Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to Mondays, as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. That’s why I find happiness in Mondays. Hence, I love to say, “happy Monday”.
Once again, it’s time to celebrate Hunt for Happiness Week. For more than two decades, people have rejoiced in this observance through a wide variety of activities, as happiness means different things to different people. It’s as diverse as the people who seek it and it can be found in just about anything that gives you joy. Where do you find happiness?
Most, if not all, mental health professionals would agree that the hunt for happiness should ultimately begin within one’s own self. Mom learned that quest, herself, as a young girl, from her own mom’s pearls of wisdom. If you’re hunting for happiness through money and things, you may find false hope, but you’ll never find true happiness.
Happiness is a state of thought. It begins with gratitude for all we’ve already received and achieved – not with what we ‘own’ or the ‘things’… – Gloria Pitzer, as seen in Gloria Pitzer’s Secret RecipesTM Newsletter, Issue #218 (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; Nov. 2000, p. 5)
Whenever I felt unhappy and depressed about life’s challenges, Mom would tell me, like her mom used to tell her, “True happiness comes from within us. It’s not about what you HAVE in life but what you get [from] the journey [through it].” True happiness is about life’s journey and what you’ve learned from it that counts.
Unfortunately, there are still those who believe that their level of happiness is in direct proportion to their level of success, which is in direct proportion to their financial worth. But happiness isn’t a commodity that’s bought, sold, or traded. True happiness is totally free.
According to a timeless study, conducted more than a decade ago, happiness is contagious. It indicated that when one person is happy, the effect can spread up to three degrees in a social network, reaching not only one’s own family and friends but also each of their family and friends.
The trouble with trying to be happy all the time is that most people look for one particular condition or experience or possession, from which they hope to derive complete contentment, forgetting that happiness is a moment – not a forever! – Gloria Pitzer, Gloria Pitzer’s Secret Recipes Newsletter (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Jan-Feb. 1988, p. 4)
Mom had a unique way of spreading the happiness she found in writing and copycat cookery. She also created happiness with her comedic cartoon panels. Her contagious sense of humor and happiness appealed to her fans, as well as the media masses, who continually requested interviews with her, for over four decades.
When she wasn’t writing or cooking, Mom found happiness in the radio interviews that she did almost daily. She also found happiness in the road trips she took with Dad and the hugs and kisses from her grandchildren, as well as in a quiet evening, crocheting a new project.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
Excerpts by Gloria Pitzer, as seen in…
This is not a Cook Book – It’s Gloria Pitzer’s Food for Thought (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Oct. 1986, pp. 7-8)
ESCAPE
THE HAPPIEST LITTLE ESCAPES in our lives can be, to us, what the spout is to a tea kettle that is up to its neck in hot water! It can give us an outlet for letting off steam – in a nice way!
Everyone who has their own little escape from the harsh realities of everyday life, seems to fare better than those who have absolutely nothing to which to escape. I escape to a good book that will make me smile – or better yet, laugh right out loud, like George Burns has written.
I escape to crocheting and good music, to long walks and long drives in our motor home, with my husband. There are so many lovely little escapes that each of us can choose that it’s a wonder more of us who seem to suffer from unreasonable burdens and false responsibilities, don’t seek out their retreats more often. It helps! (p. 7)
HAPPINESS IS…
I WASN’T KIDDING WHEN I said I envied happy people more than I did wealthy or famous people. From what I’ve read and what the rich and famous have said in filmed interviews, not too many of them are really happy with their wealth and their fame.
John Luther said that ‘happiness is not a matter of good fortune or worldly possessions. It’s a mental attitude. It comes from appreciating what we have, instead of being miserable about what we don’t have. It’s so simple – yet so hard for the human mind to comprehend.’ I agree! (p. 8)
‘If true happiness is acquired through persistence and patience, it would be like the fable of the elderly Chinese profit who asked for a needle when none could be found. However, somebody offered him a crowbar and a file. He was pleased and assured his friends that it was only a matter of time before he could produce the needle he wanted.’ – Gloria Pitzer [As seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; January 2018, p. 304)]
As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, when Mom and Dad were gone one day, I thought I could make Mom happy, by cleaning and organizing her desk (like Dad’s). However, when they came home, she was far from happy. She appreciated my sentiment, of course, but I messed up HER system, by inserting my own.
