THE POWER OF HAPPINESS Rewriten by MaskatnoGiri

Every human being need happiness. Really happiness is  very important to us, both as individuals and as a world, primarily because happiness is really all there is.  As human beings, although we possess cognitive abilities and are highly "thought" oriented, the quality of our lives is ultimately entirely determined by our emotions.  For example, which life would you rather have; that of a very rich, attractive, successful, healthy, powerful person who despite all of those blessings is very unhappy or that of a very poor, unattractive, unsuccessful, unhealthy and powerless person who is nevertheless fortunate enough to be very happy?

Considering happiness within the framework of good and evil, or right and wrong, we find that what is evil or wrong is only undesirable because it diminishes the happiness of an individual or group, and that what is good and right is only so because it increases the happiness of and individual or group.  In fact, British philosopher John Locke accurately defines goodness as that which creates happiness, and evil as that which creates unhappiness. 

Happiness, which includes the pleasant emotions and moods that comprise it, is really the only aspect of our lives with any ULTIMATE value.  Aristotle described it as "the highest good."  Of what value is ANY good except that it facilitates the happiness, or greater happiness, of human beings and other life on our Planet?  For the religious among us this would, of course, also include the happiness of God.  

Of what value is ANYTHING except for its utility in facilitating happiness?  A careful reflection reveals that the ONLY reason we do anything in life is to maintain or enhance our happiness and/or the happiness of others.  Freud, with his Pleasure Principle, and other psychologists with similar hedonic principles, explained our basic and strongest motivation in life as the drive to experience pleasure and to avoid pain.  Of course, as Freud pointed out with his Reality Principle, we would be unwise to indiscriminately seek pleasure at the expense of reason and experience.  Many temporal pleasures will ultimately bring individuals, and/or those around them, greater pain.  However, at times, enduring  pain is a wise or necessary way to ensure greater pleasure and happiness.

Many of us are very concerned with ethics, knowledge, beauty, love, health, productivity, peace, justice and prosperity, often forgetting that these blessings are simply and ultimately means of facilitating happiness.  Nevertheless, over the last several millennia  we have been culturally conditioned to prize these blessing and work very hard to maintain and enhance them.  The fact that as a world our happiness level is under 65 percent, however, suggests that our conventional strategies for achieving happiness are hardly effective.

Recent studies are revealing an important reason why happiness is so important to us all.  A growing body of research is demonstrating that as we become happier, we become better people.  As we become happier we become more compassionate, more creative, more energetic, more financially successful, more emotionally and physically healthy, etc.  Thus for those of us who are more concerned with creating a "better" world  than a happier world, becoming much happier and helping others become much happier may prove a very effective means to this end.  Imagine for a moment the reduction in incidents of crime in the United States if we as a country were to raise of national average happiness level from its present marginal 69 percent to 85 percent or higher. 

We share our lives with loved ones like our spouse, parents, children, and friends.  Why is happiness so important?  What better gift can we give a loved one than to help them become happy, remain happy, or become happier?  What better gift than happiness could we receive from our loved ones?  It is important to understand this essential point so that we and our loved ones do not become separated or distracted from our happiness.  As parents, for example, it is wise to teach our children to be good for their sake and for the sake of others.  If, however, we neglect to teach our children how to be very happy, we are depriving them of their greatest need and desire.

Happiness is not only important to our personal and societal lives, it is important to our global community.  Unhappiness breeds wars and terrorism.  Countries who unjustly attack other countries are doing so because they are not happy with certain international realities.  Terrorists who attack individuals and populations are deeply dissatisfied with various social, political, religious and/or economic realities.  Very happy countries would not wage unjust wars.  Very happy individuals would not commit acts of terror.

Why is happiness so important?  As individuals and as societies, happiness is both our highest goal and an extremely effective means of achieving many of our other cherished goals.  Both as individuals and as a planet, happiness is our ultimate reason for living.  Happiness is really all there is and all there ever will be; all else is only a means to happiness.

