The Choice to Be Happy Each Day by Randy Moore –

Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you! – John C. Maxwell

I can relate to the wisdom of this quote as I reflect on my 60 plus years of life. Each of us is the culmination of countless choices including the choice to label and judge our experiences as good, bad, happy, sad. Eventually, with the certainty of a setting sun, we begin to look more closely at the choices that matter most.

I’ve resolved that my most important choice is to be happy each day. Happy for the sake of being happy. Happy for things as they are and for the blessings that make life rich and real irrespective of my ever-changing drama. One thing for sure, life doesn’t go exactly as planned and has little to do with fairy tales and movie scripts. Be happy anyway.

It took a butt-kicking bout of depression and a lifetime of challenges to help me gain clarity about the importance of choosing happiness as a prevailing mindset. Out of the valley of despair and negativity I arose on the silver wings of pleasant thoughts. Fresh coffee in the morning, unseen birds chirping, children laughing, and a bite of chocolate cake on a heavenly date with my higher aspirations.

Despite my disappointments, I’ve been blessed with the wisdom of good books, long walks and special talks with friends and strangers alike. Today, these moments of honest reflection are the centerpiece of my precious life.

Psychology, history and time have shaped my subservience to happiness. With psychology, it was the acceptance that my affirmative feelings and thoughts were integral to my sense of reality. A poignant understanding captured in four simple words: Don’t worry, be happy! My affinity for history revealed the cycles of impermanence of worn lives in the pages of forgotten books. The greatest among them would trade any treasure to share our daily breath as living beings. And then there was the wisdom of time slowly molding my judging nature into a gentler acceptance of my humble life on a tiny planet spinning in the cosmos.

Few things bring me greater satisfaction than my compassion for myself and others. I can finally see the greater good in most people and that makes me happy.

Randy Moore is the publisher and editor of Englewood Healthy Living. Contact Randy at Randy@Triple3Marketing.com.