All of which goes to prove that one person’s happiness is not necessarily found in the same things as someone else’s happiness. We want what we want, as individuals. I find happiness in tedious things like cleaning and organizing. Mom often found happiness in mysteries, along with search-and-discovery.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, pp. 78-79)
HAPPINESS
IT’S HARD TO SAY which is worse, the person who doesn’t know what he wants and won’t be happy until he gets it, or the one who knows what he wants and can’t get it. It’s a shame that so many people believe being truly happy means being completely pacified.
Most people who admit to being unhappy look toward a time when they’ll be happy, once they are making more money, or they have a nicer home, or a newer car. They make the mistake of measuring their… happiness by a yardstick of acquisitions, when, in fact, happiness isn’t from the things around us, but from within us.
The power to be happy is not what you want or what you get, but what you are! It’s not what you get in life, but what you get out of it, that counts. We each have our own unique way of making someone happy…
They believe happiness has to be something sensational and ecstatic to even qualify as happiness, when, in fact, some of the simplest pleasures, some of the most restful moments can hold but a sprinkling of happiness… and/or contentment.
If we’d only take the time to say, ‘Hey, I feel good right this moment! I am happy! I can’t make it last forever, even though I’d like to, but if it did last forever, I’d soon forget how nice it was, because it was [no longer] different. And being like this forever would… be pretty boring. In which case, I wouldn’t be happy anymore.’
I wonder why the critics always insist on asking people, being interviewed on television, if they’re happy. I have yet to hear anyone say, ‘no, I’m not!’
Since when does happiness have to be a constant condition attained only after specific achievements have been experienced, certain goals attained; wealth, fame and success have been realized?
Even the so-called ‘inner peace’ that we’re supposed to be seeking, in order to combat stress and find contentment, means little when we define what makes each of us happy. It’s too bad we can’t be happy for the people who have found their sense of happiness, without belittling them for having achieved it.
Whatever it takes to be happy is as individual as fingerprints! We each seek our own. Happiness is a moment – not a forever!
‘Happiness is a habit – cultivate it!’ – Elbert Hubbard
Healthline.com offers 25 daily habits that can make you feel happy, in a wonderfully informative article written by Ann Pietrangelo (Jan. 15, 2019). Some of the habits mentioned in Ann’s article I’ve also found to be popular on many other “lists”, covering the subject of “how to achieve happiness”.
As I’ve written many times, I find happiness in Michigan’s fall colors, my grandson’s smile and laughter, the nuzzles and purrs from my cats (and my husband), the sun sparkling on the magnificent blue waters of Michigan’s Great Lakes, the cheerful sounds of the birds in my backyard, and the aroma of a simmering, Sunday stew coming from my slow-cooker.
MASTER INDEX (first mentioned in “Where Did All The Good Noshes Go, Part 1”) UPDATE…
I’ve finished indexing all of Mom’s recipes, crafts, food-for-thought editorials, household hints, and cooking tips from all of her books and newsletters that I have. While I have a lot, I don’t have them all – so it’s not a complete list but it is the majority of her work.
After I insert all the links to the recipes and crafts I’ve shared so far on those tabs, I need to figure out how to best post it on this website, as a new “MASTER INDEX” tab. The actual index has 134 pages, plus there’s a 3-page abbreviation key to all of Mom’s books and newsletter issues, including links to their posts on the Cookbooks & Other Publications tab.
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of TODAY, being National Cheese Lover’s Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Homemade Cream Cheese”; as seen in her self-published cookbook, The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 33). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
January observes… National Hobby Month, National Hot Tea Month, National Mentoring Month, National Oatmeal Month, National Slow Cooking Month, National Soup Month, and National Sunday Supper Month – among other things.
The third FULL week of January (19th-25th, for 2025) celebrates, among other things… National Healthy Weight Week, World Kiwanis Week, and National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week.
Today is also… National Buttercrunch Day. Plus, as the third Monday in January (2025), it’s also… Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Tomorrow is… National Granola Bar Day and National Hugging Day.
January 22nd is… National Blonde Brownie Day and Celebration of Life Day. Plus, as the fourth Wednesday in January (2025), it’s also… National Library Shelfie Day.
Thursday, January 23rd, is… National Handwriting Day and National Pie Day.
Friday, January 24th, is… National Compliment Day and National Peanut Butter Day.
January 25th is… National Florida Day, National Irish Coffee Day, and National Opposite Day. Plus, as the last Saturday in January (2025), it’s also… National Seed Swap Day.
Sunday, January 26th, is… National Green Juice Day, National Peanut Brittle Day, and National Spouses Day.
Have a great week!
…3 down and 49 to go!
