Wanna Be Happy? Lessons From the Happys

MTYL Memo #9—Finding and doing something purposeful with our whole lives

The lucky ones are not the wealthy ones. The lucky ones are the ones who find something purposeful to do with their whole lives.

This thought has come to me on-repeat as I’ve met and talked with all kinds of people in two years of travel.

On my 2023 transatlantic boat journey, I met two of the happiest people. Their last name is L’Hereux. Translation? “Happy.” Or, per Ancestry, a “nickname for someone who was characteristically happy, successful, or lucky.”

These new friends might call themselves very lucky/blessed, but I suspect a combination of disposition and choices has “made them” lucky.

Nearly an hour after an innocent question kicked off our conversation, I was in possession of 2 business cards from them, a pin from his work with the genealogical society, and a heart full of the magic of living.

These sparkly septuagenarians are more alive than most people of any age I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Here are a few of the reasons I think that is:

• They work hard, even still. They’ve built businesses they don’t want to retire from.

• They are grateful for what God has given them.

• They explore. They cruise every couple months, making friends and memories wherever they go.

• They have a lot of love and laughter in their life. She had him laughing to tears in our conversation.

I asked them if they had any life advice for people who want to live fully and happily. Here’s what they shared, in thick, Quebec French accents.

Her: “You want something, you go for it. You set a goal, you work for it, you get it.”

Him: “Surround yourself with positive (delightfully pronounced “pusitive”) people; go away from negative people.”

What a treasure of a conversation; the kind where you learn more than could ever be packed into a multi-volume self-improvement treatise. The things to be learned from people who have really lived—in a humble, joyful, grateful way—are not to be underestimated. If you and I ever get to meet IRL, please have me show you the Happys’ picture. They’re as lovely as you’d imagine.

What does purposeful work look like to you?

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