Fill it to the top, please
I am no better than a child.
A friend was commenting today on her struggles in trying to explain to her daughter that happiness is a choice—her choice. When she’s unhappy, it’s because she chooses to focus on what she doesn’t have instead of enjoying what she does have right in front of her.
She and I are “half-empty glass” people—too consumed with what isn’t to enjoy what is.
Rev. Leroy Allison’s letter to parishoners at the Emmanuel United Methodist Church recently hit the nail on the head.
“We spend too much of our time complaining and worrying about things over which we have no control. . . .We spend too much time living in the ‘what if’ and need to learn to live in the ‘what is.’”
My friend spoke of the writings of Victor Frankel, a concentration camp survivor who observed the emotional effect of facing death daily on those held captive. He found that those who remained sane in the face of such insanity lived with the realization that though they could not control when they might die, they could control how they faced death.
And, so must we all learn, that though we may not be free of struggles, we are free in how we face life’s challenges.
Or, as my friend said, “We choose when to see the silver lining and when to wallow in self pity.” (I have smart friends!)
It’s time to fill my glass to the top.
Life is filled with enough happiness for 10 lifetimes for those who know the secret of enjoying each moment for what it is instead of fretting over what it isn’t.
‘Normal’ is a setting on a washing machine.
—Think about this one for a while. Agitation, upheaval, spinning, turning, swirling—it’s all part of the “normal” cycle of life. Jenny found this quote and left it on my desk. Though she didn’t note the author, I would bet it was written by a weary mother.
