Focusing on the light

Lately I've been thinking about how my life, according to this blog, might look to some.  To some it might seem like I live in a fairyland.  I have a roof over my head, food on the table, clothes on my back and am surrounded by beauty everyday; I have loving friends and family and I live with the assurance that God is involved in my life.  I'm not delusional or in denial. I know my life is not perfect, but I choose not to write detailed descriptions of messy rooms or focus on anxious, stressful or sad days, for the very fact that we all have those days. It's just a given, part of the earthly equation. Stressing these moments is not helpful to me, no matter how "real" or "authentic" they may make me seem to my readers.

This blog has always been about happiness, and hope- for me and for anyone else who may be reading. I choose to focus on the good and beautiful and lovely, not because that's all there is in my life, but because it draws happiness to me.  I have good days and bad days, but overall I am happy.  I am happy ( I wanted to say that again because I like to say it) because I choose to be.  I choose happiness by including the things that bring happiness into my life- like God and family.  Another thing that brings a whole lot of joy to me is gratitude- savoring the gifts of life, noticing them and relishing them. 

Today I was driving home and slowed to let a little old lady cross the street.  The oncoming traffic had already stopped and formed a line of about four or five cars, headed by a woman in a black truck.  The little lady was wearing a pink muumuu and was slowly pulling a wagon with two potted plants in it.  To show her appreciation to the woman in the black truck for stopping for her, she was smiling and waving to  her the entire time that she plodded across the road.  She never dropped her waving arm once.  The woman in the truck was beaming at her, and I couldn't help but smile, too.  When the lady finally made it across and traffic resumed, the woman in the truck and I passed each other.  For one split second our heads turned and our eyes met, and we beamed at one another, too.  This whole moment took about one minute, and I could easily have forgotten it.  Instead I chose to notice it and savor it, not to let it go, but to hold it cupped in my memory like a precious find.

Happiness can be contagious, if you let it be. I hope my words will never be a source of discouragement to any one of you, or that they never create unrealistic expectations because I choose to focus on the positive.  You can be sure the hard times are there, but I'm going to continue to look to the light, because I rather like being happy.  I hope you do too, and if you do, keep reading, because happiness is contagious you know.