See Dr. E up close
Like it or not, I’m in the happiness business.
I would like to introduce Mrs. B. Elgamar, my daughter is sad and depressed. Her boyfriend got angry and hit her. Her black eye has healed, but her heart is still pounding with pain. ”
Meet Mr. A: “I don’t know if I want to be alive anymore. After 21 years of marriage, my wife has decided that she doesn’t love me anymore.”
Cleo’s introduction: “I have had five failed marriages. The first took me away from my abusive father. The second took me away from the first. The third and fourth… Leopard won’t change its place. Both were abusive. The fifth one was the real one. I was in love with Marc Anthony. Handsome, rich, powerful. But Mark is the only one. I loved myself. What am I doing wrong in relationships?”
Every day I meet children, families, teenagers and couples, but only rarely do I have the pleasure of meeting a dog or cat, or even a turtle or mouse. Kids sometimes sneak in pets…sorry, where were we?
I like to approach my profession like a carpenter, sketching out the project, buying the wood, sawing and building it, but my job involves the hard work of thinking. Is required. Why do you think so much? Each patient I see is unique, and the emotional scars they carry are invisible to the naked eye. So do you think it’s a good idea to establish a formula for patient happiness? Okay, I’ll give it a try.
My mother taught me how to cook and by the age of 12 I had mastered many culinary skills. When I was 16, she gave me a book called “The Joy of Cooking.” I will use her teachings to convey the joy of living.
Recipe #1: Happiness
Happiness has four basic components.
1. To be happy, you must first be alive. Please pinch yourself. “Pain” is proof that you are alive.
2. Recognition. You cannot be happy unless you realize the gifts life has given you. Recognition is a very difficult concept, so I asked Cleo for help (yes, you already met her, 5 years before her marriage).
3. An uncontaminated belief system. Happiness is a seed capable of growing, but only if it is planted in soil that is not contaminated with poison. Is your soil (your mind) free of poison (negative beliefs about yourself)? To check, do the following: Think about your closest friends and examine how you treat them. Are you kind, generous and willing to help them? Then compare how you treat your friends and how you treat yourself. are they equal? If you don’t, you may have negative beliefs such as, “I’m very afraid of letting anyone get close to me. They’ll always walk away or hurt me.”
4. Happiness is a byproduct of the relationships you build in your life. Relationships come in all shapes and sizes, including family, friends, spiritual, and natural. The deeper your relationships, the deeper your sense of well-being.
Cleo comes to Chicago. “Now, I would like to introduce you to Cleopatra, the Queen of the Nile who traveled from Egypt in 40 BC to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile and Bloomingdale’s Mall in 2024.” She is 5 feet 2 inches tall, with shiny jet black hair, emerald eyes, and an impressive body.
“Call me Cleo. I love Chicago, as you can see from my shopping bags. But I’m curious. This movie I bought, “Cleopatra,” stars Richard Burton as Mark Antony. is playing. Richard Burton is not my type. And he bought this song, “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Egyptians don’t walk like that, so what’s the point of a mummy movie? ”
“But let’s be serious. First, I’m 16 years old. If I live to be 32, I’ll be considered old. But your life expectancy is 85. You’re 50 years older than me. You’ll live a long time. Isn’t that a gift? Second, my fastest horse has a speed of 37 miles per hour. Airplanes fly at 2,000 miles per hour. Third, you won’t break a leg. If you get sick, you can easily die. You can get a new leg, a heart, and medicine to cure your illness. Another gift.
An audience member asked Cleo, “Would you be happy if you had all the gifts of the 21st century?”
“No,” Cleo answered. “In order for me to be happy, I need to know why I can’t have deep relationships. Because without someone to share my life with, I feel lonely and unfulfilled.”
Conclusion: Cleopatra is eventually diagnosed with a personality disorder, which destroys her relationships.
The content of this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional treatment. The characters in this story are not real. Names and details have been changed to protect confidentiality.
Dr. Richard Elghammer writes a weekly column for Journal Review.