GETTING HAPPIER TO BE A WRITER by MasSukatnoGiri

How important happiness  of mine is. Mas Katno Giri is really aware that he need happiness. Actually, up to now he feels that he is still hapyy. He is happy with his job, his family and with his society. However he could imagine that how happier if he can be a motivator for others. He is still thinking that he wants to be  an  English writer especially  for motivating  people.

Mas Katno really realizes that he needs to learn more especially in English writing. He must learn  from  qualified motivators. He often takes part in many works shop of writing. He always remembers about the advices of  his teachers:

MasKatnoGiri's teacher said : "Good morning everybody, , you are wonderful men. You have an opportunity to see me. I am considered by  all of you as  a qualified writer, it is not right. I am not a qualified as you thought before. Now I’m still learning how to be qualified.  But I always have a writing motivator, I always  remember my motivator's suggestions. He writes ‘INSPIRING  ADVICES, they are as  the following:

Think about why you want to write in English. Perhaps you think English is more popular and there are more chances for your books to become a best seller, or perhaps you have problems writing in your first language. Whatever your reasons are, if you have made up your mind that you want to write your novels, books, facts, fictions or any article in the English language, then there is nothing to worry about because a language becomes yours if you fully master the language.

Examine your current skill by doing a simple test on the internet. Search on the Internet for English literacy tests and choose one which suits your style. If you are living in country where people speak English then you must have an idea how good your English is, give yourself marks out of ten by judging your own skill in conversations and discussions. Once you have found out on which level your English stands, then find the root of your weaknesses in parts of speech such as grammar, spelling mistakes, vocabulary and most of all your style of writing. Writing mostly depends on your talent as a writer so you can easily improve your mechanics.

Make a list of things that you need to improve on. For example, if you need to improve your grammar then work out the best way to improve it. If you don't have time to join a class in your area or there is no course for your grammar needs then purchase some good English grammar books from the nearest bookshops. If you are in a condition that you can not afford to buy books then you can use the library. Also get the new editions of the Oxford English Dictionary and a thesaurus.

Make a habit to learn five new words every day using the dictionary and thesaurus. Write them in sentences using the grammar you are learning, this way you will learn the right usage of your new vocabulary. At first you might not notice your improvement but by doing this you can put new words in use and soon you will be able to see the difference.

Make a habit of listening to the news, it will improve both your English and writing abilities.

Start writing short paragraphs. Read your work and give yourself a treat by going out with friends to socialize or buy something new for yourself, this way your writing will connect to your social life.

Read lots of books, newspapers, and articles in English. This will help you convert your own writing ability into English writing ability. Reading other books will improve your writing style in English, bear in mind that you can't copy people's work, but you can always learn from reading, reading books might inspire your writing as well.

Start writing your story using grammar and spell check on the computer. Also, read your work and be your own editor, work with patience, ask your friends to read your story, get their critiques in order to improve your writing.

Talk to people who have English as their first language. This way you can learn how to write dialogue in your story.

Complete your work and decide if it is worth trying to publish. If it is, do not hesitate to send it to publishers. Do not worry about making it perfect before you send it because the publishing company has professional editors to do that for you.

DIPERLUKAN SIFAT SABAR DAN JUJUR Oleh MasSukatnoGiri

Voice of Wonogiri (VoW). Rabu, 3/10/2012,  tepatnya pukul  20.00. Bapak senior kita  (Wiwin Harjanto dari SMAN 3 Wonogiri ) memberikan kata-kata yang bagusdan menginspirsi,  "Bersabarlah, semua kesuksesan besar memerlukan waktu. Percayalah, bahwa "jalan pintas" bukan menguatkan namun kelak justru menghancurkan. Yang terpenting adalah "upaya2" yang sekerasnya,karena "hasil" adalah urusan Tuhan,bukan urusan kita.

Benar memang ,  Tuhan Allah s.w.t  bersama orang-orang sabar.Sekuat apapun kita akan kalah dengan kekuatan Tuhan. Orang mungkin tak berdaya membantu kita, Namun Tuhan sangat  kuat untuk  membantu khususnya orang yang sabar.

