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INTRODUCING.....HAPPY ME!
Hi there! Pleased to meet you. Thanks for popping in. Let me introduce Happy Me, aka Jacqueline Johns, Happiest Person I Know - at your service. I also happen to be the author of your Happy Life site, and your Happy Life Mentor.Have you subscribed to my free newsletter, "Happy Life The JJ Way"? Follow me on Twitter Why am I the happiest person I know?
It all started...in Launceston, Tasmania, many moons ago.
Happy Me was third born, so didn't manage to make it onto film until I was walking, well, at least standing. My parents' lack of photographic interest in my life up until then didn't phase Happy Me. You see I had the most divine green spotted bikini and all the luxuries money could buy! I felt so good in that bikini! I felt it showed off my belly particularly well, and, with the slightest adjustment, my thighs as well. My bathing buddy, sister Carolyn (seated) seemed to be dwelling on the fact that the green spotted bikini could never be hers, rather than being grateful for our luxurious oasis.
We learned very early the simple pleasures to be gained from such wholesome activities as shelling peas. I'd say I'm definitely the happiest pea-sheller in the pic (seated). My sisters Carolyn and Geraldine are standing, right. The other two kids are just some neighbourhood hangers-on, and I've no idea who the ghost is behind the bush on the right! But this is probably where my spiritual development began!
This idyllic life, however, was not to last. It wasn't long before I learned my most valuable lesson: green spotted bikinis or glamorous gowns, complete with gloves, hair and makeup, do not a Happy Person make! Not Happy Me.
Ah, but spending a day with loved ones at the Launceston Show, that will bring a smile to the dial! That's more like Happy Me.
I learned the hard way that what you resist, persists! Life had tried to teach me at the tender age of five that 'glamorous me' did not equal Happy Me. Yet here we were, years later, my sisters and I held fast in the grip of the superficial beast that is Glamour Fever. It would be many years before my mentoring abilities would come to the fore and I would succeed in convincing my sisters (Carolyn centre, and Geraldine right) of the charade that is Designer Dressing. We have been assured of an eventual recovery, but it is a battle we each wage on an almost daily basis. Even today, we take one day at a time, determined to keep the beast at bay.
A taste of achievement can help one along the path to a Happy Life! Especially when that achievement is gained from within the bosom of a huge extended family. Our swimming squad and the friends we made all throughout Tasmania, and interstate, became like a big family. Little did Mum know as she burned up the roads of Tasmania in her little Hillman Hunter, Tupperware bursting at the seams with sandwiches, and trusty thermos at the ready, that not only was she giving us the opportunity to further our swimming careers, but also enhancing our social skills to the point where we had a sense of belonging wherever we went. We were also oblivious to the subtle developments taking place within our personas - we thought we were just having fun on the road trips, singing to our home-recorded (from the radio) music and indulging in the odd snooze in our sleeping bags!
Our Happy Lives almost all came to an end the night the Tasman Bridge, in Hobart (refer to map above) was hit by the ship, 'Lake Illawarra'. We were obviously meant to sing another day, as we escaped death's clutches!
I spent the best years of my life at Kings Meadows High School, where they made us wear ridiculously short dresses! But still I remained, Happy Me. After High School, I pursued the lofty heights of an office job, which was to springboard me into my assault on Europe (still 'warm-up bouncing'!). As is tragically so often the case, at my first fulltime job I met the love of my life, whom I was to eventually marry (his repeated begging wore me down like a kid in a lolly shop! it's ok he won't read this - woops! he did). Soon I was wrenched from my hearth and home, near and dear, kith and kin, and flung into the hurly-burly of 'mainland' (that is truly what Taswegians call the big island of Australia) life, that is Melbourne.
Of course, I was happy in Melbourne, too. Even when my friends made a public spectacle of me in a crowded restaurant, in the form of a Strip-o-gram, Happy Me smiled through it. But this innocent girl from Tassie found the transition to the corrupt Big City difficult, and public shame and humiliation being what they are, I soon upped camp and escaped to sunny Adelaide, where I hoped to lay low and leave the sordid past behind me! Of course, the emotional turmoil I'd encountered since leaving my sheltered Tasmanian home was sure to take it's toll on my health. My immune system was sorely tested around this time and I was presented with some potentially devastating health challenges. Not only did I have the daily battle with Glamour Fever to endure, for which my sisters and I regularly met to support and share
(and as evidenced above, we didn't always win) I was soon afflicted with a severe case of Blackspotitis, which Happy Me eventually overcame with my positive attitude
Quickly followed by a particularly virulent strain of Purplefloralaria, the day before my wedding!
Throughout all these health challenges, including a four year battle with Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, which was to come later, I always looked forward to my recovery, never dwelling on the hard luck which had befallen me. Whilst living in Adelaide, I was lucky enough to be blessed with two adorable bubbies, Emily and Thomas.
The happy busy-ness that is raising two babies helped me forget my sullied past in Melbourne, so we moved back there and continued on our happy way!
I'd learned the importance of making time for myself, whilst also being the best Mum I could be. I continued to indulge the passion for showbiz which had reared it's ugly head way back when.
A Happy Mum equals Happy Kids, so I always took the time to exercise and indulge my passions....
but I drew the line when Hugh Jackman (the sexiest man alive) couldn't keep his hands off me(!) and begged me to run away with him(!!). My kids would always be my first passion....
and they'll kill me if they ever read this! But I've always maintained it's a mother's right to publicly embarrass her kids, and have acted on that philosophy numerous times. I'm a committed Mum, whose goal has been to produce Happy Kids whilst remaining Happy Me. I would now consider that I am close to achieving that goal, which affords me a great sense of satisfaction.
And Now.....My third baby, Jacqueline Johns Life Mentoring, was born in 2006, after many years of voluntary mentoring of friends, neighbours, acquaintances and total strangers who just wanted to tell me their 'stuff'. JJLM provides wellbeing products and services, such as personal mentoring and meditation classes. With the motto of "Life is NOT a dress rehearsal!", I hope to inspire people the world over to live the life of their choice, NOW! As an author, The Path To Success speaker Happy Events and webmaster Site Build It (I'm such a newbie I can't believe I've built this website on my own!) I now have the ability to reach people in their tens as well as one-on-one! You may have thought, when reading the opening statement regarding me being the happiest person I know, that I was just born lucky and had it all. WRONGO! In the process of living my own Happy Life, I've endured marriage breakups - my parents' and my own, financial hardship, ill health, and still come out smiling. Now I am qualified to teach others how to enjoy single life after years of being the centre of a busy family. The preceding info about happy me gives you a glimpse into a life of challenges (and there's more but you'll have to wait for the book) which I have chosen to outlast with my positive attitude, and several other skills I've learned or discovered along the way. As my mission statement (below) explains, I'm driven to share this knowledge, to uplift others (that's you!) and to assist you to live in the happy state in which I reside. Is there anything that could make Happy Me even happier?
To know I've reached thousands and thousands of people like these and like these happy people and succeeded in uplifting, inspiring, or having an impact on their lives. I want to express here my gratitude to those people who have taken the time to contact me and offer their kind words.
I have spent the bulk of the last eighteen months building this site (baby number four) while STILL battling Glamour Fever, and consuming copious amounts of licorice bullets - a sacrifice I gladly endure if the info contained herein has been beneficial to you in any way. I have loved every second of it, and hope it continues to grow and thrive, as all babies should.
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