#10. Mrs “Happy Face”

Mrs Happy Face wasn’t always known as Mrs Happy Face. In fact, people in the village used to call her Mrs “Sad Face”.

You see, Mrs Sad Face had two sons; one of them sells umbrellas and the other sells cow hide.

When the weather is fine, Mrs Sad Face would feel sad because her son who sells umbrella would have no business.

When the weather is inclement, Mrs Sad Face would feel sad because her son who sells cow hide could not dry his hides.

This was how Mrs Sad Face earned her nick name, because she was perpetually sad.

Then one day, a wise man spoke to Mrs Sad Face. He asked her; “Why don’t you look at it this way… when the weather is fine, your son who sells cow hide would be able to dry lots of hide, and when it rains and pours, your son who sells umbrella would do good business?”

Mrs Happy Face thought for a while and accepted the wise man’s advice. From then on, she was always happy no matter what the weather is like.

This is why the people in the village now call her “Mrs Happy Face”.

This is one of many simple stories which I read in a children’s magazine called “Children’s Paradise ” when I was a kid.

(A full list of this amazing publication, from 1953-1994, can be found on www.childrenparadise.net.

It is in Traditional Chinese.)

The children’s story may be simplistic but the message it conveyed is profound.

The sentiment of the story resonates with everything I espouse in this website. That is, the level of your happiness is entirely a consequence of your mindset. Your circumstances may not change, or changeable, but you can change the way you look at your circumstances, therein confirming the notion that you hold the key to your own happiness.