Animal Wednesday: Emily on Happiness

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Hello, it's me Emily. Things have been very busy around here because kj made an apple pie and cooked dinner for Thanksgiving and then she has this house guest named Milo Bug who is fun and talks alot and I introduced him to my cousin Rowena Rabbit and now we are all watching them because they like each other and kj doesn't know exactly what that means and I certainly don't know either since I am just a little rabbit trying to have fun in life. I saw Rowena sniff Milo behind the ear once but I don't know what that means either.

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So today I thought I would introduce you to kj's Happiness Cards. there are 50 of them and she made them a long time ago because she has these ten things that she thinks will help people be happy so she wrote some little sayings about each thing and this week she found them and decided to have them printed and maybe give some away as gifts, so I added some advice of my own and now kj and I are going to try something new here because we are going to talk to each other a little bit about what is good for people and rabbits and of course we probably don't agree.

Here goes:

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Me: Hello kj. It's me Emily. First of all, what are ten things you think make people happy? And do they work for rabbits?

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kj: Hello Emily. Gee, we've never done this before. Well, I call them 10 Principles. In a nutshell, I think they work for anyone. Here they are:

Keep It Simple

Stay Present

Live with a Purpose

Laugh and Cry

Bend Bend Bend

Do Good Work

Give Yourself a Break

Keep Conflict to a Minimum

Connect

Create

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Me: Why don't you just say to throw peas and eat jellybeans?

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kj: Emily, I don't know why you leave out that you broke a window pane once throwing those peas and you scared Stella when you escalated to throwing frozen artichoke hearts. You can't be telling people to have temper tantrums like that. And all those jellybeans are not healthy.

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Me: This is when I am smarter than you, kj, even though I am little. I hope you are not offended but why would you worry or be polite instead of doing the simple things I do to feel better? And you know if they don't work you can always lie down on the ground and stomp your feet in the air and cry really really loud at the same time.

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kj: Emily, you got arrested doing that once.

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Me: It is not nice of you to bring that up because it was not my fault and besides it was not nice that I was so scared that you were not going to pay my bail and get me out of jail. You need to be sweeter to me, kj. Maybe that would make you feel happy, just doing that, right?

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kj: I am sorry that I brought that up but I am still upset about the time we were at the Chinese Restaurant and you threw yourself on the ground and cried so loud they asked us to leave--all because I wanted you to use utensils to eat your chop suey.

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Me: Oh, I remember that, kj. Wasn't it funny when that man who said he was a veterinarian came over and offered to help me and I told him to leave me alone because I was crying deep from my stomach and that was good for me even though he said he thought I was breathing too fast?

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kj: Emily, you get me in a lot of trouble sometimes. And then I have to pay you $10 to write this blog column every week. What do YOU think is the secret to a happy life?

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Me: Don't be afraid to get in trouble, that's the first thing.

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kj: What else?

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Me: If you get too serious, forget that and go have fun instead.

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kj: And....

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Me: You're right about keeping it simple, kj: Jellybeans, hills to roll down, crying from your stomach, what more does anyone need?

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kj: How about friends, Emily? Don't we all need friends?

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Me: Oh! Yes! That's true. Like my best friend Marianne, and all the friends who visit me and you too here, kj. They make me laugh sometimes and they are nice most of the time, especially when I get a lot of attention, which everybody knows is one of my favorite things. So okay, friends too. But that doesn't take the place of jellybeans, right? Don't forget that part.

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Okay, it's me Emily again. That is enough talking to kj. I heard her say she might give away a set of her Happiness Cards--I'll let you know if she does because they are actually not too bad, advice-wise.

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That's it for today. I hope you learned something. If you didn't, don't forget it's not my fault.

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Yours truly,
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Emily Rabbit