Happiness is a Choice

"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham Lincoln

Looking at life through a child's eyes . . . wouldn't life be different if we could truly do that? Children seem to look for a reason to be happy (okay, I'm choosing not to think about temper tantrums when they don't get what they want!) I'm thinking about the joy a child expresses when someone they love walks in the door, or the excitement they show over petting a horse or seeing a beautiful flower.


It makes me think how much of happiness is really the personal choice to be happy.


I remember one morning not too long ago, during Prayers of the Faithful at daily Mass, a woman I’d never seen before prayed for her son-in-law who was out of work. Her prayer was lovely: “May he be filled with the love of Christ, may he find happiness during this time between jobs and may he have faith that this period will end.” Well, I could not have authored a more apt prayer!

After Mass, she approached me to say “hello”. I couldn’t help myself – I had to tell her about the group that I host in my home on Monday mornings. Our name is “THRIVING Between Jobs” and our purpose is to help people emotionally and spiritually while they are between jobs.

I told her how we pray for each other, both on Monday mornings and during the week, that we realize that these days of unemployment are days of our lives like any other; that we can serve God’s purpose and that we can experience great joy.

We talked about loss – that losing one’s job is not the worst thing that can happen. That there are far worse things than losing one’s home … like losing a child, losing a marriage, losing a spouse, and more.

She was such an inspiration to me. She reminded me that being happy is a choice, just as being miserable is a choice. And the secret to being happy is to embrace an attitude of gratitude. I can’t tell you how many times I have said these very things to my own children, and hearing it again from this woman was so encouraging to me!

Happiness is a choice . . .
Attitude of Gratitude . . .
This moment is a day in our lives, whether we are employed are not . . .

Question to Consider: How can we make the choice to be happy, right now, in this very moment? In what moments are we choosing misery? How is that turning out?