Yesterday my tear-off calendar told me, "Act happy, feel happy, be happy—without a reason in the world." Interestingly enough, while on my treadmill that morning, I'd also seen a TV segment on whether happiness was a choice and whether it could be sustained.
Well, of course, we can't be happy every minute of every day. That isn't sustainable.
What we can do is choose to see life from a glass-half-full stance rather than a glass-half-empty view, making us more open to the good that's around us.
The TV segment followed three individuals to see what difference it made in their lives over time when they tried more intentionally to choose happiness. While they agreed that they couldn't live that way every minute, they also agreed that the experiment made them stop and think more often about the good things happening in and around them. They thought several times a day about savoring what they had rather than complaining about what they did not have.
Awareness is good. Choosing to live in joy and gratitude rather than in a state of complaint and grumpiness certainly brings us more happiness—and spreads more joy out into the world. Even given those times of fear and sadness that are normal in our lives, we are helped by focusing more often on life's blessings and goodness.
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