Ternyata kata seniorku yang lain,  untuk mencapai sukses jangka panjang diperlukan sifat  lain selain sabar yakni  jujur . Jujur pada diri sendiri itu penting, apakah kita termasuk orang yang sabar dan jujur ?

Orang lain bisa dibohongi.  Orang lain dibohongi  mungkin tidak tahu, atau kadang tahu tapi cukup diam.  Namun,  diri  kita sendiri dan Tuhan jelas tidak bisa ditipu. Boleh saja  kita mengatakan kita jujur bersih, namun Tuhan tahu siapa sebenarnya kita. Tidak ada manusia yang jujur seratus persen, tapi orang yang bahagia secara hakiki hidupnya adalah orang-orang yang jujur dan sabar itu kata ustadz nya MasKatno Giri beberapa waktu lalu.

Ayo kita budayakan sifat sabar dan jujur, kita pasti mujur.

BETAPA BESAR KUASA ALLAH ATAS HAMBANYA Oleh MasKatno Giri

Tiada manusia sempurna. Namun bila manusia berusaha menjadi baik berarti manusia luar biasa. Itulah kata gurunya MaskatnoGiri.

Salah satu kuasa Allah  adalah Maha Kasihnya kepada kita. Karena lupa, disengaja, atau  tidak, tergoda syetan  atau kolaborasi dengan syetan dan berbagai  alasan lainya. Akhirnya  manusia  menuju kejurang kenistaan berbuat dosa. Sekali lagi  setiap manusia punya dosa dan aib. Cuma jumlahnya bervariasi tergantung kualitas hidupnya. Ini berlaku untuk semua termasuk penulis sendiri.

 Kita pasti punya  aib, tapi kenapa  kita masih terhormat di mata ortu kita, suami/ istri kita, anak-anak  kita,  saudara kita ,tetangga kita . sahabat-sahabat  kita dll.  Jawabannya Allah yang menutupi aib dan dosa kita. Akhirnya kita menjadi manusia selamat dan diselamatkan di dunia, maupun Insya Alah juga selamat di akherat? Tentu syaratnya istiqomah.

Seandanya Allah membeberkan dosa dan aib kita,  dan menjadikan dosa dan aib kita menjadi sebuah makhluk ooooooooooooh  TAKUUUUT, MALUUUUUUUUU KITA. Maka  ayo berlatih bersyukur. Dan ttidak merasa benar sendiri, mari belajar. Kalau Maskatno  Giri lagi belajar menulis kali ini.

KERJA SAMA SMAN 1 GIRIMARTO DENGAN UNS AKHIRNYA 'DEAL'

VOICE OF WONOGIRI, Girimarto. Rabu 3/10/2012  pukul 10.00, Rombongan dari SMAN 1 Girimarto menuju PUSKOM  UNS. Setelah melalui  perjalanan dan negosiasi yang lumayan panjang. Kerjasama  antara SMAN 1 Girimarto dengan  Puskom UNS  menuju tanda-tanda titik cerah dan dengan biaya lumayan murah. Kesepakatan dan komitmen dari kedua belah fihak bisa dipertanggung jawabkan.

Kerjasama tersebut dilatarbelakangi karena telah dibukanya kelas unggulan ICT yang telah berjalan dua tahun. Di depan kepala Puskom, Pak Syamsu selaku wakasek kesiswaan menyampaikan bahwa para guru sudah mejanjikan ke ortu siswa bahwa kelas ICT SMAN1  Girimarto Insya Allah bisa diandalkan, karena ada pengawasan dan jalinan  jaringan dengan UNS.

Pak Syamsu juga menyampaikan bahwa suatu hari nanti rombongan para siswa kelas ICT dan  para guru akan  mengadakan kunjungan dan study lapangan  ke Puskom UNS,  event ini diharapkan tidak hanya mengikat persaudaraan tapi mengenal lebih jauh perkembangan teknologi ICT.

