Are You Happy?

One day, I was browsing the internet and I read this story about Michael written by his friend.  Michael is the kind of guy who is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, 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 Michael’s friend curious, so one day he 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, 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."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," his friend protested.

"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a   choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect   your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

The friend reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, they lost touch, but the friend often thought about Michael when he  made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, he heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident,   falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. He saw Michael about six months after the accident. When he asked him how he was, he replied: "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

He declined to see his wounds, but he did ask him what had gone through his mind  as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be-born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered   that I had two choices: I could choose to live or ... I could choose to die.   I chose to  live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" he asked. Michael continued,

"...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going   to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on   the  faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read  "he's a dead  man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" he asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael. "She  asked if I was allergic to anything.  'Yes', I replied. The doctors and  nurses stopped  working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled,  'Gravity.' "
Over their laughter, I told them,

"I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if  I am alive,  not dead."

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing  attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.  

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow  will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." After all  today is the  tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

I came out a transformed person upon reading this article.  I said to myself:  Do you want to be happy?  It is your choice! 

Last Saturday, my nephew Lance and I were playing “Tic, Tac, Toe” on the Ipad of my sister.  Lance is six years old and he is a champion.  Why?  Because he does not want to lose a game.  If he loses, he will start crying and you will become an enemy to him.  So the game started and I was winning and so Lance took over my slot in order to win the game.  However, even as he took over my moves, I still managed to steal a move and I won the game.  As expected, Lance started to cry and he sat beside my leg and slightly hitting it with his tiny hand.  Several times, he did this and I told him, “Lance, do you want to be a bad boy or a good boy?  It is your choice!”   I repeated this three times.  He stopped beating my leg and I sensed he was thinking about the question and slowly... slowly... he stood up and kissed me!  What a joy to see a six-year old boy choosing to be HAPPY!

Cheerfulness, fruit of the theological virtues

I want you to be happy always, for cheerfulness is an essential part of your way (The Way, 665).  Our cheerfulness doesn’t depend on circumstances.  It is not the kind we might call physiological good spirits – the happiness of a healthy animal.  You must seek something more: the supernatural happiness that comes from the abandonment of everything and the abandonment of yourself into the loving arms of our Father-God (The Way, 659).  That is why you find so many people who from a human point of view ought to be ever so happy, yet they go about uneasy and embittered.  They appear to be overflowing with happiness, but just scratch beneath the surface of their souls and you will discover a bitterness more bitter than gall (Friends of God, 12).

“Cheerfulness is not a different virtue to charity, but rather a certain act and effect of charity” (S. Th. II-II, q. 28, a. 4).  The command to be cheerful is as all-encompassing as the commandment to love God.  Cheerfulness also flows from the other two theological virtues.  Live cheerfully in your hope (Rom 12:12).  Your optimism will be a necessary consequence of your faith (The Way, 662). Consequently, to be happy we have to awaken the theological virtues through a life of prayer and the reception of the sacraments of confession and the Holy Eucharist most especially during this Christmas season.

Cheerfulness is the “engine oil” that makes human interaction run smoothly; thus it is especially important at home and at work.  A cheerful attitude helps us to be positive and understanding towards the defects and errors of one’s spouse, children, and colleagues.  A sense of humour puts setbacks in perspective: they are our daily bread.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta may have won the exalted Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, but she nevertheless came up with advice which was disconcerting in its simplicity.  Once some American professors asked her, “Please tell us something to help us in our lives.”  Mother just said, “Smile.  I’m completely serious.”