It's A Choice

We have an amazing friend. I've written about her before here. She has cancer and she stays with us while receiving her treatment. She is one of those people who offers grace and beauty through her living. She is on a mission to discover 10 blessings from having cancer. I believe she is currently at #7.

This amazing friend keeps a blog. She recently wrote about happiness. I found it so profound, I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy and make your choice.

Happy people have a secret. They look at the world in terms of what must be done to change it and they use their agency to change the environment around them. Some happy people have taken charge of their healthcare – educating themselves on their disease and tracking their results. Some happy people look around to see how they can serve others – how they can make someone else’s day just a little better. Some happy people never accept a status quo – there is work to be done to change their world. There is a theme here – choice and then action. We get happy in the doing.

Knowing that you should do these things to make yourself happy is very different than doing the things that will bring you joy. As Stephen Covey says, “To know and not to do is not to know.”

If you want to be really depressed, tell yourself that you can’t change anything, watch some TV, be resigned to the way the world is. Do everything you can to be passive. It is a sure-fire recipe for sadness.

Happiness is a choice. Even when you have cancer. Even when you don't.
No matter your life's status, there always remains the freedom to choose. And folded deep inside that freedom lies hope. It simply waits for you to reach out far enough to grab hold.

Make the choice to reach.