Sebelum pamitan rombongan yang terdiri dari Pak Syamsu, Pak Aji , Pak Florentinus  dan Pak MasKatno Giri dikenalkan menuju ruang vital ICT Puskom UNS yang lumayan canggih. Demikian juga rombongan diperkenalkan dengan para mahasiswa dari luar negeri salah satunya dari Libya. Selaku reporter lepas landas MasKatno Giri mengundang mahasiswa Libiya untuk datang ke SMAN 1 Girimrto untuk menjadi motivator, dan Alhamdulillah dia bersedia.

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SMAN1 Girimarto jayalah selalu walau engkau, kurang berkilau namun Allah swt sanggup menjadikan sesuatau yang buram menjadi kilauan. dan sebaliknya kilauan bisa menjadi buram. Hanya waktu yang menunggu.

VOICE OF WONOGIRI (VoW). MARON. Di suatu kesempatan pakar pengamatan masalah cewek dan cowok, Tri Hadi Santosa menulsi “Cewek2 murahan biasanya lebih suka dipermainkan cowok-cowok yang tidak berkwalitas, kalaupun ada cowok sholeh mendekati mereka menolak itu dikarenakan tipisnya iman”

Apa yang disampaikan Tri merupakan kenyataan yang tidak terbantahkan. Banyak cewek-cewek yang suka dimain-mainkan cowok. Keduanya terlihat suka, bahkan SANGAT SUKA SEKALI. Keduanya tidak beriman, ini dibuktikan dari hobinya bermain api cinta.

Fakta, bahwa jumlah remaja halim eh hamil dan akhirnya putus sekolah tidak semakin berkurang namun semakin meningkat. Kondisi tersebut tidak hanya di desa-desa.

Berdasarkan kenyataan tersebut, maka perlu diberlakukan terobosan khusus guna mengurangi tingkat kehamilan remaja putri. Caranya pertama, perlu pendampingan khusus entah guru atau senior untuk beberapa remaja putri sehingga mereka diawasi secara ketat. Kalau ini tidak mempan perlu ditemukan obat supaya remaja putra menjadi impoten dalam jangka tertentu, misalnya remaja diIMPOTENSIkan selama waktu sepuluh tahun. Ini terobosan cerdas sehingga waktu menikah mereka bisa diaktifkan kembali.

Demikian, semoga menjadi renungan bersama. Semoga remaja kita memilki masa depan cerah.

Peserta MGMP B.Inggris SMP Wonogiri Sektor Timur Bertekad Menjadi Penulis.

Voice of Wonogiri (VoW). Jatisrono 2/10/2012. Menghasilkan tulisan ilmiah tidak sekadar nilai tambah bagi para guru, namun kini sudah menjadi kewajiban. Itulah kenyataannya. Karena ada peraturan baru untuk para guru bila ingin naik pangkat harus mampu menghasilkan hasil karya kepenulisan.

"Pak, caranya bagimana untuk memulai menulis itu?" Itulah pertanyaan yang terlontar kepada MasKatnoGiri, dia diamanati untuk menjadi motivator dan memberi contoh-contoh berbagai jenis karya ilmiah. Kegiatan ini berlangsung di SMPN 1 Jatisrono.

"Pokoknya nekat saja bu!, tulislah yang ada dipikiran ibu, untuk menghasilkan tulisan yang bagus pakai proses. Jadi untuk mampu menulis resepnya ada 3Land 1 M (LATIHAN, LATIHAN, LATIHAN, Menulis). Itulah jawaban dari MasKatno Giri.

Sekitar 30 peserta antusias mengikuti pelatihan menulis sampai berakhir sekita pukul tiga belas. MasKatnoGiri menambahkan untuk mampu menulis harus juga sering membaca karya orang lain.Berdasar pengalamannya, tulisannya sering untuk lomba dan juga telah dimuat di beberapa media lokal, dia mengakui bahwa modalnya hanya NQ (NEKAT-NEKATAN QUOTIENT) Sebab menurutnya sudah banyak sekali orang cerdas namun masih langka orang memilki modal nekat untuk menulis.

