0176B: Being Happy Every Day


There's been a fair amount of social media buzz going around the #100HappyDays initiative - the one that asks folks to post a photo of something that made them happy for a straight 100 days. It's not an exercise in Pollyannaism or something, but really more about counting your blessings, as it were. And that's not a bad thing at all.

Yes, there's a lot of bad things that happen each and every day. We tune into the news and find out about even worse things happening elsewhere in the world at the same time. But if we allow the bad things to weight us down and make us miserable, then in the end we lose. We can't control what's going to happen tomorrow or even in the next moment. But we can control how we choose to respond to these things. At least that's my mindset to things.

I don't claim to be an eternal optimist or anything like that. In fact, I tend to be practical to the point of being cynical when I view world events or even other people. But no matter how gruff or withdrawn I seem on the surface, I'd like to think that I still put in a lot of effort in keeping a sense of hope at the core of my daily routine. I always try to look at how things can be a little bit better and I'd like to think I'm quite the problem-solver when needed. Sure, I'll stress out, but I'll get past that and fix things in the end.

Bad things happen to everyone, whether you consider yourself to be good or bad. But either way, we just need to dust ourselves up and get back up no matter how many time life seems to push us down. Every failure is a chance to learn something new about ourselves and to grow as individuals. Every problem is a new opportunity to rise up and overcome the circumstances laid before us. Every day is a chance to make the world a better place because you're in it.

Be happy. Happiness is ultimately a choice. Life throws a lot of different curve balls and sometimes it makes all the difference just to smile and take that next step forward. We control that act of finding our happiness in life. Sometimes it helps to start from day to day until we get to making the act of being happy truly a habit.

Comments