"Happiness is something you decide ahead of time"

I just started reading Joel Osteen's new book "Every day a Friday." I have to admit I am enlightened by the book. Chapter one starts out with this older gentleman going to a retirement home and as he rides in the car there he remarks about how pretty it is and the lady driving him tells him that he isnt there yet and how does he know if he is going to like it? He then tells her that he doesnt have to see it, it doesnt matter how the furniture is arranged or what color the room is he tells her that "happiness is something you decide ahead of time."

Happiness is a choice. When you wake up each morning you can remark how cold it is or how you cant find your slippers or that the dog peed on the rug in the middle of the night and you stepped in it or you can put that all aside and decide to wake up happy.

I absolutely love my daughter, she is the princess of my life but one thing about her that stands out to me about her is the fact that no matter what she wakes up every morning with a smile on her face. She could have peed the bed or vomited on her pillow but it doesnt matter she wakes up with a smile on her face and a Good Morning to whomever gets her out of her crib. I call her my happy baby.

We have to be this way in life as well. In July I lost my job, a job I loved. I wallowed in depression for a couple of weeks and then I made a choice, I made a choice to send out resumes to get my life back on track and to remain happy when I probably should have been hurt and numb inside. Abe Lincoln said it best when he said "Most people are as happy as they decided to be."

A recent study found that people's happiness increases 10% on Friday. Why is that? They reported that people are excited for the upcoming weekend, they make up their mind on Friday to live and love their lives more...Isnt that just weird?

The challenge in this book is to live everyday like it is a friday. Give yourself permission to be happy everyday not just on Fridays. Not just on the weekends and not just when you have a special occasion. I love how he mentions : The scripture doesnt say Friday is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it. Nope it says THIS is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24) The word THIS means everyday not just friday. I admit there are days when in the past I would let things get to me and it would steal my happiness but the more and more I get into this book the more and more I realize that I need to be more like my daughter and wake up each morning with a smile on my face and a song in my heart even when I really dont feel like getting out of bed. I have to choose to do this even when I feel awful and I wake up and its cold and rainy I just need to tell myself that I will be happy today. Joel goes on in Chapter one to say that more heart attacks happen on Monday then any other day of the week, Probably because people stress themselves out worrying about stress at work, etc.

So my tidbit of advice for today is to live each day like it was Friday and truly decide to be happy...