Pelatihan kepenulisan yang dilaksanakan di MGMP SMP  b Inggris Wonogiri  tidak akan berhenti dalam bulan ini-ini saja. Maskatno Giri walau hanya modal nekat sudah dipromosikan menjadi motivator kepenulisan khususnya di pelosok-pelosok Wonogiri yang masih miskin peradaban kepenuisan.

BERUSAHA JUJUR PASTI MUJUR Oleh MasKatno Giri

MasKatno Giri mengucapkan selamat buat manusia jujur. Mereka calon orang mujur. Walau jangka pendek manusia jujur itu tertunda kemujurannya. Namun kejujuran terkadang sulit sekali dilaksanakan. Tapi janji Allah tak akan pernah meleset orang baik dan jujur rejekinya semulur dan pasti lebih menenteramkan. Buat apa kaya raya eeeeh ternyata buah menipu, atau menipu diri ......malu dong.

Ini baru tataran idealis. Setidak-tidaknya Mas Katno Giri menasihati diri, karena dia alhamdulillah sangat jarang sekali bohong. Walau pernah juga bohong. Karena saat itu  teripengaruh oleh setan dan juga  teman. Contohnya sejak sekolah berusaha keras belajar walau nilainya tidak bagus bagus amat. Dan di SMP sampai di SMAnya sudah membudayakan aib untuk menyontek. Maka MasKatno Giri mau berbagi dan mau menasihati . Biasanya pembohong kurang mantap menasihati. MasKatno Giri  berusaha keras tetep jujur semoga bisa tetap istiqomah.

Banyak orang berkata saat ini manusia yang menjaga kejujur termasuk manusia langka. Maka mereka layak bahagia. Bagi yang   mereka  yang tetep jujur, PD saja anda layak hidup sukses bahagia selamanya. Bagi mereka yang kadang bohong tapi pingin tenetram STOP BOHONG. >>>>BERLANJUT SHOLAT ISA' DULU

The Writing Enlightenment of MasKatno Giri’s senior

Caused by self awareness, MasKatno Giri is eager to be a writer. He could imagine how nice  being a writer is. Also he feels that  he is getting older and  his physical power is also  getting weaker. He is ready to be a  writing motivator for  himself and others.

He’s sure that one day later he can be  a real writer. From now on, he is still studying how to be a qualified writer. He has experiences to take many witting work shops. He got much more enlightenment from his seniors, they advise him as the following:

