Happy on Purpose

Joel Osteen says, "If you want to be happy, you have to be happy on purpose. When you wake up, you can't just wait to see what kind of day you'll have. You have to decide what kind of day you'll have." Today I will have a happy on purpose day!

Kids have this practice down. Okay, I KNOW some of you are rolling your eyes because your kids don't wake up happy. But have you noticed their ability to experience uninhibited joy at the silliest of things? They unleash their happiness with abandon, purposefully looking for joy. And happy happens to them. They don't need self help books or therapy. Their "happy" IS their therapy.





I've lost my desire to search for happy. I'm spending way too much time worrying about the UNhappy. When did I let this happen to me?  I am made quite aware this morning of my tendency to concentrate on the opposing piece of happiness. The awareness of the place I have been in has been exposed. And it scares me.

A few minutes after these wise words pierce my heart, a photo assignment uncovers a picture of my grandson. He was so excited over finding two little toy pigs. Discovery. He was predisposed to receiving some happy.






Our happy should never go away. Childhood joy needs to be nurtured in us as adults. We should never lose our ability to laugh. We should chase happy! Even in the midst of tears, somewhere deep within, a little happy lurks. A child will not long stay sad when there is an opportunity for them to laugh. I want to own that ability.




Today I choose happy. On purpose. Have my circumstances changed today? Not yet. But the way I'm looking at myself has. Today I hope you will see your happy. Have a good day. And I mean it.

I feel a little Bobby McFerrin coming on.....