Choose How To Start Your Day

I loved this story from the time I first found it several years ago.  It’s author is unknown.  I hope you enjoy it!

℘

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”  He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?”  Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Mike, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.”

“Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me  complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

Tomorrow

I’ve never seen the stage play but I loved the movie “Annie”.  I’m not much “into” musicals, but a few stand out.  A few I could watch again and again.  In Annie I especially enjoyed Carol Burnett’s portrayal of Agatha Hannigan, the drunk, cruel, caretaker at Annie’s orphanage who all the girls feared.  I love Carole Burnett.

Annie’s story is based on the popular comic strip character Little Orphan Annie from a bygone era and articulates an optimistic view of life through the theme just hang on, until tomorrow.  Times weren’t easy in those days for Annie.

Anyway, how can any of us forget Annie’s rendition of that classic song Tomorrow?  To my way of thinking, despite the setting and the uncertain future Annie faced, the song evokes the spirit of optimism.  Sing the first few lines along with me …

12 Ways to Happy – Part 2

So, did you do your homework yesterday?  Did you read my post, Part 1 of this 2-part series?  If you didn’t then the following won’t make nearly as much sense as it could.  Go ahead, if you didn’t, take just a few minutes and at least read Part 1.  I’ll be here when you get back … … … …

If however you did read Part 1, then you’re all set.  Read on.  The following is my assessment of how I’m doing with the 12 habits that will take us a long ways down the road to Happy.  Think about you as you read about me.

According to the original web site that started all-this: Studies conducted by positivity psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky point to 12 things happy people do differently to increase their levels of happiness.  These are things that we can start doing today to feel the effects of more happiness in our lives.  

Here we go!