1. Reward Yourself For Trying
Rewarding yourself for trying also means not demanding that your work be brilliant every day. It won’t be: it will be awful most of the time, but that’s ok. You’re growing a tree, it’s as important to work on the roots as it is to work on the bark and the branches. So if you think you did a crummy job today, remind yourself: ”I’m still working on the roots!”
2. Don’t Place A Goal On When You’ll Receive Your Worth
Please don’t say “when I publish this,” or “when my book sells this many copies I will be a writer.” If you’re writing with a goal in mind, then you’re already a writer, and if you’re trying your best, then you’re a good writer. If you’re writing regularly, then you’re showing up to work every day and that makes you a great writer. If you place your worth in the future, then you’ll think your worthless now. And I don’t have to tell you that feeling worthless is not fertile ground for motivation.
3. Be Flexible With Your Writing Schedule
If something happens that’s out of your control don’t feel too guilty about not writing that day. Guilt is one of those other emotions that will kill motivation in a heartbeat.
4. Don’t Self-punish
If you constantly punish yourself for not writing or for not being as good as Virginia Woolf already, then you’ll only fall into a hole of self-loathing and despair that will evaporate all motivation. This isn’t helping you or your book, so stop doing it. Be gentle with yourself. Patience is important, so if you find yourself being impatient with yourself, take a deep breath and quickly say: “Good job, ____! You’re doing it!”
Try also to see impatience like the yellow on a traffic light. When you start getting impatient with yourself, get ready to stop yourself before you start spiraling down the self-loathing hole. Impatience is often a precursor to self-punishment, so stop way before the red light hits.
5. Don’t Overwork Yourself
If you are an artist, it’s your job to play, no excuses. Now, there are times when you might be inspired and will go on for hours and hours with your creation, that’s not really workaholism. Usually that’s a good thing, because you feel a boundless energy. But when you start to feel a strain coming in, your eyelids closing, and that shine from the screen is starting to hurt your eyes, and your brain is all fuzzy and fried, then that’s when you’ve overworked yourself. Overworking is no good because the motivation to work the next day is taken from you. So, in the end, you actually end up getting less done if you overwork than if you simply allowed yourself to stop and play for a little bit.
6. Follow The Inspiration
Following the inspiration is difficult because that little pixie of inspiration that makes writing effortless and brilliant is not someone you can constantly count on. So, sometimes you set a schedule to just move through what needs to get done, but then the little pixie shows up, and even though you’ve scheduled yourself to be working on Ch. 2, she says you need to work on Ch. 19, a chapter you haven’t even begun yet. Just follow her. If you don’t, you’ll be beating yourself up as you write on Ch.2, and you’ll end up writing an awful draft that’ll just be tossed anyway. So why not move forward?
7. Work Through Emotions
When we are highly emotional or under a lot stress these are the most challenging moments to get motivated to write. After all, if our boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t love us, or our parents are judging us, or our boss hates us, how can we possibly feel good enough about ourselves to do what we love to do?
Now, generally writers and other artists get their greatest inspiration from their pain and anguish, so in those cases making the art is easy. But that’s not the situation I’m talking about. I’m talking about when what you are planning to write either is not congruent with your emotions or the emotion acts as a wall to your creativity.
To work through these emotions, first write all of your emotions down. Just listen to what your mind is ranting about and write it all down, let it all out, everything. If you’re writing it on your laptop then as soon as your done, trash that document. If you wrote it on a piece of paper, throw that paper away or burn it if you’re into dramatic displays.
For the moment at least, you’ll wash away that emotion and you should be able to move forward with your work.
8. Write
When you don’t feel motivated to write your poem, short story, novel, then don’t write that. But, please do write. Write in your journal, write on you blog, write on your notepad. It can be awful, it can be brilliant. It doesn’t matter. Write in your head. Write something that will remind you what motivates you so that you are motivated to write, and maybe motivate others to do the same. That’s what I did.

HIDUP DALAM PERCEPATAN EFEKTIF Oleh MasSuKatnoGiri

Pada tataran idealis, kita seharusnya semakin tua semakin bahagia. Kenapa? Ya karena kualitas kita semakin baik melalui proses pembelajaran dari pengalaman sebelumnya. 

Mungkin kita saat ini sudah lumayan tua, tapi belum bisa merasakan bahagia. Waah ini bisa gawat. Mosok hidup hanya sekali tidak bisa bahagia. Perlu intropeksi memang, bahwa hidup kita saat ini barang kali masih lambat percepatanya dan kurang efektif. 

Di seusia kita saat ini, di antara kawan kita banyak memiliki prestasi hidup yang baik dan penuh berkah sehingga tentraman jiwanya, bahagia hidupnya. Sebaliknya kawan kita yang kedua , mereka masih berkutat mencari dan mencari sesuatu belum ketemu ketemu. Wah yang disebut pertama tadi bisa dikatakan sebagai manusia yang memiliki percepatan hidup yang lumayan efektif. Mereka telah mengamalkan surat wal ‘asri jauuh-jauh hari sebelumnya (demi waktu manusia dalam keadaan rugi.. dst..). Adapun yang kedua perlu instropeksi barangkali mereka memiliki masa lalu yang masih rajin bermalas-malasan.

Tidak ada istilah terlambat untuk berbuat, karena kita masih diberi kesempatan hidup. Maka berlomba dalam kebaikan adalah pilihan utama. HIDUP YANG EFEKTIF HIDUP YANG PENUH BERKAH DEKAT YANG MAHA KUASA DAN MAU BERBAGI KPD SESAMA. ALLAHU A'LAMU BISHOWAB

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