Most folks are about as happy as
They make up their mind to be.
Abraham Lincoln               

OK!  So, I would like to choose happiness.  But it’s not that easy.  How can it be when so many things in my life cause me to be unhappy.  My parents won’t allow me to grow up.  My husband (wife, boyfriend, girlfriend) won’t quit telling me what’s wrong with me.  My kids don’t respect me.  My boss seems to hold me in contempt.  I hate this house.  My job is so unrewarding.  How could anyone possibly be happy when all this is going on?

Does any of this sound familiar?  Could it be some of your internal dialog . . or perhaps something similar?

Think about the moments in your life when you are happy.  Surely, you have some, probably many.  Do these happy moments come about at the same time all this other “stuff” is going on in your life?  If so, then you obviously can feel happiness, in spite of your situation.  Remember that!  It’s vital to remember that!  It is the crux of this whole thing about choosing happiness.

A man named Victor Frankl said this:  “Everything can be taken from a man but. . .the last of the human freedoms--to choose one’s attitude in any set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”  This man dealt with some of mankind’s biggest obstacles.  He was imprisoned in Auschwitz and other prison camps for five years during World War II.  He was a Jew, and the Germans exterminated his father, mother, brother, and wife.  After surviving the camps, he lived a long life, dying at the age of 92 in 1997.  If he could maintain a positive attitude during those horrific circumstances, you must have the same ability.

You have the power to think and feel anything you wish.  If you don’t like feeling miserable, then don’t think miserable thoughts.  No one, your spouse, parent, child, or boss, can make you think unhappy thoughts.  You have to take responsibility for that.  You might prefer to hold those around you, or your situation, responsible for your unhappiness.  But it’s a pointless task.  Each of us has that same responsibility, “to choose one’s attitude in any set of circumstances.”

We would wish your thoughts to immerse you in happiness,

Lana Keating