Pope Francis 10 Keys to Happiness

1.

Live and let live. Here the Romans have a saying that we can follow like a
thread: Go ahead and let others go ahead too. Live and let live, that is the
first step towards peace and joy.

2.

Giving oneself to others. If one stays still, they run the risk of being selfish.
And still water is the first to spoil.

3.

Moving like a peaceful oasis. In Don Segundo Sombra there is a beautiful

image of someone who reflects on their own life. He says that as a youth he
was a rocky stream that moved everything in its path; as an adult he was a
river that moved ahead and that in old age he felt in motion, but slowly like a
peaceful oasis [remansado in the original]. I would use the image of the poet
and writer Ricardo Giraldes, this last adjective remansado. The capacity to
move with kindness and humility, the peaceful oasis of life. Old people have
this wisdom, they are the memory of a nation. And a nation that does not look
after its old people has no future.

4.

Playing with kids. Consumerism has lead us to an anxiety about losing a

healthy culture of leisure, reading, enjoying art. These days I rarely hear
confessions, but in Buenos Aires I used to do that a lot and when a young mum
came to me, I asked her: How many children do you have? Do you play with
them? And it was a question she did not expect, but I said to her that playing
with kids is key, it is a healthy culture. It is difficult, parents go to work early
and at times return when the kids are already sleeping, it is difficult, but it has
to be done.

5.

Spending Sundays with the family. The other day, in Campobasso, I went to a
meeting between the worlds of academia and the world of labor, and both
were demanding Sundays without work. Sunday is for the family.

6.

Helping young people find employment. We have to be creative with their

age group. If there is a lack of opportunity, they will fall prey to drugs. And the
suicide index among young people without employment is very high. The other
day I read, but I dont trust it because it is not scientific data, that there are 75
million unemployed young people below the age of 25.3 It is not enough to feed
them: we have to make up one-year courses for them to learn plumbing,
becoming an electrician or a builder. Bringing bread home is what gives you

dignity.
7.

Looking after nature. We have to look after creation and we are not doing it.
It is one of the greatest challenges we have.

8.

Quickly forgetting about the negative. The need to speak ill of another
indicates low self-esteem, in other words: I feel so low that instead of rising, I
lower the other. Quickly forgetting what is negative is healthy.

9.

Respecting those who think differently. We may trouble others by our

testimony, so that we may both progress in our communication, but the worst
that can happen is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: I dialogue with you
to convince you. No! Each one dialogues from their own identity. The Church
grows by attraction, not by proselytism.

10. Actively seeking peace. We are living in times of many wars. In Africa, wars
look like tribal wars, but they are something else. War destroys. And the call
for peace has to be shouted. Peace at times gives the impression of stillness,
but it is never stillness, it is always an active peace.
from a July interview with Argentine magazine, Viva