I want to thank my friend and fellow author Mary Kennedy for her wonderful blog on resiliency! It’s the perfect segue to something I was discussing with a train friend on the ride home the other day, namely choosing happiness.
As Mary so aptly noted in her blog, “Ruminating and drowning in negative thoughts will not help. Taking action will.”
And one action you can take is to choose to be happy. Some might say that it’s easy to say that, but doing it is a different thing. It’s hard.
Yes, it’s hard. I know. For the last few months — yes months — I’ve been letting a lot of things pull me down. Things over which I don’t even have any control (which being the control freak that I am only makes it worse).
But here’s the thing – I can continue to allow these things to keep me down, but I know that’s not the real me. The real me is usually optimistic and believes that there is goodness out there. That it is possible for good things to happen if (1) I imagine them happening and (2) I work at making them happen.
So, I’m choosing to be happy. I’m going to stop investing time in those things that are pulling me down and refocus on those things that make me happy and over which I have control.
You may be wondering how my talk with my train friend brought this about. Well, we were both discussing how certain things were bothering us and he mentioned a man he once knew. No matter when my train friend spoke to the man and asked how he was, the man would say “Exceptional” and always in an upbeat tone. That consistently made my train friend feel good.
That man chose to be happy and if you think about it, just conveying such positivity to others can raise not only their mood, but your spirits as well.
So if you’ve been like me lately, down and a little depressed about the state of things, make it a point if only for today to be happy. Think about all the good things going on instead of the negative. Try being upbeat and see if that doesn’t change how your day goes today.
If it worked to make today better, try it again tomorrow and then the day after that.
Hopefully you’ll find that by choosing happiness you will improve how are you are feeling.
So to get you started – list one negative thing you are going to put out of your mind today. Or better yet, embrace something that makes you happy.
I’ll start – my daughter. She always makes me feel good!
This was one great post, Caridad! Totally loved it. Indeed, we wallow in negative sometimes so much that we cannot see good things that happen to us. Thank you for reminding us about that.
There is a man where I work who ALWAYS comes into the office singing and wearing a smile.
My office is in a large nondescript four story shoebox on top of a hill with a quarter mile of parking lot in three directions.
Rumor has it that the turkey buzzards circle the parking lot waiting for the next employee to drop.
Where he works he’s just another blob of grease sacrificed between the cogs of the government machine. A worker like all the rest of us.
Yet there he is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. His happiness is contagious and I am indeed happy that he is so happy. He is my role model.
I want to do something similar by focusing on the positive. I need to stop dwelling on mistakes or bad thoughts.
I am trying, every morning, to wake up and just think happy thoughts. You are responsible for your own attitude. You make yourself happy.
One thing that almost always brightens my day, is hearing my husbands voice. It’s amazing actually. I just get this smile on my face and I feel like all the weight is gone from my shoulders.
I was told years ago to push negatives away and work on positive and I have done that for a few years now. I went off blood pressure meds and also nerve pills and truly face each day in a different light. It takes work but after awhile it comes easily. Way to go on your changes. susan L.
🙁 First out with the negative, lost my Dad back in June of 09. He lived to 83 so let us turn that into the positive, the man was married for 52 years and odd months to my Mom and that is a positive in today’s world by anyone’s count.
2010 started off winning books, yea me! That has always been my most positive outlook on life, when stresses get you down read something that makes you feel happier, makes you chuckle, makes you smile despite yourself.
Hope the year continues for all of us on a more positive note, Health being the most important aspect of life because we only get the one shot to live it…..
jackie b central texas
GREAT blog, Caridad! The snow is falling fast and furious here ~~ but instead of thinking how icky the roads are, I’m focusing on beautiful the snow looks, and how I love the quiet that come w/ a good snow fall.
My daughter, Alyx, always makes me happy!! I have a good job that pays a good wage ~~ I’m healthy, have a wonderful family, and doglies to love me!!
After the last few months of my life… “It’s all good.”
Raining? It’s all good – the plants need it.
Snowing? It’s all good – snowballs are fun.
Rejections? – It’s all good – waiting for the right YES.
Turned down for a loan? – It’s all good… I probably wouldn’t have manged it.
HEALTH is the only important factor in life. Truly.
Negative thought… having another nasty cold to fight
Positive thoughts… books and my nephew starting to say words that we can understand! 😀