“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
― Dale Carnegie
“A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.”
― Paulo Coelho
If you awoke with no expectations other than having the basics that are necessary for survival, then experiencing happiness would be a much easier task. The fact that it is more comfortable to dwell in misery than to express joy is an interesting observation of life in the modern world.
The sun will be shining and someone will inevitably say, “Oh, it’s not going to last. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow,” or something else optimistic like that. We look for reasons to be unhappy if there aren’t any obvious ones at the moment. It may stem from a fear that if we let loose and enjoy ourselves, God may see us having fun and decide to throw a little trauma into our situation. As long as you stay in an expectant state that things will get worse, then maybe they won’t get too bad. But don’t be too happy, because that isn’t appropriate.
History Lesson – On this day in 1966, James H. Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot by a sniper shortly after beginning a lone civil rights march through the South. Have we accomplished anything in 54 years?
This year has presented many opportunities to be unhappy. Record unemployment, uncertainty, and the fear of getting sick has spread throughout the world because of the pandemic, and now civil unrest in the States is causing all of us to feel uncomfortable and wonder how it is going to end. In spite of all of this, the world goes on. Children laugh and play, birds sing, and the rest of us try to maintain some sense of normal.
If ever there was a time to feel joy just for the fact that you are alive and that the day could bring any number of wonderful things to you, now would be it.
Natural Sensitivity – An interesting study out of London has found that how sensitive we are may be determined by our genes. The study compared pairs of identical and non-identical 17-year-old twins to see how strongly they were affected by positive or negative experiences. Michael Pluess, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Queen Mary University of London and study lead, said, “We know from previous research that around a third of people are at the higher end of the sensitivity spectrum. They are generally more strongly affected by their experiences. This can have both advantages and disadvantages. Because we now know that this sensitivity is as much due to biology as environment, it is important for people to accept their sensitivity as an important part of who they are and consider it as a strength not just as a weakness.”
They found that 47 percent of the differences in sensitivity between individuals were down to genetics, leaving 53 percent accounted for by environmental factors. It seems obvious that some children are more sensitive than others, but this is interesting that so much of it may be attributed to genetic makeup.
Thought of the Day – Think of something you are grateful for just before you are ready to go to sleep. Going to bed in a state of gratitude can go a long way towards fostering an overall attitude of happiness.
Enjoy all that the day brings your way, knowing that it is there for a reason.
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
― Albert Camus