#183: Life Is Too Short
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
I've read today and in recent members' blogs about the loss of relatives, some sudden, others after extended illnesses. I've read of job losses and other misfortunes.
Each incident reminded me that life is too short.
It's too short being unhappy with our life's circumstances.
True, many people today are suffering financially, and many are overweight, some are lonely, some are bitter.
But does happiness lie in life's circumstances? Or does true happiness come from something inside of us, a spirit, an essence, that tells us that, yes, times are tough, but we needn't be unhappy about it, or sad, or depressed?
Norman Vincent Peale once said, "No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities - always see them, for they're always there."
It's easy to hang our heads in despair. But it's healthier for our bodies and our emotions if we lift our sights toward the heavens and give thanks for what we do have.
"Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some," advised Charles Dickens.
Can you see? Hear? Talk? Read? Move about? Can you feel love? Companionship? Friendship?
Then your blessings abound. Let's don't be bitter about what we do not have but give thanks for what we do have.
"Whatever you put into your mind - in one way or another - is what you will get back out - in one way or another." Shad Helmstetter
What do you put into your mind every day?
Negatives? Woes? Sadness?
Or joy at being alive? The beauty of a sunrise or sunset or the singing of birds or the pure laughter of little children or the funny antics of small puppies and kittens?
It has been said many different ways, "As you think, so you are."
Why choose sadness and despair when we can choose happiness and joy?
As former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said:
"I doubt if there is among us a more useful citizen than the one who holds the secret of banishing gloom, of making tears give way to laughter, of supplanting desolation and despair with hope and courage, for hope and courage always go with a light heart."
Which will you choose today?