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I want to direct you to a wonderful article, written by Tijn Touber, that I found in Ode Magazine. It is a MUST READ. Ode is one of the few magazines I consistently turn to for inspiration and as a way of nudging my thinking from its comfort zone a bit. Go to www.odemagazine.com and look for article 30. Muller was a master at happiness regardless of his circumstances,

Below is an except of this thought-provoking article about finding happiness in unlikely places. We can learn a lot from the self-proclaimed Happiest Man on Earth.

… Robert Muller was imprisoned by Nazis during World War II, and that was when he first applied one of the lessons of Coue’s book, Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Happiness is not external to man, but a force within him.

“We were scared, uncertain of our fate and in the corner was a bucket with a terrible stench. It was our toilet. In that terrible situation I became aware of my thoughts. It would have been easy to panic or to feel hopeless. But I remembered Coue’s advice: Always be the happiest man on earth, wherever you are and whatever you do.

If you look at it that way, being in prison is actually a rather interesting experience. (Muller managed to get a pencil and began writing a romantic love story on the inside of the prison door. During those anxious days, through will and imagination I was able to keep in good mental shape and even to attain happiness.  (Many times at the UN, faced with tragic news or divisive diplomats, Muller says he would go within and switch on  optimism and confidence.

Immediately, says Muller, I returned to a positive, creative mood. This mysterious quantum change between a negative and a positive current is a mystery to me. I do not understand it. But it has done miracles for me.

To be unhappy, to be ungrateful, not to feel wonder and appreciation for the incredible gift of life is a most foolish and short-sighted attitude. The toughest prison of all is that which man imposes upon himself.” 

Muller also lectures all around the world and is the author of 15 books, including Most of All, They Taught Me Happiness (Doubleday, 1985 and Amare Media, 2005) and The Birth of a Global Civilization (World Happiness & Cooperation, 1982).

More information: www.robertmuller.org, www.goodmorningworld.org, www.upeace.org