Happiness Is a Conscious Choice – Sunday March 16, 1997
There are two ways to look at life and the world. We can see the good or the bad, the beautiful or the ugly. Both are there, and what we focus on and choose to see is what brings us feelings of joy or feelings of despair. As a simple example, on a foggy day some people choose to complain about the inconvenience the fog causes, while others accept this occurrence of nature with anticipation for the beauty it brings. When it happens in a cold climate, the results are almost magical. As the fog lifts, it leaves moisture frozen to every branch on every Bush and tree, and the effect is breathtakingly beautiful. Or, in a warmer climate by the sea, as the fog rolls in there is a mystic feeling of suspense and wonder as ships come from out of nowhere or as a setting sun, diffused by the mist, becomes a huge, enchanted red ball in the sky. What we see and enjoy is up to us.
So it is with some who see the crime and heartlessness that exists in the world. They conclude that, because all the evil that’s happening, there must not be a God. While, on the other hand, others see all the good that is being done and consider it just one more witness that there’s a loving Creator reaching out to help in this mortal world.
In everything in life, we can choose to find beauty and goodness or complain about hardships and disappointments. Even in a marriage relationship we can choose to focus on the positive attributes of our mate, or we can be critical of imperfections that surely can be found in anyone. Beauty and joy can be brought into every relationship when we notice and nurture the good. We can grumble about our jobs, the boss, and the long hours – or we can look for the good, try to understand the struggle of an employer or fellow employees, and even rejoice in the very fact that we have a job with an income to provide for ourselves and loved ones.
We have the power to enjoy, even create, beauty in our everyday circumstances. Joy comes in so many different ways, and a generous measure of it lies within the grasp of every person. One man said: “Happiness is not always the result of fortune… [it] comes of the grace to accept life gratefully and to make the most of the best of it.”1 Happiness then becomes our conscious choice. Life becomes what we choose it to be.
1 Donald Culross Peattie, A New Treasury of Words to Live By (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959), pp.
March 16, 1997
Broadcast Number 3,526