed axioms in the actual universe.” This, of course, would come as no surprise to Gödel—as it was he, after all, who conclusively demonstrated to the world that all mathematical and scientific endeavors are ultimately unprovable and that such endeavors always require a leap of faith to get off the metaphysical ground.

For more fascinating exploration into the question “Is there a God?” check out our “Big Questions” section here.

About the Author

Dr. Joshua M. Moritz

More from this Author >

Joshua M. Moritz, PhD, is Lecturer of Philosophical Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco, and Managing Editor of the journal Theology and Science.

Knowledge is power
and LIFE.

School Calendar

2022-23
Please check back regularly
for any amendments that may occur.

First Semester
Sept. 6 – December 16   2022

Sept. 6 (TUESDAY)               First Day of First Semester
Oct. 10 (Monday)                   Columbus Day Holiday
Nov. 21 – 25                           Fall Break (and Thanksgiving)
Dec. 16                                   Last Day of Fall Semester

Second Semester

Jan. 3 (TUESDAY)                 Second Semester Begins
Jan. 16  (Monday)                  Dr. Martin L. King Holiday
Feb. 20  (Monday)                  Presidents’ Day Holiday
Mar. 13 – 17                           Spring Break Holiday
April 7 & 10                           Good Friday and Easter Monday Holidays
May 26                                    Last Day of Spring Semester

Lyrics/songs texts/paintings/articles

are property and copyright of their owners
and provided for educational purposes.

Copyright Disclaimer
– Section 107 – Copyright Act 1976,
allowance is made for “fair use”
for purposes such as criticism, comment,
news reporting, teaching, scholarship,and research.
Fair use is permitted by copyright statute.

Non-profit, educational or personal use
tips the balance in favor of “fair use”.

© Copyright 1995-2022
The Anderson Private School.

“He who opens a school door,
closes a prison.“
– Victor Hugo

I wish you all
 Peace.

Hang on
to your Faith.
You will get there.